THE PORTUGUESE SHORTLIST: "Vitalina Varela" (and review)

The Portuguese Academy of Cinema (Academia Portuguesa de Cinema) has announced the finalists shortlist of Portuguese movies to be submitted for the Best International Film Oscar category: Pedro Costa's Vitalina Varela; Ana Rocha de Sousa's Listen; João Nuno Pinto's Mosquito; and Gonçalo Waddington's Patrick. One of them will be the official submission.

Four very different movies and I still have one left to watch - Patrick - but I consider 2020 to be one of the strongest years (if not the strongest) in terms of Portuguese final shortlist.

Let's have a look at Pedro Costa's Vitalina Varela:

A Cape Verdean woman navigates her way through Lisbon, following the scanty physical traces her deceased husband left behind and discovering his secret, illicit life. (source IMDb)

FLASH REVIEW: Pedro Costa seems to be back to his previous film Horse Money's universe - our lead's (Vitalina Varela) fate crosses Ventura's as she discovers about the life of her deceased husband. Vitalina Varela plays... Vitalina Varela, but you don't see a woman playing herself. In fact, Varela (the actress) seems to create a on-screen persona who's the human emboidment of sadness and saudade! Nothing on her feels unnatural: her moves, her gaze, her tears...! Plus, she's beautiful to watch and she's a magnetic on-screen presence. Few actresses would be able to be so effective with so little to say, but Varela seems to be made for the camera and Costa knows how to capture his leading lady's most subtle emotions. Praised be Pedro Costa for finding the right actress for this role. Praised be Pedro Costa for the movie's haunting beauty (mostly due to Leonardo Simões amazing cinemtography work). Praised be Pedro Costa for this arthouse masterpiece. Vitalina Varela is a director's best work and a cinematic gem!

RATING: 5 / 5

My personal favorite from the Portuguese shortlist.

I believe the Portuguese Academy of Cinema will take the right decision and send Vitalina Varela for the AMPAS. More than a potential Best International Film contender, Vitalina Varela might well do well with American critics association awards, which would boost its Oscar hopes.

Comments

TOP 35 Actors and Actresses Under 35 Working Today - 2017

The almost annual TOP 35 Actors and Actresses Under 35 Working Today is out, with me considering the performers' performances of 2016 also. We have a few changes since last year's list, with Greta Gerwig toping the list thanks to her last 3 great performances in Mistress America , Maggie's Plan and the Oscar buzzy acting turn in 20th Century Women . Scarlett Johansson comes second with her latest distinguished performance being in 2014 ( Under the Skin ), but she managed to be at the spotligh this year thanks to her fine turns in critically acclaimed movies: Hail, Caesar! , Captain America: Civil War , The Jungle Book (voice) and Sing (voice). Emily Blunt adds another great performance to her resume in The Girl on the Train and she comes third, while Elle Fanning 's turning into one of the finest actresses and she's getting to play more adult and complex parts like The Neon Demon and 20th Century Women 's (her two best performances since Super 8 ). Finall...

TOP 10 Most Promising Movie Actors (under 30)

Today I discussed about how awful some "teen icons" are and then we talked about some exceptions. So, I decided to make a little list, a TOP 10, with the male actors that I think that will become music in an ocean of noise somewhere in the future (I did one list before, but it was a little bit pathetic and I didn't justify my choices). Let's start... 1 - Ryan Gosling He may not have a huge list of movies in his body of work, but the few times he makes something, all the time he almost carries the movie. In fact, Gosling is a proof that talent does exist and that you don't need excentrical characters to receive raves. He rose to fame after the big screen adaptation of The Notebook (2004) and then received lots of critical praise for his performances in movies like Half Nelson (that gave him an Oscar, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations), Lars and the Real Girl (that gave him a Golden Globe, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations) and Fractur...

Oscars 2025 nominations predictions: all categories (2nd ROUND)

The award season has started with the NBR and AFI naming their best movies of the year, two of the trifeca (NYFCC and LAFCA), the Golden Globe nominations and the Critics' Choice Awards nominations (the later being the one I consider the least relevant predict-wise, since it seems mostly based on the GoldDerby pundits predictions as an attempt to get a strong correlation with the final Oscar nominations) - so, it's time to publish my new Oscar nominations predictions for the 97th edition of the Academy Awards BEFORE the Golden Globes ceremony and the SAG Award and BAFTA Award nominees are announced! The big distributors have already selected their "champions", the ones they will campaign aiming for the cinematic gold, which is an important element to have in mind, since it's extremely unlikely for a film to pop at the Oscars without a proper "behind the scene" promotion games. And there's the "Oscar type", a concept that has been changing l...

Cinema and Popcorn

Search This Blog