Essential Art House: Black Orpheus [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) is literally what its title suggests: a retelling of the "Orpheus and Eurydice" legend enacted by black performers. This time the setting is the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Orpheus (Breno Mello) is a streetcar conductor; Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) has just jilted her lover and is attempting to escape his wrath. Orpheus himself falls in love with Eurydice, whereupon her ex-lover, disguised as the Angel of Death shows up and kills Eurydice. To reclaim his lost love, Orpheus enters "Hell" (the Rio morgue) and uses supernatural methods to revive the dead girl. A multi-award winner on the international film scene, Black Orpheus features a samba musical score by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Color
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Subtitle: Eng

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Foreign Language Film - 1959 (Marcel Camus)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best British Film - 1960 (Marcel Camus)

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Palme d'Or - 1959

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1959

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Breno Mello - Orpheus
       Marpessa Dawn - Eurydice
       Lea Garcia - Serafina
       Lourdes de Oliveira - Mira
       Adhemar de Silva - Death

• Director:

  Marcel Camus

• Producer:

  Sacha Gordine

• Screenwriter:

  Marcel Camus, Jacques Viot

• Play Author:

  Vinicius de Moraes

• Cinematographer:

  Jean Bourgoin

• Composer (Music Score):

  Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa

• Editor:

  Andrée Feix

REVIEW:

• Black Orpheus was something of a phenomenon of its time, an international success with a best-selling soundtrack that was crucial to launching a bossa nova craze in the United States. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the novelty of seeing Rio de Janeiro's Carnival played out backed by the strains of seductive Brazilian jazz has worn off, revealing a winningly energetic movie with some noticeable faults. Director Marcel Camus reworks the Orpheus myth for no discernible reason, and while the straightforward transliteration is agreeably unpretentious, he doesn't add much to the story. The Technicolor cinematography is notable for its vivacious use of saturated colors and real-life location shooting in Rio's favelas and mountainous countryside. The choreography of people and color in front of the camera is well executed, but not much is done with the camera itself. There is little movement and the action occasionally feels constrained by the frame. During moments of play, when the characters are flirting, dancing, or playing music, the filmmaking gels into a sensual reverie, but in moments of seriousness the movie feels rather pedestrian, and the actors in particular are drab and unconvincing. However, time has not effected Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa's charming samba score and it's hard to be too disappointed in a movie that begins and ends with the upward lilt of "Samba de Orfeo." ~ Michael Buening, Rovi