Black Orpheus - Criterion Collection

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Summary: Perfect Date Video!
Review: I enjoyed this movie so much I watched it twice. It makes you wanna go to Rio, especially during Carnival! The characters are great to look at and the music is great!

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Summary: The cast played their roles superbly.
Review: I love this picture. I saw this picture for the first time when I was in elementary school. Channel 9 showed it several times and I watched it several times. The whole cast is beautiful and played their roles superbly. I have been trying to find this video in the stores and still have not been successful. This picuture is a must see.

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Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: I put on the movie last night and was speechless. The opening scene shows a woman walking home. But, you can't tell if she's walking or dancing - the actors' movements blend so perfectly with the soundtrack and background street music that the film could be viewed as a dance production.

I'm in love with this movie and could watch it a thousand times

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Summary: Turned Me On
Review: I rented this movie from the public library and thought it was incredible. The characters, music and imagery was contagious and magnetic. I loved the movie so much, I rented the soundtrack and bought the movie poster. And whenever I get around to buying a DVD player, I'll make sure to purchase this for my collection.

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Summary: Good Movie
Review: I saw this movie about 2 or 3 years ago on public tv station. Im not sure of the reason why I viewed it to the end since im not a real big love story fan but the factors that definately contributed to me watching the whole film were: A) It was very intriguing story, B) I could not take my eyes of the woman who played the love interest (Eurydice) - Marpessa Dawn. Jesus, that woman was gorgeous.

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Summary: One of the greatest
Review: I saw this movie when I was a young girl and never forgot it. Unfortunately it is now available only in Portugese with English subtitles. I have watched it with all of my children and my enthusiasm has projected onto them. It's a love story for all times.

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Summary: Flawless!
Review: I've been waiting years for the perfect transfer of this absolutely beautiful and haunting film. The DVD is spactacular!

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Summary: The amazing film that launched bossa nova
Review: It is difficult to discuss this film without focusing on the music and the spread of bossa nova throughout the world which the film facilitated. The film is as detested in Brasil as it is praised outside of Brasil, but everyone agrees the music (by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, and Vinicius de Moraes) was groundbreaking and beautiful in its day, and remains almost mystical to this day. Let's leave it to the ethnomusicologists and cultural anthropologists to explain the meaning of bossa nova and its impact on the world from the early '60s onward. The music aside, the film is a visual feast. The opening scene has Eurydike (Marpessa Dawn) entering Rio de Janeiro from Niteroi, as the Jobim/de Moraes composition "A felicidade" plays. We see the apprehensive Eurydike experience the sensory assault that is Rio de Janeiro, and we hear all the street noise, the venders, crude percussion, ferry whistles and background chatter, and it is an amazing moment--the perfect blend of sound and image. Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello (who plays Orpheu) are perfectly cast as the star-crossed lovers, both beautiful lead actors giving performances of quiet depth and power. There is nothing forced about their performances. The stage origins of the piece are often undisguised, especially in the entrances and exits from the scenes (in one, Eurydike's goofy cousin and the spoiled Mira jauntily skip out of the scene). Many critics have focused on how unrealistically the life of the favela is portrayed in this film, especially compared with something like "Cidade de Deus." I have never lived in a favela, but I think this film adequately conveys a portrait of favela life, without trying to become THE portrait. There is a lot of fun and laughter in the course of the film, but death comes quickly and unyieldingly. What distinguishes tragedy from the merely tragic is inevitability, and the ending is no less powerful for being bereft of surprise. We know things aren't going to turn out well for the unfortunate pair, but the film is so intriguing, you can't help but be drawn in to its world. This is one of my favourite films, and I think it will continue to engage audiences for many years.

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Summary: Beautiful, Vibrant, and Ultimately Gut-Wrenching
Review: Marcel Camus gives the ancient Greek tale of Orpheus and Eurydice an ingenious and decidedly modern twist in Rio de Janeiro during carnival time. Marpessa Dawn is a beautiful but scared country lass who goes to stay with her cousin at this time, trying to avoid Death, who is stalking her. In the meantime, Breno Mello's Orpheus is a streetcar conductor by day and playboy by night who becomes engaged to Lourdes de Oliveira's beautiful but wild and mercurial Mira, and the two look foreward to a life together until fate intervenes and Orpheus and Eurydice meet.
The scenes of Sugar Loaf Mountain are vibrant and sharp. I was always impressed by the dignity and beauty of the young ladies in Seraphina's neighborhood, who despite their poverty still look their best in classic dresses. Lea Garcia's Seraphina provides us with comic relief reminiscent of the Nurse and Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet", another tale about ill-fated lovers.
The profound sadness of the end of this picture is relieved, at least slightly, by the singing and dancing of the three beautiful children, who seemed destined to form an unhappy love triangle of their own. Ultimately, the playing of the life-affirming samba at the end provides an interesting contrast to the intimate and devastating look we have just had into the lives of ordinary people. Like the children, it reminds us that life has to go on.

Rating:
Summary: A Brazilian Delight
Review: Marcel Camus's film recreates the Orpheus tragedy with an all black cast. Set in Rio de Janiero, the film captures the beauty of Brazilian culture. Whether it is the sambadromes or the rythmns of Brazil's Afro-Lusitanian music, the beautiful score written by Antonio Jobim and Luis Bonfa has become legendary and it help led a bossa nova explosion during the 1960's (similar to our present-day Latin explosion). While everything looks fine and dandy in this film, Brazil's society, especially in Rio, is a bit more grittier, and being a Frenchman, Camus ignored the realities faced my millions of "cariocas". Interested viewers should watch the films "Pixote," and "Central Station," to get more of a feeling for life in this city, but nevertheless, Black Orpheus remmains a classic in international cinema for years to come.