Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageOrfeu (1999)
Director: Carlos Diegues
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
In veteran Diegues' colourful update of the Greek myth - not to mention Marcel Camus' 1959 classic Orfeu Negro, also set during the Rio carnival - Orfeu is a top samba composer and Euridice a beautiful if innocent hick from the sticks, who tempts the womanising songster away from the adoring and voluptuous Mira and from Death (a drug-dealing gang). Nothing very original in any of that, especially if you've seen Camus' film, but the carnival scenes are spectacular, the music is mostly lovely (though one wishes the characters would actually burst into song and dance more often), and the performances charming. When compared, however, to Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet, which Diegues has surely been watching, it looks a little staid and obvious.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Carlos Diegues
Producer: Renata de Almeida Magalhães, Paula Lavigne
Cast: Toni Garrido, Patricía França, Murilo Benício, Zezé Motta, Milton Gonçalves, Isabel Fillardis full cast
Duration: 110 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now