Colossal Youth
Director: Pedro Costa
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 3.0
Former laborer Ventura (playing a fictionalized version of himself) is an almost supernatural guide through the (rebuilt) underworld of Lisbon, separated from his wife and missing her terribly. I don't think I've seen digital video used as brilliantly in any other film as I did in both this and In Vanda's Room, so the movie is consistently beautiful to look at, though its assemblage is fairly random and exceptionally long stretches go by with little to nothing happening, making viewing a challenge. Takes a while for it to linger in the mind - cinema-as-poetry demands mental revisits - and though I'm doubtful there's a lot of substance to this, the best way to approach it is to let the images wash over you: it speaks volumes about the monotony of life.
