MOVIE REVIEW
Fados (2007)
New Yorker Films
In the annals of film history, “Fados” will be most remembered for serving as the swansong release of New Yorker Films. The legendary, hugely influential label announced its closing last month, and “Fados,” which the New York Times reports company founder Dan Talbot bought with his own money, brings down the curtain on a remarkable era in cinematic history.
There’s a temptation, given the significance of the news, to turn this review into a eulogy for the company, but that’s the subject for another article. Memorializing New Yorker would perhaps be an easier task than reviewing the film, the third in Carlos Saura’s music trilogy. That’s because the fervor with which one responds to the picture is directly correlated to one’s personal affection for the fado music on display.
Mr. Saura assembles a collection of performances of the soulful style of crooning indigenous to Portugal that Wikipedia calls a “form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor.” As accompaniment, he blends in costumed backup dancers, stock footage projected onto big screens, elaborate sets and a palette of stark, solid colors that illuminate the entire frame. For his performers, he’s brought in several big stars, the most prominent of which is probably Caetano Veloso.
The world of fado stands out for the full-bodied passion poured into the performances, in which the singer tilts back his or her head, closes his or her eyes and seemingly cedes all control to the music. In filming it, Mr. Saura has turned a single location into an ideal locale for a vibrant piece of cinema. The film would have benefited from some contextualizing for the uninitiated, particularly given fado’s important place in Portuguese culture. To do so, however, would have indelibly changed Mr. Saura’s project. He means to evoke the hot tempered visceral qualities of a fado performance, not the genre’s history. The picture fulfills that mission as well as any could, though there remains throughout the unshakable sensation that these performances would really have achieved the intended enrapturing effect were they witnessed live.
FADOS
Opens on March 6 in Manhattan.
Directed by Carlos Saura; based on an original idea by Ivan Dias; directors of photography, José Luis López-Linares and Eduardo Serra; edited by Julia Juaniz; production designer, Carlos Saura; produced by Mr. Dias, Luis Galvão Teles and Antonio Saura; released by New Yorker Films. In Portuguese, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. This film is not rated.
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