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Elena

2012 1h 20m Documentary Biography Drama List
81% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Petra moves to New York to find her sister Elena.
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Elena

Critics Reviews

View All (21) Critics Reviews
Robert Everett-Green Globe and Mail Elena is at once a portrait, an autobiography and a history of family trauma. Rated: 3/4 Aug 8, 2014 Full Review J. R. Jones Chicago Reader The movie becomes a defiant reversal of that sentiment, an act of creation in the face of death. Jul 7, 2014 Full Review Sheri Linden Los Angeles Times A type of cinematic performance art, with all the self-consciousness that suggests - a sibling love story that's no less heartfelt for being in the form of a first-person poem. Jun 12, 2014 Full Review Allen Almachar The MacGuffin Watching Elena is like eavesdropping on two people having a very deep and personal conversation, but not knowing exactly what they're talking about or who they even are. Rated: C+ Jul 20, 2020 Full Review Pat Padua Spectrum Culture Melancholy turns self-indulgent, its images of women swimming underwater an all-too obvious nod to Ophelia. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 31, 2018 Full Review Kathy Fennessy The Stranger (Seattle, WA) Elena doesn't simply profile a woman who became depressed because she was stranded in a strange land or because her career failed to live up to her expectations-though those factors didn't help-but a woman who was just depressed. Aug 22, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (9) audience reviews
Fefe Elena é um dos melhores filmes que eu já vi. A música combinada com as poesias, junto com as imagens do passado da Elena já é o suficiente pra me emocionar. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/03/23 Full Review Carolina C Elena mudou minha vida no mundo audiovisual! Todos os documentários dirigidos e feitos pela Petra são simplesmente maravilhosos,mas Elena me fez ter sentimentos tão profundos sobre a vida que quando eu acabei de assistir decidi que vou ter uma filha chamada Elena um dia. A Petra mostra nessa filmagem um lado da vida como um trauma,mas abordado de maneira tão poética e melancólica na mistura da trilha sonora e das poesias recitadas,que você esquece o fim de Elena e pensa apenas na complexidade que foi aquela mulher. Acho que todos deveríamos ter ou ser uma Elena alguma vez na vida para nos ensinar sobre a complexidade da vida e seu jeito cru de se viver. Assistam Elena, vocês irão sair pensativos e dançantes. 🤍 Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Gave this documentary a go since it had a great score on metascore and IMDB. Petra is searching for her older sister Elena in New York. They come from Brazil, but Elena moved when she was 20 to follow the dream of becoming an acress. Things does not go as planned and this is basically where I give up the film. It's not horrible. Kind of. It looks like a dream, floating and peaceful - nice music and cool archive footage. It get's too much. They talk, and talk, mostly about what used to be and how things turned out. It's simply too narrow. Kind of narcissistic, but also very sad. People that don't make it as actors or actresses are big in numbers so it's not that original. I may have missed out on a few points here, but I found it very hard to finish this film. 3 out of 10 mermaids. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review karen f The feel bad movie of the year Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Petra Costa searches for her older sister as a way to find herself - both the person and the artist she has become over the years following a tragedy that changed her forever and somehow shaped her personal expression into something perceptive, mature and tremendous like what we see here. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Elena is a fever dream of a film. The visuals barely paint a clear picture, like the remnants of a faded home video or a distant memory. The beauty of the home video elements mixed with the technique is haunting and hypnotic, and the narrative is fully engaging. I wish that this good balance between the unnerving story and dreamy tone didn’t give way in the last 15 minutes to puerile art-filming. Nonetheless, there is plenty to love for most of this sleeper doc. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Elena

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Petra moves to New York to find her sister Elena.
Director
Petra Costa
Screenwriter
Petra Costa, Carolina Ziskind
Production Co
Tribeca Film Institute, Ford Foundation - Just Films, Widehouse
Genre
Documentary, Biography, Drama
Original Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 9, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$23.3K
Runtime
1h 20m
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