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In Vanda's Room

Play trailer Poster for In Vanda's Room 2000 2h 50m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Sisters in a Lisbon slum called Fontainhas pass the time by smoking heroin and talking while bulldozers destroy their neighborhood.

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Richard Brody New Yorker The whole neighborhood seems subterranean, shrouded even during daytime in a sepulchral darkness that sunlight pierces like a headache; from its depths, the residents are gasping for air. Dec 2, 2013 Full Review Jeremy Carr Vague Visages There is a rather admirable perseverance displayed by Vanda and her fellow inhabitants... Nov 16, 2023 Full Review Dorothy Woodend The Tyee (British Columbia) . . .the reality presented -- drugs, blood, shit, puke, garbage, dirt, snot, fleas -- shows that even the most degraded life still has beauty, and not just a little bit, but heaps of it. Aug 23, 2017 Full Review Brandon Judell HuffPost Seldom has the unlit, mundane world of the penniless been so seductive Rated: 9/10 Jul 30, 2015 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A slow moving and depressing pic. Rated: B- May 11, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (9) audience reviews
Audience Member It's depressing to say the least but I must admit it was a wonderful step up from the dreadfully dull Colossal Youth. I find Costas style so enriching and unique that even when his films meander they are always worth looking at. Not for general audiences but cinefiles will find a hard pressed look into poverty and addiction. What I liked best was how understated the film is about drug use. Highly realistic. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member I love static shots. I love dark (stories) and dark (cinematography). I love a docudrama conceit. I love slice of life stories. This movie is all of that, but I did not love it. Second in the Fontainhas Trilogy, this movie did not engage me enough to care. Show me something other than the drug use. Shot after shot after shot after shot of smack use does not a movie make. Towards the end I finally started to care a bit for the characters but then it was too late and the film was over. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Shooting on digital with virtually no crew, Costa follows people playing themselves, highlighting the lives of the addicted and displaced. The natural lighting creates an often dark and foreboding atmosphere, one that meshes beautifully with the near-constant sounds of bulldozers plowing through nearby homes, slowly destroying the neighborhood in the name of progress. Costa rightly points his camera on people, tracking the human cost of personal and social choices. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Tengo que decir que me costó ver esta peli y no sólo por las tres horas de tono hiper contemplativo en la pieza de Vanda, sino también por lo crudo que puede resultar ver la vida diaria de una junkie. De hecho no me causaba mucha risa los momentos de humor que muchas personas en el cine parecían disfrutar. Pedro Costa presentó este film como ficción, pero es el hiperrealismo lo que más impresiona y conmueve. Bello uso de la luz natural; bello trabajo colaborativo con los residentes de este barrio, sobre todo con Vanda. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Whoa/Wow/How did Costa do this? And I disagree with the other reviewer, I think we spend plenty of time in Vanda's Room. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member 'No quarto da Vanda' is one of the best films never make. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
In Vanda's Room

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Sisters in a Lisbon slum called Fontainhas pass the time by smoking heroin and talking while bulldozers destroy their neighborhood.
Director
Pedro Costa
Producer
Karl Baumgartner, Andres Pfäffli, Francisco Villa-Lobos
Production Co
Instituto Português da Arte Cinematográfica e Audiovisual (IPACA)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Portuguese
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 15, 2020
Runtime
2h 50m