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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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Sisters in a Lisbon slum called Fontainhas pass the time by smoking heroin and talking while bulldozers destroy their neighborhood.

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker 12/02/2013
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. Go to Full Review
Jeremy Carr Vague Visages 11/16/2023
There is a rather admirable perseverance displayed by Vanda and her fellow inhabitants... Go to Full Review
Dorothy Woodend The Tyee (British Columbia) 08/23/2017
. . .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. Go to Full Review
Brandon Judell HuffPost 07/30/2015
9/10
Seldom has the unlit, mundane world of the penniless been so seductive Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 05/11/2011
B-
A slow moving and depressing pic. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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S R @ScottR Jan 27 Saw it since it was on SnS22 list. However, this was horribly painful and never really went beyond the room. Yes, it was realistic, but does that make it worth watching? No. I did appreciate learning about Portugal's poverty, but it never taught me about the bigger issues, just that this area existed and these people live for drugs. SLC library DVD. See more 02/06/2015 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. See more 11/11/2012 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. See more 06/13/2012 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. See more 11/08/2009 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. See more 05/05/2008 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. See more Read all reviews
In Vanda's Room

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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