The Green Years

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brent m Though beautifully shot in black and white, this meandering Portuguese dark love story never gains any meaningful traction until the last few minutes, and, by then, it's too late. While director Paulo Rocha's 1963 debut feature may have been an audacious cinematic experiment for its time in terms of production values, cinematography and subject matter, the film nevertheless fails to strike a consistent stride as it plays out. Its primary narrative, the tentative romance of a young man and woman who have each relocated to Lisbon from the provinces to find work, is choppy and often characterized by irrelevant, uninteresting dialogue. And, to make matters worse, the principal storyline is continually interrupted with ancillary story threads that never fully develop and are seldom satisfactorily resolved, often involving characters who come and go without introduction or apparent purpose, elements that are little more than annoying intrusions to be sure. While this offering may be seen as something of an artifact from an emerging school of filmmaking at the time, it's almost comically dated by today's standards. Perhaps something has been lost in translation, or perhaps something has been lost to the passage of time. In any event, much is being made of the fact that this picture has never been released in the U.S. until now -- and, after screening it, I can see why. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Green Years

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