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Vitalina Varela

Play trailer Poster for Vitalina Varela Released Feb 21, 2020 2h 4m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
95% Tomatometer 64 Reviews 56% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A woman moves from Cape Verde to her deceased husband's shack on the outskirts of Lisbon.

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Vitalina Varela

Vitalina Varela

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Critics Consensus

Rigorous and beautifully composed, Vitalina Varela is a quietly absorbing drama whose placid surface belies hidden depths.

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Critics Reviews

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Adam Nayman The Ringer Costa-who is one of the great image makers-visualizes that sense of relief and renewal beautifully. It's amazing how powerful the sight of blue skies can be after being plunged into endless night. Jan 27, 2021 Full Review Jake Wilson The Age (Australia) The enduring paradox of Costa's work is that this setting has its own irresistible glamour, reminiscent of fashion photography; the people he films are his models. Aug 6, 2020 Full Review Joe Morgenstern Wall Street Journal Vitalina Varela is demanding, rewarding, and ineffably stirring. Mar 26, 2020 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills A painterly minimalist drama... Mar 4, 2024 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia Far from the tenebrist plasticity that adds poetry with chiaroscuro, it seems to me a leaden, futile and overwhelmingly lethargic docufiction exercise from Costa. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/10 Sep 8, 2023 Full Review Benjamín Harguindey EscribiendoCine The film elicits oppression and anguish, but in its search, it also allows (literal) rays of hope. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 8/10 May 3, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Andrew F The film looks like a Rembrandt on even my smallish screen. I can't imagine how good it would look on the big screen. It's sparse and despairing, but beautiful and straightforward. A bitter but decent woman is angry at her dead husband who abandoned her decades previously. She seeks some kind of redemption through the church, but can find none. It's a lot of Beckett's "I can't go on, I can't go on, I'll go on." It's kindred spirit with Bresson, amateur actors, beautiful framing mise en scene, moving slowly yet assuredly. We are caught up in the director's vision of our fate. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/27/24 Full Review jason m Although the movie's emotional power is hollowed out by its dreadfully slow pacing that will put mainstream viewers off, for those who love sumptuous photography, this movie offers several dozen of the most purely captivating images of the year. As a study in the use of chiaroscuro and the use of tableaux to tell a story, and as a study in the opposite of the conventional wisdom of movies being purely for escapism, I can recommend this to viewers wishing to broaden their understanding of what a movie can be and how can be told. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review dave d There aren't many words in Vitalina Varela. This is a forgettable feature. Here's what ya do... Smoke three bowls. Then you can become a critic and talk about how artsy it is. It's a bore, but it's fun to look at. It's a film that just lies there and if it's your cup of tea then good for you. It isn't mine and I dare you to tell me what it was about without looking up a summary. Exactly. Final Score: 1.8/10 Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The story didn't do anything for me, but holy cow this movie is absolutely stunning visually. Unlike anything I've ever seen before. Must see. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie is horrible Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review brent m Exquisite atmospheric cinematography and lighting aside, this otherwise excessively tedious exercise in pregnant pauses, long lingering shots of insignificance, pretentious monologues and voluminous footage of mundane activities that adds nothing to the narrative makes one glad for the fast forward button. Fewer films have I seen that make the viewer long for the ending -- and, when it finally comes, it's largely unsatisfying, likely to evoke a huge "So what?" I fail to understand the critics' raves about this one, but, with such a dearth of new material out there at the moment, I imagine that almost anything will do to satisfy the appetites of the hungry. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Vitalina Varela

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A woman moves from Cape Verde to her deceased husband's shack on the outskirts of Lisbon.
Director
Pedro Costa
Producer
Abel Ribeiro Chaves
Screenwriter
Pedro Costa, Vitalina Varela
Distributor
Grasshopper Film
Production Co
Optec
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 21, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 18, 2020
Runtime
2h 4m
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