Rent Colossal Youth (2006)
3.4 of 5 from 66 ratings
2h 30min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Across the course of history, only a relative handful of filmmakers can be said to have developed and refined a language of cinematographic expression which, inimitable, belongs to its creator alone. Pedro Costa, of our time, exists within this select group, and Colossal Youth is one of his sublime achievements. An intimate epic wherein present and past move as one, Colossal Youth chronicles Ventura, the towering Cape Verdean who has assumed the role of surrogate "father" to an untold number of characters around Lisbon and its now-razed neighbourhood of Fontainhas. Through Ventura's ghost-like visitations to figures such as Vanda Duarte (the central personage of Costa's previous In Vanda's Room) and repeated recollections of his past life as a newly migrated manual labourer, Costa explores the nature, and necessity, of storytelling in the course of the human adventure. - Actors:
- Ventura, Vanda Duarte, Beatriz Duarte, Gustavo Sumpta, Cila Cardoso, Isabel Cardoso, Alberto 'Lento' Barros, António Semedo, Paulo Nunes, José Maria Pina, André Semedo, Silva 'Nana' Alexandre, Paula Barrulas
- Directors:
- Pedro Costa
- Producers:
- Francisco Villa-Lobos
- Writers:
- Pedro Costa
- Aka:
- Juventude Em Marcha
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Drama
- Collections:
- Masters of Cinema, Top Films
- Countries:
- Portugal
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Reviews (1) of Colossal Youth
Humane classic - Colossal Youth review by TE
Even amongst the best exponents of 'slow cinema' Pedro Costa stands out as an exceptionally gifted film maker.
He concentrates on the deprived community of Cape Verde families in Portugal, in this case the hypnotically engaging figure of Ventura, a gaunt, gangling older man.
The dialogue is mainly written by the untrained participants. There are long silences and there are passages of beautiful poetry. The tone is serious and even sombre, but there are moments of wry humour.
The loose narrative is thoroughly absorbing, mainly because the lighting and the camera angles are so cleverly designed. There is a sense of a very careful technician at work behind the apparent documentary surface.
Can't wait to see his other films.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.