Co-directors João Pedro Rodrigues & João Rui Guerra da Mata are first and foremost cinephiles, and make no bones about invoking the classic Josef von Sternberg and Nicholas Ray directed, Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell starred Rko feature, Macao, throughout their own shapeshifting exploration of the post-Portuguese protean city. But The Last Time I Saw Macao is much more than just an homage to beloved cinema greats. Like it’s cinematic ancestor, the film delves into the darkness of film noir, but it also passes like a shadow from underground thriller to personal documentary, city symphony to action shoot-out at any given moment, all while acting as a cinematic travelogue for Guerra da Mata, who grew up in Macao, but hasn’t been back in thirty years.
In the last three decades the city has changed quite a bit, and in the film’s parallel universe, it’s fallen into shadow...
In the last three decades the city has changed quite a bit, and in the film’s parallel universe, it’s fallen into shadow...
- 4/15/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Watch the new trailer for João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata's The Last Time I Saw Macao. Cinema Guild distributes the film, which opens September 13th. The Last Time I Saw Macao is a wonderfully mysterious, shape-shifting feature and a detective tale that blends film noir, documentary footage and personal travelogue to intoxicating effect. Lydie Barbara, João Rui Guerra da Mata, João Pedro Rodrigues and Cindy Scrash star.
- 8/24/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata's The Last Time I Saw Macao has a new, theatrical poster. The Cinema Guild distributed musical drama, which at this time has no set U.S. release date apart from opening in the summer, made its world premiere at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival and was an official selection of the Toronto and New York Film Festivals. Starring in the film also known as A Última Vez Que Vi Macau are Lydie Barbara, João Rui Guerra da Mata, João Pedro Rodrigues and Cindy Scrash. The Last Time I Saw Macao is produced by Daniel Chabannes, Corentin Senechal and Rodrigues. I really love the design of this poster which harks back to the days of many beloved classics.
- 4/26/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
After stops in Locarno, Tiff and Nyff, The Cinema Guild have The Last Time I Saw Macao , João Pedro Rodrigues was born in Lisbon. His feature films are and “The Last Time I Saw Macao” (2012). João Rui Guerra da Mata has co-written with João Pedro Rodrigues the feature film “To Die Like a Man” (2009). “The Last Time I Saw Macao” (2012) is his first feature film as director.
Gist:
Worth Noting: Rodrigues’ previous films are available for viewing: “O Fantasma” (2000), Two Drifters aka “Odette” (2005), “To Die Like a Man” (2009)
Do We Care?: Although our Blake Williams does have some reservations about the film (Tiff ’12 Daily recap), he thinks that “the disappearance of history and culture (Macao was a Portuguese colony for 4 centuries, ending in 1999, so the filmmakers are playing with their own genuine and personal nostalgia from its past), these little bursts of light infused a visual poeticism that made the overall viewing rewarding.
Gist:
Worth Noting: Rodrigues’ previous films are available for viewing: “O Fantasma” (2000), Two Drifters aka “Odette” (2005), “To Die Like a Man” (2009)
Do We Care?: Although our Blake Williams does have some reservations about the film (Tiff ’12 Daily recap), he thinks that “the disappearance of history and culture (Macao was a Portuguese colony for 4 centuries, ending in 1999, so the filmmakers are playing with their own genuine and personal nostalgia from its past), these little bursts of light infused a visual poeticism that made the overall viewing rewarding.
- 12/5/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
There is no such thing as “pure documentary.” While classified as “non-fiction,” documentaries ultimately form narratives depending on how the director chooses to cut the footage together. In The Last Time I Saw Macao, co-directors Joao Pedro Rodrigues and Joao Rui Guerra da Mata, conversely, draw attention to a fictional framework, a man searching for his troubled friend in Macao. However, this framework opens up to an honest documentary portrait of a city. Last Time I Saw Macao does indeed find a clever fashion in which to photograph its eponymous city, but sometimes lacks a certain ability to entertain. The film begins with a rather compelling opening sequence. Transgendered woman Candy (Cindy Scrash, star of Rodrigues’ To Die Like A Man) lip-synchs to Jane Russell’s “You Kill Me” from Josef Von Sternbergh’s film Macao (1952) in a direct homage to both the film and the city (many references are made to Von Sternbergh’s film throughout...
- 10/12/2012
- by Caitlin Hughes
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The New York Film Festival is celebrating its 50th birthday this year while at the same time saying goodbye to Richard Peña, who served as Program Director for the last 25 years. This year’s festival is packed with films from all over the world, bringing the best of the best from Cannes, Berlin, and other renowned festivals to a New York audience. Peña, who also teaches in the Film Department at Columbia University, has long championed Latin American cinema, in particular. After traveling in the region as a young undergrad he decided to focus his academic research on Latin America. Peña has gone on to not only spotlight Latino films in the classroom but also carved out a space, year after year, for Latino films to shine at the New York Film Festival. This year is no exception. Now in its second week, the fest has some exciting Latino premieres that will close out its 50th edition.
Here and There
Aquí y Allá | Antonio Méndez Esparza (2012)
Mexico/Spain/USA | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 110 minutes
Having won the top prize at the Critic’s Week sidebar at Cannes, this debut feature from Antonio Méndez Esparza looks at immigration from a different point of view--what happens when you go back? Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico after a stint working in New York. When he arrives he is surprised to see how different things look, how things have changed. He has little to say to his daughters and has to get to know his wife all over again. He feels detached, lonely, alienated. He feels distant from his family--and in parallel, the camera stays far away from the characters. In a series of long takes, conversations amongst family and friends are seen from a distance and the camera remains stationary. People walk in and out of scenes, have their backs turned to the camera, or are just too far away to see clearly. We rarely get a glimpse of those who talk and without close-ups of their faces--miss out on facial expressions and the nuances of the nonverbal. Just like Pedro--the audience, as a result of the camera work--has trouble emotionally connecting with the people on the screen.
No
Pablo Larraín (2012)
Chile/USA | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 110 minutes
Pablo Larraín and Gael García Bernal in person at both screenings and at the SoHo Apple Store on Thursday, October 11 as part of NyffLive.
“In 1988, in an effort to extend and legitimize its rule, the Chilean military junta announced it would hold a plebiscite to get the people’s permission to stay in power. Despite being given 15 minutes a day to plead its case on television, the anti-Pinochet opposition was divided and without a clear message. Enter Rene Saavedra, an ad man who, after a career pushing soft drinks and soap, sets out to sell Chileans on democracy and freedom.” Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Motorcycle Diaries) stars as Rene Saavedra. His performance is said to be the major reason behind the standing ovation it received at the Cannes Film Festival, its world premiere. It also was just announced as Chile’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
The Dead Man and Being Happy
El muerto y ser feliz | Javier Rebollo (2012)
Spain/Argentina/France | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 94 minutes
“For his third feature, the gifted Spanish director Javier Rebollo (Woman Without Piano) has decamped to Argentina and created a literate, screwball road movie that Borges surely would have loved. The “dead man” of the title is Santos (veteran Spanish screen star José Sacristán), a cancer-stricken hired killer who flees his Buenos Aires hospital bed and sets off on one last assignment. It is a journey that takes him through an interior Argentina rarely glimpsed in movies, from the Cordoba resort town of La Cumbrecita (with its disproportionate—and disconcerting—population of elderly Germans) to the northern province of Santiago del Estero. Along the way, Santos finds himself joined by Alejandra (the wonderful Roxana Blanco), an attractive middle-aged woman who impulsively jumps into his vintage Ford Falcon at a gas station and soon thwarts him from his intended path.”
Films from Portugal are often excluded from a discussion of Latin American or Latino films. But, in the same way that we include Brazilian films even though they are in Portuguese and Spanish films because of the country’s colonial ties to the Americas--i personally think that films from Portugal should also qualify as Latin American or Latino. Maybe, I’ll just start calling them Ibero-American films.
Tabu
Miguel Gomes (2012)
Portugal | Portuguese with English Subtitles | Format: 35mm | 118 minutes
“Shot in ephemeral black-and-white celluloid, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia that nevertheless is grounded in serious feeling and beliefs, even anti-colonialist politics. There is a story, which is delightful to follow and in which the cart comes before the horse: the first half is set in contemporary Lisbon, the second, involving two of the same characters, in a Portuguese colony in the early 1960s. “Be My Baby” belted in Portuguese, a wandering crocodile, and a passionate, ill-advised coupling seen through gently moving mosquito netting make for addled movie magic.”
The Last Time I Saw Macao
A Última Vez Que Vi Macau | João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012)
Portugal/France | Portuguese with English Subtitles | 85 minutes
“This stunning amalgam of playful film noir and Chris Marker–like cine-essay from João Pedro Rodrigues (To Die Like a Man, Nyff 2009) and João Rui Guerra da Mata explores the psychic pull of the titular former Portuguese colony. After a spectacular opening scene, in which actress Cindy Scrash lip-synchs, as tigers pace behind her, to Jane Russell’s “You Kill Me”—from Josef von Sternberg’s Macao (1952), a key reference here—the film shifts to da Mata’s off-screen recollections of growing up in this gambling haven in the South China Sea.”
The New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, runs through October 14.
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature onSydneysBuzzthat highlights emerging and established Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow@LatinoBuzzon twitter.
Here and There
Aquí y Allá | Antonio Méndez Esparza (2012)
Mexico/Spain/USA | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 110 minutes
Having won the top prize at the Critic’s Week sidebar at Cannes, this debut feature from Antonio Méndez Esparza looks at immigration from a different point of view--what happens when you go back? Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico after a stint working in New York. When he arrives he is surprised to see how different things look, how things have changed. He has little to say to his daughters and has to get to know his wife all over again. He feels detached, lonely, alienated. He feels distant from his family--and in parallel, the camera stays far away from the characters. In a series of long takes, conversations amongst family and friends are seen from a distance and the camera remains stationary. People walk in and out of scenes, have their backs turned to the camera, or are just too far away to see clearly. We rarely get a glimpse of those who talk and without close-ups of their faces--miss out on facial expressions and the nuances of the nonverbal. Just like Pedro--the audience, as a result of the camera work--has trouble emotionally connecting with the people on the screen.
No
Pablo Larraín (2012)
Chile/USA | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 110 minutes
Pablo Larraín and Gael García Bernal in person at both screenings and at the SoHo Apple Store on Thursday, October 11 as part of NyffLive.
“In 1988, in an effort to extend and legitimize its rule, the Chilean military junta announced it would hold a plebiscite to get the people’s permission to stay in power. Despite being given 15 minutes a day to plead its case on television, the anti-Pinochet opposition was divided and without a clear message. Enter Rene Saavedra, an ad man who, after a career pushing soft drinks and soap, sets out to sell Chileans on democracy and freedom.” Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Motorcycle Diaries) stars as Rene Saavedra. His performance is said to be the major reason behind the standing ovation it received at the Cannes Film Festival, its world premiere. It also was just announced as Chile’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
The Dead Man and Being Happy
El muerto y ser feliz | Javier Rebollo (2012)
Spain/Argentina/France | Spanish with English subtitles | Format: Dcp | 94 minutes
“For his third feature, the gifted Spanish director Javier Rebollo (Woman Without Piano) has decamped to Argentina and created a literate, screwball road movie that Borges surely would have loved. The “dead man” of the title is Santos (veteran Spanish screen star José Sacristán), a cancer-stricken hired killer who flees his Buenos Aires hospital bed and sets off on one last assignment. It is a journey that takes him through an interior Argentina rarely glimpsed in movies, from the Cordoba resort town of La Cumbrecita (with its disproportionate—and disconcerting—population of elderly Germans) to the northern province of Santiago del Estero. Along the way, Santos finds himself joined by Alejandra (the wonderful Roxana Blanco), an attractive middle-aged woman who impulsively jumps into his vintage Ford Falcon at a gas station and soon thwarts him from his intended path.”
Films from Portugal are often excluded from a discussion of Latin American or Latino films. But, in the same way that we include Brazilian films even though they are in Portuguese and Spanish films because of the country’s colonial ties to the Americas--i personally think that films from Portugal should also qualify as Latin American or Latino. Maybe, I’ll just start calling them Ibero-American films.
Tabu
Miguel Gomes (2012)
Portugal | Portuguese with English Subtitles | Format: 35mm | 118 minutes
“Shot in ephemeral black-and-white celluloid, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia that nevertheless is grounded in serious feeling and beliefs, even anti-colonialist politics. There is a story, which is delightful to follow and in which the cart comes before the horse: the first half is set in contemporary Lisbon, the second, involving two of the same characters, in a Portuguese colony in the early 1960s. “Be My Baby” belted in Portuguese, a wandering crocodile, and a passionate, ill-advised coupling seen through gently moving mosquito netting make for addled movie magic.”
The Last Time I Saw Macao
A Última Vez Que Vi Macau | João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012)
Portugal/France | Portuguese with English Subtitles | 85 minutes
“This stunning amalgam of playful film noir and Chris Marker–like cine-essay from João Pedro Rodrigues (To Die Like a Man, Nyff 2009) and João Rui Guerra da Mata explores the psychic pull of the titular former Portuguese colony. After a spectacular opening scene, in which actress Cindy Scrash lip-synchs, as tigers pace behind her, to Jane Russell’s “You Kill Me”—from Josef von Sternberg’s Macao (1952), a key reference here—the film shifts to da Mata’s off-screen recollections of growing up in this gambling haven in the South China Sea.”
The New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, runs through October 14.
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature onSydneysBuzzthat highlights emerging and established Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow@LatinoBuzzon twitter.
- 10/10/2012
- by Vanessa Erazo
- Sydney's Buzz
As I mentioned in the preface to the first part of my Wavelengths preview (the one focusing on the short films), there are significant changes afoot in 2012. Until last year, the festival had a section known as Visions, which was the primary home for formally challenging cinema that nevertheless conformed to the basic tenets of arthouse and/or “festival” cinema (actors, scripting, 70+minute running time, and, once upon a time, 35mm presentation). This year, Wavelengths is both its former self, and it also contains the sort of work that Visions most likely would have housed. While in some respects this can seem to result in a kind of split personality for the section, it also means that Wavelengths, which has often been described as a sort of “festival within the festival,” has moved front and center. Films that would’ve occupied single slots in the older avant-Wavelengths model, like the...
- 9/12/2012
- MUBI
This week's announcement that Olivier Père, former programmer of Cannes's Directors' Fortnight, will be stepping down from his post at the helm of the Festival del Film Locarno marks the end of brief but important era for this film festival, one of the longest-running in the world. In just three years, Père has helped to put the annual event back on the festival map, drawing an annual influx of celebrities and industry-types for red-carpet world premieres, jury prizes, and lifetime achievement awards. Perhaps more than ever in its sixty-six-year history, Locarno is an important station on the fall festival circuit, forecasting the slates of Toronto and New York and providing useful international gateway for cinema from all over the world.
This year's festival featured a characteristically dizzying mix of international festival ephemera, an Otto Preminger retrospective, and much-heralded appearances by the likes of Kylie Minogue, Alain Delon, and Harry Belafonte on the festival's main stage,...
This year's festival featured a characteristically dizzying mix of international festival ephemera, an Otto Preminger retrospective, and much-heralded appearances by the likes of Kylie Minogue, Alain Delon, and Harry Belafonte on the festival's main stage,...
- 8/29/2012
- MUBI
Director: João Pedro Rodrigues Writers: João Pedro Rodrigues, Rui Catalão, João Rui Guerra da Mata Starring: Fernando Santos, Alexander David, Chandra Malatitch, Cindy Scrash Masks and makeup are often used to disguise one's true self and in Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues' (The Phantom, Two Drifters) To Die Like A Man, some characters desire to be someone different while others want to hide from reality. Rodrigues' narrative revolves around the existential quagmire in which a pre-operative transsexual named Tonia (Fernando Santos) is hopelessly stuck. When Tonia is told by a doctor, “nothing is discarded, everything is turned into something else,” we know this dialog is referring to much more than the origami-like process of re-purposing Tonia's penis into a vagina. How can anything in To Die Like A Man be taken at face value when the characters' faces [and genders] are blurred and/or transformed? Tonia is an aging Lisbon drag...
- 8/27/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
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