Tudo fica, tudo "fica"… até ao bum final!
April 5, 2015 9:16 AM Subscribe
On the 2nd of April 2015, 106-year old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira died at his hometown, Porto. Obituaries: The Guardian, Time.
The only filmmaker whose active career spanned from the silent era to the digital age, he debuted in 1931 with the short documentary Douro, Faina Fluvial (part 1 and part 2; YouTube), with another short, O Velho do Restelo, released last year and screened at the 71st Venice Festival, marking its end. John Malkovich, who worked with Oliveira in the feature films O Convento [trailer; YT], Je Rentre à La Maison (these two alongside Catherine Deneuve) and Um Filme Falado [full film; YT], echoed the thoughts of many when he said he believed Oliveira could go on for ever.
In his youth, Oliveira was also a great athlete: he was national pole vault champion, with a personal record of 3,35 metres, was renowned as an acrobat for Sport Club do Porto [in Portuguese; sorry] and won the International Estoril Circuit race in the 1937 Grand Prix season, driving a Ford V8 special.
The following two shorts are my personal favorites:
O Pintor e a Cidade (1956), the first color film directed by Oliveira.
A Caça (1964), he was forced by Salazar's regime to add a happy ending. In 1988 he had the opportunity to revert it to his original vision but chose to keep the forced version, although only showing it after the film credits.
99-year old Oliveira dancing to Korobeiniki. Delightful.
The only filmmaker whose active career spanned from the silent era to the digital age, he debuted in 1931 with the short documentary Douro, Faina Fluvial (part 1 and part 2; YouTube), with another short, O Velho do Restelo, released last year and screened at the 71st Venice Festival, marking its end. John Malkovich, who worked with Oliveira in the feature films O Convento [trailer; YT], Je Rentre à La Maison (these two alongside Catherine Deneuve) and Um Filme Falado [full film; YT], echoed the thoughts of many when he said he believed Oliveira could go on for ever.
In his youth, Oliveira was also a great athlete: he was national pole vault champion, with a personal record of 3,35 metres, was renowned as an acrobat for Sport Club do Porto [in Portuguese; sorry] and won the International Estoril Circuit race in the 1937 Grand Prix season, driving a Ford V8 special.
The following two shorts are my personal favorites:
O Pintor e a Cidade (1956), the first color film directed by Oliveira.
A Caça (1964), he was forced by Salazar's regime to add a happy ending. In 1988 he had the opportunity to revert it to his original vision but chose to keep the forced version, although only showing it after the film credits.
99-year old Oliveira dancing to Korobeiniki. Delightful.
This is truly the end of an era. Oliveira was the last living director of the silent film era, having made his first film in Portugal before sound had been introduced to the Portuguese film industry. He's also the oldest person ever to have directed a film. His filmography is so vast that people are still finding new gems.
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posted by jonp72 at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2015
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posted by jonp72 at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2015
Descanse em paz.
posted by On the Corner at 1:27 AM on April 6, 2015
posted by On the Corner at 1:27 AM on April 6, 2015
A morte assusta-o?
Não, não me assusta nada. O sofrimento, sim, a morte não. A morte é... é o fim. É o fim da macacada. (risos)
Does death frighten you?
No, no it doens't scare me at all. Suffering yes, death no. Death is ... it's the end. It's the end of all the monkey business. (laughs)
(From an interview with Manoel de Oliveira in Diario de Noticias, 2011)
posted by chavenet at 2:14 AM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Não, não me assusta nada. O sofrimento, sim, a morte não. A morte é... é o fim. É o fim da macacada. (risos)
Does death frighten you?
No, no it doens't scare me at all. Suffering yes, death no. Death is ... it's the end. It's the end of all the monkey business. (laughs)
(From an interview with Manoel de Oliveira in Diario de Noticias, 2011)
posted by chavenet at 2:14 AM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by oceanjesse at 8:28 PM on April 7, 2015
posted by oceanjesse at 8:28 PM on April 7, 2015
Thank you, languagehat.
posted by khonostrov at 10:40 AM on May 4, 2015
posted by khonostrov at 10:40 AM on May 4, 2015
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posted by languagehat at 9:32 AM on April 5, 2015