Set in Rio (where I recently was) at Carnival, it purports to be a re-telling of the Orpheus legend (he of the lyre and the ill-fated girlfriend) in modern (drug dealers, guns) drag, *and* to be a contemporary remake of the 1959 Black Orpheus, a re-telling of the etc...Orpheu failed in all particulars except the colors.
Amateurish editing, embarrassing dialog, major elements of the legend missing (Eurydice bit by a snake, descent into the Stygian realm, Cerberus the dog, location of E., leading her back to life *no looking back*) and rotten music -- combined to make an unmemorable movie.
Orphee Negro, on the other hand, included all legendary elements and had more believable, sympathetic characters. Eurydice did *not* look like an Indian Julia Roberts under constant attendance by hairdressers. Orpheus could really sing, and sang music by the great Luis Bonfa. As a tribute the new director deployed a couple of the same shots from the old movie *and* concluded with the big Bonfa tune -- the best parts of Orpheu, it turned out.
And even the Carnival sequences, staged in the original, were more exciting than the actual-reality scenes filmed in the remake. Foo!
clark
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Topic - Orfeu - clarkjohnsen 08:11:44 12/21/00 (0)