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What is it with Portuguese films and filmmakers these last couple of years? First there is the centenarian Manoel de Oliveira, who has brought a new film, The Strange Case of Angelica, to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year. Only a year ago, he had a 2009 film Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl also at TIFF. I wrote a blog post on it which I titled: Charm and Mischief at One Hundred: Manoel de Oliveira's sparkling, winking gem.
There is now another Portuguese film, Mysteries of Lisbon by Raul Ruiz who originally hails from Chile (nonetheless a "Latino"), showing at this year's TIFF. Ruiz is in his seventies. Perhaps age provides wisdom coupled with charm to bring a unique understanding of the world. The film appears to be a sweeping epic. Here is part of the TIFF synopsis of Mysteries of Lisbon:
Based on a famous nineteenth-century Portuguese novel, Raul Ruiz's Mysteries of Lisbon follows a jealous countess, a wealthy businessman and a young orphaned boy across Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil where they connect with a variety of mysterious individuals.A fuller description of the film and the director is at the TIFF site, where Piers Handling writes that "the film’s magnificence is buoyed by refined art direction and fluid camerawork."
