Review: Vitalina Varela

Image courtesy of Grasshopper Film.

The films of Pedro Costa are an acquired taste - a body of work and cinematic rhythm that take some adjustment regardless of whether you are a champion of so-called "slow cinema." I was introduced to the Portuguese director through his Fontainhas trilogy - the very good "Essos," "In Vanda's Room" and "Colossal Youth," my personal favorite of the three - and was mesmerized by his languid, if visually gorgeous and hypnotic style.

His latest film, "Vitalina Varela," which won the Locarno Film Festival, is being released to a fair amount of acclaim, but it's oddly enough one of my least favorite of his films. It's certainly a well-made and often visually engrossing picture, but the filmmaker's typically languid style doesn't work as well this time around, and there are long, drawn out sequences that often feel aimless.

Centered at the heart of the film is the titular character (played by none other than... Vitalina Varela), a woman who has lived in Cape Verde for 40 years and hasn't been home to Portugal during that amount of time. She has arrived in town for the burial of her husband, but she's three days too late - no matter, she hasn't seen him in decades after he left her behind. Upon exiting barefoot off an airplane, she is told that there's nothing left for her in Portugal - but Vitalina is determined to stay.

The next several days consist of her tolerating visits from her husband's friends and family, that is, until she tires of feeding them and having them loaf about in the house. She also spends time with a priest (played by Costa regular Ventura), whom she asks to give a burial mass for her husband. Occasionally, storms batter the flimsy home of her husband and a young couple drops by once or twice for a meal.

In terms of story, that's about it. "Vitalina Varela is, similar to Costa's other work, mostly just a vehicle for capturing the faces and structures of Portugal's slums. It moves at a deliberately slow pace, but I didn't find it as captivating as the Fontainhas trilogy.

Varela gives a strong leading performance, and much of her acting is done with the eyes, rather than the mouth, and there's a poetic beauty to the filmmaking. But ultimately, Costa's latest didn't rank among his best - for me, at least. "Vitalina Varela" is often beautiful to view and can be hypnotizing, but those seeking an introduction to the director's work would be better to start with his Fontainhas trio of films.