Laura Soveral Movies
- 2007
In early-'90s Mozambique, following the dissipation of that country's infamous civil war, a sensitive boy named Muidinga (Nick Lauro Teresa) struggles to survive without the presence of his parents -- who have long since disappeared, their whereabouts unknown. So begins Teresa Prata's gentle, compassionate drama Sleepwalking Land. As the story commences, Muidinga happens upon a diary found near a lifeless corpse that speaks of a woman on a ship seeking her estranged son. Certain that the woman in question is his mother, Muidinga embarks on a long journey in search of her, and soon gains the support and assistance of a traveling companion, the elderly Tuahir. Tuahir expresses his belief in Muidinga's quest -- but fails to recognize Muidinga's propensity for inventing stories from the diary. As background questions linger of the tale's legitimacy, the two travelers set out on a long trek from one refugee camp to another, hoping to find at least some trace of the woman who brought Muidinga into the world. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nick Lauro Teresa, Aladino Jasse, (more)
- 1998
Joao Botelho wrote and directed this Portuguese-French-Danish comedy with a theme of money and a cobweb of interrelated tales. Young Jesus (Joaquim Oliviera) is taken on a vacation by his parents (Rita Blanco, Adriano Luz) to a deserted beach resort. They accidentally fall into overnight wealth after Jesus digs in the sand, uncovering a large drug stash. Others characters intersecting here include an alcoholic actress, a philandering banker, a general trafficking in arms, priests who close their church and head north as hitchhikers, politicians who watch an all-girl production of Julius Caesar, and beggars who recite a children's story in a huge heap of trash. Shown in competition at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joaquim Oliveira, Adriano Luz, (more)
- 1997
Set in 1949 Portugal when the country was under strict right-wing government, this drama follows the flight of a 19-year-old political fugitive and the resourceful but mysterious older man who agrees to help him get out of the country. The precise reasons why young Andre, who was involved with a revolutionary movement, was put into prison is never clarified. After his escape from prison, Andre is introduced to the button-down Lambaca. He is not what Andre was expecting, and he does not completely trust the gun-toting Lambaca, but with everything to lose -- including the fortune in cash he carries upon him -- the youth has no choice but to follow him. As the difficult trek into the north continues, Andre's trepidation mounts. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
In this artful film by 85-year old director Manoel de Oliveira, the heroine, instead of being powerless in the face of a world ruled by men, finds herself to be far too powerful. Beginning when she was a child, Ema (Leonor Silveira as an adult) had the kind of looks and manner that could stop cars when she came up to a street -- or cause accidents. As time goes by, she explores her power over men and, as a mature woman, chooses to marry a man who has virtually no machismo so that she can continue having affairs and exploring this mysterious ability of hers. Eventually she seeks to transcend her unusual limitation and accomplishes her death with astonishing serenity. This haunting story is based on a novel by Agustina Bessa-Luis. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leonor Silveira, Luis Miguel Cintra, (more)
- 1993
Miguel (Luis Miguel Cintra) is lucky that his income will only level off if he neglects his business as a financier, and his wife and family will be well supported. Why? Because he has begun hearing noises that no one else hears, noises that bother him a great deal, and that make it impossible for him to bear human society. His wife (Jessica Weiss) is thoroughly put out by this radically changed behavior in her formerly good husband, but though she considers leaving him, she stays by his side. Deep in the mountains, Cecelia (Rita Dias), a devout, pure young cowherd, has been brutally raped by an old man. Her boyfriend (Pedro Hestnes) has killed the rapist, and fled the area. As a result of the rape, Cecelia is pregnant. One day, while driving in the mountains, Miguel gives Cecelia's boyfriend a ride. The two of them chance upon her sitting amid the rocks with her infant baby. The image is so like that of the Madonna that Miguel is thunderstruck. Not only that, the noises that plagued him have gone, and he can return to his patient wife a happier man. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Luis Miguel Cintra, Pedro Hestnes, (more)
- 1991
In this symbolic and philosophically weighty film, all of the inhabitants of a Portuguese mental asylum suffer from religious delusions of one kind or another -- even the cynic who denies the value of any religions at all. One couple re-enacts the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and then the woman who played at being Eve plays at being St. Teresa de Avila. Another man thinks he's a character from a Dostoyevsky novel, and yet another claims to have in his possession a fifth gospel from the Bible. Everyone has a point of view and is not shy about stating it, defending it in debate with the others with great sincerity, though (the reviewers claimed) with very little elegance or wit. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria de Medeiros, Luis Miguel Cintra, (more)
- 1987
The idea for this depressing drama was taken from the autobiography of the 17th-century nun Antonia Margarida de Castelo Branco. Set in modern times, a young woman is married off to a degenerate gambler from a supposedly respectable family. The union is doomed to failure, and after the death of the couple's young child, the beleaguered wife enters a convent. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- 1972
This Portuguese drama examines the minutae of the daily life and intrigues of two scions of society in the rural village they live in. One is a wealthy landowner, the other a widowed aristocrat who lives in a world of her own. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
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