Friday October 13, 2006
5pm and 8pm
The Tower Theatre
815 E. Olive Avenue, Fresno
$10.00 general admission
$8.00 for Students and Seniors
A few years back Filmworks screened the gritty romance Me You Them, directed by Andrucha Waddington. The 35-year old protégé of master director Walter Salles is back with The House of Sand (Casa de Areia), acclaimed for both its stunning cinematography in the remote sandy wasteland of Northern Brazil and its moving performances from Fernanda Montenegro (nominated for best actress for Central Station) and her real-life daughter, Fernanda Torres. Here’s a sampling of critical response:
“Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington’s exquisitely beautiful film slowly unfolds over three generations, spanning nearly a century during which the world is completely transformed, though Aurea [Torres] and Dona Maria [Montenegro] never know it. . . . Heartbreaking and strange, House of Sand is as original as it is lovely.”
- Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
“The story . . . has the clarity of a fable and the sentimental enchantment of a magic-realist novel. Mr. Waddington, who brilliantly evoked the dry, brown Brazilian backlands in Me You Them, brings out the psychological nuances of the story (the script is by Elena Soarez) even as he respects its bold, primal emotions and the almost classical dignity of the main characters.”
- A.O. Scott, New York Times
“How rare it is these days to see such a luminous epic untouched by the horrors of computer-generated backdrops or set elements–especially when there’s only a single location in the entire film. Waddington’s grand new film brilliantly adheres to some old-school filmmaking techniques.”
- Michael Ferraro, Orlando Weekly
Directed by Andrucha Waddington
Brazil, 2005
115 min., rated R
In Portuguese, with English subtitles