Central Station
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Movie Reviews of Central Station
Movie Review: One of the Best Films in the World!
Summary: 5 Stars
Central Station depicts a friendship between an old woman and a child. Dora, a retired high school teacher, makes money by writing letters for people passing through Rio de Janeiro's main station. She is a woman that disbelieves love. Every evening after she comes home by the train, she habitually reads aloud the letters of her clients and with her neighbor Irene she discusses the contents of the letters and chooses arbitrarily some to send and discard those she herself feels boring or unreal. Scrutinizing others' lives has become her routine for fun. One day, a nine-year-old boy Josue and her mother comes to Dora and dictate a letter to the boy's father. But the mother shortly dies of a traffic accident and Josue is therefore left alone with no relatives in such a big city, and wanders around the station. Dora originally intends to make a quick profit off the child by sending him to an illegal 'orphanage' that virtually sells the children's body organs. However, perhaps because of her instinctive maternal compassion, she then decides to rescues him and commits to take Josue home, and find his father that he's never seen. Thus, a journey of quest begins. Both of them are retrieving their identities: for Josue, he is looking for his father, and for Dora, she is finding her heart.
Directed by Walter Salles, Central Station is a well-made film thoroughly. The handpicked cast, the beautiful cinematography, the touching movie score, and the sharp direction, all contributes to the success of such a film that catches a great audience's hearts. The actress Fernanda Montenegro, who has been acclaimed as Brazil's greatest actress, renders a convincing performance in the movie, perfectly personifying the harsh and cynic character Dora. This highly claimed film also wins 1998's Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Picture in addition to the nomination of this year's Academy Awards. Moreover, the actress Montenegro is also the recipient of the Best Actress Award at 1998's Berlin Film Festival and she is also nominated at this year's Oscar for Best Actress.
With the worldwide recognition, Central Station has been considered one of the best films in the world. It proves that love and friendship really exist if you are willing to reveal yourself sincerely to everyone around you. So if you prefer a tearjerker, don't miss this movie that would definitely warm your heart. And don't forget to bring your handkerchief, too.
Movie Review: A Rare and Wholly Satisfying Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Walter Salles' gleamingly beautiful film CENTRAL STATION is one of those films that most people who appreciate the art of cinema will place in their personal library. Not only is the story raw and touching but it is graced by the magnificence of actress Fernanda Montenegro who continues to be Brazil's finest actress both on stage and on film. The story is a bit disturbing at first: Doña Dora is an elderly educated woman, with a history of turning to grifting for life support, sit in the Central Station and makes her money by writing letters dictated to her by the illiterate people who line up for her services - but Doña Dora often trashes the letters after collecting her fee. Into her life enters Josue (Vinicius de Oliveira), a young kid who witnessed the death of his other and is searching for his father. Josue is world wise and sees Doña Dora for what she is - a con artist. But the old lade takes Josue home on the superficial disguise that she will help him only to later sell him to the illegal adoption racketeers for money. After being paid for her sale, her friend Irene (Marilia Pera) informs her of what likely will be Josue's fate and knowing that she cannot right her wrong without returning the trafficker's fee, she escapes her home, taking Josue on the road to find his father. The 'road trip' results in a mutual respect and love between the two - Doña Dora softens, having made a kind change in her life, and Josue gains the feeling of love for the mother he has lost.
Walter Salles understands emotion, when to allow the tragedies to emerge and subside and also how to credibly introduce the change of philosophy of his actors. The cinematography by Walter Carvalho captures both the claustrophobia of Rio de Janeiro as well as the desolation of the raw uninhabited lands outside the city where the strange couple go. But the real reason for the success of this film is the multifaceted sensitive portrayal of Doña Dora by Fernanda Montenegro - a performance that has and will continue to make film history. Grady Harp, October 10
Movie Review: Incredible Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched "Central Station" last night with no real concept of what the movie was about. I just knew that it had been nominated for the Best Foreign Language (BFL) Oscar in 1998. So what film could have possibly beat a movie this good? Well, turns out it was a tough year for the BFL with nominees that included "Grandfather", "Tango", "Children of Heaven", and the winner "Life is Beautiful". With appologies to "Saving Private Ryan", 1998 looks to me to have been a year where the Best Foreign Language nominees were, overall, better than the Best Picture nominees (other BP nominees were "Elizabeth", "Shakespeare in Love", "The Thin Red Line" and "Life is Beautiful").
I admit that I was not immediately drawn into "Central Station". I realized later that the director did the ground work for "Central Station" very skillfully so that, when the movie "took off", we were very aware of who our main characters were. This is a story of a journey by a very odd couple. The various characters and challenges that they encounter touch our emotions and keep us wondering what will happen next. In the end, we are left with that warm fuzzy feeling that only an excellent movie like this can deliver. I was satisfied with the ending because I realized that the director, Walter Salles, had given us everything we needed. He left us at the right emotional peak with the eventual outcome secure in our immagination.
The actors were new to me but they were, as a whole, excellent. The scenes in the non-Amazonian back country of Brazil were impressive. The directing was outstanding. I remember one scene where our young boy, Josue, is alone and weeping in the station while evil eyes are looking out from dark corners. It was a brief, chilling reminder of what was at stake for Josue. The imperfections in the main characters keeps "Central Station" from becoming too predictable. Our emotional involvement is earned and tested and our satisfaction is real. Don't miss a chance to see this one!
Movie Review: A cinematic classic from Brasil
Summary: 5 Stars
I have forced friends and family to watch this film with me, people who offered varying degress of resistance to foreign film, road movies, and the consensus was unanimous: Centro do Brasil (Central Station) is a film of quiet power, rare genius and sensitivity. Ideologically, it falls midway between the extremes of the violent, gritty "Cidade de Deus" and the warm, romantic "Bossa Nova," adding to these portraits its particular view of Brasilian daily life. Fernanda Montenegro (Dora) and Vinícius de Oliveira (Josué) give completely honest and believable performances, and it is these performances, and the wonderful screenplay, which keeps the subject from deteriorating into melodrama. Each character has, for different reasons, been embittered and hardened by experience, and the film documents their emotional, intellectual, and spiritual breakthroughs in getting past their emotional crises. The characters' existential journey is mirrored in the geographical journey across Brasil, from gorgeous but scary Rio de Janeiro to rural central Brasil. There is no convenient "fix" to the characters' problems, and even religion is offered as but one possible diversion from life's problems, not a permanent solution to them. This makes sense, given the fact that Brasil's 185 million people are nominally Catholic but many are forced by poverty and other circumstances to live a more secular and pragmatic life (including the traditions and rituals of umbanda, candomble, Kardecism, etc). Ultimately, the film offers a message of hope that, if you can't completely turn your life around, you can at least try to change the things which prevent you from going any further. I find that perspective a lot more realistic, less patronizing than, say, a typical Hollywood "on the road" drama, where all the characters find their respective epiphanies en route to their destination, just before the final credits roll.Movie Review: It has everything a perfect motion picture should have!
Summary: 5 Stars
Congratulations to director Walter Salles and all that contributed to the production of Central Station (Central do Brasil), a masterpiece of Brazilian cinema and one of the best motion pictures ever produced in the cinematographic world! Central Station is a perfect motion picture: all the elements of the movie are perfectly integrated compounding a cinematographic production with inestimable quality, which reflects the professional talent of Walter Salles direction. By the way, talent is something that do not lack in Central Station: with an extremely emotive and original screenplay, extraordinary performances by the young actor Vinícius de Oliveira, and two of the best Brazilian actresses, Fernanda Montenegro and Marília Pęra, a wonderful dramatic score, and an spectacular cinematography, besides other high quality cinematographic elements, Central Station is a motion picture that portrays faithfully and with an humanitary reality the dramatic and touching journey of Dora and Josué to the heart of Brazil, and the life of millions of Brazilians!Central Station is a motion picture that is an important chapter of the Brazilian cinematographic history for marking the top of the growth of Brazilian cinema and consolidating Brazil as a great source of cinematographic production. All the awards conquered and its international repercussion are merits that belongs to the quality of the movie and the spectacular work of all its cast and crew to turn it to a reality. Central Station is a cinematographic production that makes me feel proud to be Brazilian, a production that will always be a cinematographic masterpiece recognized not only in Brazil, but in the entire world!