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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Just what I expected

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The cinematography of this film is beautiful. The symbolic use of light to indicate mood (and abrupt changes in it) is very well done. Also the colors are vibrant, beautiful affairs with vibrant, samba music to go with it.The part of the movie that fails is the acting. It is hard to follow simply because the characters' emotions are hard to read. I have watched many subtitled or silent films, take Chaplin's "The Kid" for example, that are easy to follow simply because of the good acting. In this film I had a hard time keeping up with the plot because I didn't have a clue what was going on without reading the subtitles. Even then I had a hard time following the motives on occasion. For example, the drug dealer Lucinho seems to have no motivation for his violence late in the film, yet his actions are a crucial plot point.The real shame about this being a foreign language film, at least for me, is that reading all the subtitles to keep up kept my eyes away from the beautifully composed shots. Any one of those stills could be taken as a photograph and be a work of art on their own. Sadly, they would probably be better artwork than the film itself.

This movie captivated me from the very beginning. This sparkling, contemporary portrayal of Black Orpheus recaptures the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and again sets it in a favela in the hills above urban Rio de Janeiro. The lives, loves and losses of 3 generations of shanty town dwellers are vibrantly documented over the course of a Carnival holiday. Dreadlocked, handsome Orfeu, who has achieved local fame through the success of his shows at the Sambadrome faces the usual pressures of a celebrity who comes from poor beginnings. He chooses to remain living in the favela, he claims, to show the youth that there is more than one way to success, the other way being that of his 'almost brother', Lucinho, a psychotic gang leader who reigns over the 'hood with drugs and terror. When beautiful, otherworldly Eurydice arrives in the rough-hewn streets to visit a distant aunt she captures Orfeu's heart, much to the disdain of the local women, most of whom have some claim on him, whether real or imagined. The two find true love against a pulsating backdrop of Carnival performances, jealousy, police violence, interfering relatives, and flimsy homes held together by not much more than romantic and colorful scarves. The acting in Orfeu is raw and energetic and the passion that interweaves the mythical tale is ethereal by design, and enchanting by its very nature.

Orfeu Negro for the 90's. Complete with laptops, cell phones and automatic weopons in the hillside ghetto of Rio de Jainero. Visually the movie is great. I especially enjoyed the lead actor playing Orfeo, and the actors playing his mother, father and the teen-ghetto artist Michael. Orfeo and Euridice never quite connect in a powerful way. So emotionally the movie didn't move me as strongly as it might have. I did enjoy watching the Carnival and the music in the film is very nice.

I just got back from Orfeu. I wish I could say this movie was good, cause I like Diegues, but it was not. His excellent movie Quilombo sold me on his historical honesty and ability to tell a story. Using the backdrop of Rio and Carival you don't even get a sense of the city and the joy of the Carnival. He uses some shots that show the beauty of the city and intricate scene shots but there just isn't enough. The acting is not good. It was poorly cast. The female roles should have been re-arranged. Mira should have played the "best dancer". The best dancer should have played Euridice and Euridice should have been eliminated and barred from the set. The lead role of Orfeu was decent enough, but he needed much more to play off of. And there was no romance. This was a disappointment.