Fados

I had the privilege to see "Fados" yesterday, at its premiere in Lisbon. I'm also a Saura's fan, since "Cria Cuervos" (1975) and I saw most of his films, including the famous Flamenco trilogy (Bodras De Sangre, Carmen and Amor Brujo). I also saw and liked very much the following musicals, "Sevilhanas", "Flamenco" and "Tangos". But those were films where Saura could expressed his art on his own culture (with exception of "Tangos"). In "Fados" (an invitation of several Portuguese institutions to make a film to promote the Lisbon's song) Saura mixed too many things with no connection at all. The argument was that Fado was not popular enough and therefore he needed "big" names to promote it (?!). Well, you may say that Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Lilla Downs, Lura or Miguel Poveda are good singers. But they are certainly not fado singers! The other mistake was to mix modern dance with the songs. Fado has no dance element (like Flamenco or Tango) in it. It's a disturbing element that doesn't help the reality. One may hope that "Fados" will be a bestseller, but its not a serious film. It's a pity.

Of the 5 previously-posted reviews, I thought the one by "sezme" the most perceptive. So far, though, no one has explained that Fado (pronounced fah' doo) is an intimate art form, consisting, at minimum, of a female or male singer accompanied by a plucked-string instrument. The essential accompaniment is the high-pitched, mandolin-like 12-string Portuguese guitar. In most contemporary settings, a conventional ("Spanish") guitar adds the bass notes. The songs are passionate and intense but not necessarily tragic nor somber. One of the film's greatest services is to show, via the excellent subtitles, the sublime folk poetry that makes up much of the lyrics of Fado.

A principal intention of the filmmakers was to present Fado as a trans-cultural phenomenon, an art form which has been translated and transmuted through the cultural lenses of many peoples, especially those of the former colonies of Portugal. They certainly succeeded in this intention, although the various submissions were of varied quality and, obviously, did not suit the taste of some of the reviewers. For me, the low point of the film was the "rap" selection, an abominable form in general and particularly egregious in this setting. The pattern of audience applause after each segment, established at the beginning of the film, was broken here — by my loud "boo" — which elicited knowing chuckles from other members of the audience.

Given the film's scope, it is hard to fault the inclusion of dance. Some of it worked fairly well, other examples not so well. None of the choreography could be called inspired. One advantage of the world-wide excursion through forms of lesser quality, at least for me, was the enhanced joy produced by the return to "pure" Fado, which made up most of the later portion of the film. I especially liked the scene in the "night club," with three Fadistas, two female, one male, engaging in a sort of competitive conversation.

All in all, "Fados" is a rare internationalist endeavor, a film about Portuguese culture made in Spain, where awareness of its less populous neighbor is, perhaps, even lower than that of Canada in the U.S. Allowing for a few misguided camera effects and hokey "fado" incarnations, this film remains a genuine work of art, an expression of overwhelmingly good taste in a time when that is a scarce commodity. Carlos Saura and company should be very proud!

Barry Freed

Film that has to been seen by all Fado-fans. And those who didn't know anything about Fado have to see it, to learn and love it. Very good mix between studio-scenes and scenes filmed in Lisbon. Also the presentation of the old fado legends as Amalia is wonderful. Even the dancing scenes are great, though the dance is not belonging to fado. The appearance of Mariza, Camane and Carlos do Carmo are magnificent. They are the great fado-singers of the past, present and even for the future.I was surprised by the breathtaking scenes with Mariza and Patrick de Bana, I couldn't imagine that fado can be danced too. But Saura tooked his many years experience to make film, which shows not only the traditional fado music, but also the new ways and the relations to African and Brazilian music.

It doesn't really matter whether you already love Fado music or not. This film will make a believer out of you.

I attended the world premiere on the 6th of September at the Toronto Film Festival (actually it was the first film shown at the festival this year) and I can tell you that the audience was in tears at the beauty of the performances alone, with applause after every number.

The film has no plot, only a brief title slide to explain the history of Fado music. Fado is a Portuguese vocal genre that has endured for the last 150 years. After that introduction, though, Saura just lets the music do the talking. The film is composed of performances by the top Fado artists from Portugal (Mariza, Carlos do Carmo...) as well as artists from Brazil, Cabo Verde, Spain, and Mexico (Lila Downs!).

This is no concert movie. Instead, each of the numbers is uniquely performed as a set piece often with a dance accompaniment. But true to form, it's the vocals more than anything which go straight to the heart as they tell tales of sadness and longing, of memories, losses and triumphs.

Interesting that a movie so devoted to the form should be directed by a Spaniard, Carlos Saura, but his filmography shows unequivocally his love of music and dance and his skill in bringing it to the screen. At the premiere, he spoke of the last day of shooting - it was shot entirely in Madrid - and how the cast and crew - half Portuguese, and half Spanish - was crying because they were sad it was over. I felt the same way at the end of the film and can't wait to see it again.

Like FLAMENCO, this is a performance film by Saura, in this case highlighting the Portugeuse "fado" music. But this is a far less compelling work. The first problem is the music itself. Although quite lovely and expressive, it's almost entirely ballads (the most uptempo it ever gets is an ill-conceived fado-inspired rap). Very pretty, but hard to appreciate for 90 minutes. Perhaps to offset this issue, Saura goes for a lot of visual stylization, which is the other major problem. Fado has no dance component, but many of numbers feature choreography, sometimes effectively, but something rather incongruous with the music. And then there's the abundance of mirrors, the use of film clips and stock footage, the sets, and most tacky of all, the giant video screens. It's just too busy and showy, and seems to suggest a lack of confidence in the performers' ability to captivate an audience. I'd rather just listen to the soundtrack (and minus the rap song, please).