Spanish
director Carlos Saura has made a career of putting various music and dance
styles stemming from the Iberian Peninsula on film in gorgeous studio settings
– often without plots to distract from the music. Performers are typically filmed
simply and directly in studio settings in front of mirrors and colored
projection screens that give Fados
(and all his music films) an immediacy and a feeling of watching the music and
dance unfold live. He’s most famous for his early 80’s “Flamenco Trilogy” which
was released through the Criterion Collection but is now sadly out of print
(and VERY expensive to track down). Saura has continued making music films
through the years and his 2007 masterwork Fados
is one of his very best films.
Fado is singing style that emerged in 19th
century Portugal that explores the idea of saudade,
a Portuguese word that is called “untranslatable,” but which is variously noted
to explore a melancholic longing, loss, or nostalgia for things or people that
are gone. Or as Fado singer Mariza put it in a 2009 interview with the Denver Post: "Fado means fate or destiny." With
such a slippery definition, it’s no wonder that Saura’s view of Fados veers from the rhythmic samba that
opens the film to “Maria Severa, Nineteenth Century,” with hurdy-gurdy and Dickensian-looking
period clothes, to Mariza’s updating of Fado conventions, to “Homage to Alfredo
Marceneiro,” featuring dancers in front of projections of Marceneiro that then
segues into a hip-hop tribute to Maceneiro’s urban poetry. We also get
classical ballet dances, famed Brazilian musicians Chico Buarque and Caetano
Veloso (separately), a family/bar communal singalong, a historical recording of
Fado legend Amália Rodrigues, and much more.
In my favorite segment, a 67-year old Carlos do
Carmo sings a tribute to the city of Lisbon entitled “Um Homem na Cidade.” It’s
shot in a single take tracking shot that rolls slowly backward with do Carmo in
the center of the frame performing the song in front of the musicians and a
moving collage of scenes and still shots of Lisbon. It’s a deceptively simple
piece of filmmaking – one tracking shot, but with the movement there’s a
constant change of scenery and introduction of new visual elements creating a
kaleidoscopic effect of moving through Lisbon, but it’s grounded by do Carlo’s
presence in the center of the busy frame as though he’s personally guiding us
through the city he loves (which in a way he is). Equally good is Mexican-American
singer Lila Downs, as she sings (in Portugeuse) a melodramatic, tragic love
triangle acted out by the dancers in front of her. And Mariza is in some ways
the star of the show, appearing in three numbers in the film – fitting as she’s
probably the biggest star and international proponent of Fado today.
The film is a masterful work by Saura, who
dispenses with the plots that provide the excuses for musical sequences in many
of his films and simply focuses on the beauty of the music, movement, and
cinematography; no excuses necessary.
-
Patrick
Brown
