Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Vitalina Varela Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2020

Vitalina Varela is the name of both this film and the woman starring in it, and so one might reasonably infer that this is a documentary offering a real life story. Vitalina Varela (the human being, not the film) first showed up in Pedro Costa's Horse Money, offering a harrowing (supposedly autobiographical) anecdote about being a Cape Verde native who came to Lisbon to attend the funeral of her husband, arriving after much interstitial trauma to find out that he had already been buried. Vitalina Varela (the film, not the person) attempts to "flesh out" that basic storyline, and so, again, might be thought of as either a documentary or perhaps alternatively a somewhat fictionalized dramatic retelling of these events. But anyone who has seen Horse Money will probably already have an inkling that Vitalina Varela offers a presentational style that is about as far from a verité sensibility as, say, Federico Fellini is from D.A. Pennebaker. Vitalina Varela is one of the most audacious films from a purely stylistic standpoint that I personally recall, but the film's elegant, at times almost completely static and tableau driven, imagery can be at direct odds with a "narrative" that doesn't flow as much as it lurches to and fro in an intentionally disjunctive, nonlinear way.

Pedro Costa is an unabashed master of mise-en-scène, offering consistently fascinating framings where light is focused on sometimes picayune elements, and where shadows can predominate and not much, if any, movement takes place. As such, watching this Costa "movie" is perhaps at times more akin to watching a Costa "still life", and that very stasis gives the film a really weird, hypnotic power. That said, Costa is obviously trying to tell a story here, and I'm not completely convinced that the series of compelling images Costa offers ever promotes real understanding, even if the images themselves are almost always arresting.

Several years ago in my 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K Blu-ray review, I mentioned how as a kid I had “boned up” on information before seeing the film for the first time, because so many audience members and even critics were claiming that it was incomprehensible. In somewhat the same fashion, I might strongly suggest that those with an interest in Vitalina Verela spend a few minutes reading Daniel Kasman’s indispensable interview with Costa contained in the insert booklet included with this release. Costa offers clear and understandable statements about both Varela (the individual) and the film, and his elucidations may help those otherwise unable to fathom the connection between dense if immobile imagery and a story centered on personal grief and loneliness.

The film is intentionally claustrophobic, dealing with both a surplus of cramped interior quarters and the perhaps equally looming lack of emotional space Vitalina experiences in her "new" life. Ventura, who was also in Horse Money, is on hand here as a priest questioning his faith who comes into contact with Vitalina. There are a couple of other supporting characters, but this is in a very real way almost a monologue for Vitalina, both in terms of voiceover (which is admittedly like actual dialogue rather sparse), but also in terms of its relentless focus on one character.

Virtually the entirety of Vitalina Varela takes place either at night or in very dimly lit environments, so much so that when even the hint of natural light and daybreak finally arrives just before the end, it almost feels like the entire story has been a journey from hell or at least purgatory back to "reality", which admittedly may not be heaven on earth. As such, this film kind of oddly reminded me in subtext if not in actual content of Black Orpheus, both in its depiction of some rather squalid living conditions, but also in its story of a character traversing both interior and exterior darkness to find maybe just a hint of sunshine.

Vitalina Varela Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vitalina Varela is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Second Run with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.33:1. I've been on record since the widespread advent of digital capture that I personally often prefer RED material to Arri Alexa material, with one reason being to my eyes Arri captures can look a bit on the murky side under less than optimal lighting conditions. Consider this a prime example of the maxim that every rule (and/or preference) has an exception, as this was shot with Arri Alexas and, as mentioned above, is virtually light free a lot of the time, but the imagery is still often breathtakingly detailed and precise looking. Both Costa and cinematographer Leonardo Simões aim light so deliberately that while large sections of the frame can indeed be swathed in shadows, there is still at least part of the frame with frequently very commendable levels of fine detail in various objects, either inanimate or (just as often) faces. There is some occasional crush that occurs, especially in the corners of the frame where things like the priest's vestments or frankly even some body parts can get swallowed up by the looming darkness that permeates this film. Despite the interlaced presentation, I didn't notice any troubling anomalies.

Note: This disc comes branded with the "Region A, B, C" pyramid. While I've never encountered this particular situation before, I could not get this disc to load properly in my standalone Region A players (I got the copyright warning and the Second Run logo, then a blank screen), though interestingly, the disc booted without any problem at all in my (Region A) PC drive. The disc played fine in my multi-region player which was set to Region B. I'm not quite sure where the "ghost in the machine" (and/or disc, as the case may be) is, but I'm reporting this in case anyone else in Region A encounters any difficulties.

Vitalina Varela Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vitalina Varela's sound design is in its own way as evocative as the imagery, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers some well rendered surround activity that is frequently on the surreal side. Huge waves of ambient environmental sounds can waft through the side and rear channels, and there's an almost ubiquitous use of the surround channels to relay sonic information that isn't happening within the frame, as in background clamor or sounds in other nearby rooms that various characters hear. As mentioned above, there actually isn't a ton of dialogue or even narration, but all spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly without any problems whatsoever. Optional English subtitles are available.

Vitalina Varela Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Chris Fujiwara Introduces Vitalina Verela (1080i; 4:14) is a brief but interesting overview, with Fujiwara perhaps unexpectedly relating the film's sense of space to what the world is currently experiencing vis a vis the isolation and awareness of surroundings necessitated by Covid-19.


• Pedro Costa at the ICA 2020 (1080i; 1:18:08) is a conversation with Maria Delgado.


• Pedro Costa: Companhia (1080i; 12:26) is according to the back cover of this release a short film about Costa's installation exhibition at the Serraives Museum, Porto. Unfortunately this does not include subtitles and my Portuguese is not good enough for me to understand what's being said.


• Trailers

  Teaser 1 (1080i; 00:42)

  
  

  Teaser 2 (1080i; 1:15)

  
  

  Teaser 3 (1080i; 00:53)

  
  

  Teaser 4 (1080i; 1:49)

Additionally, as mentioned above in the main body of the review, the insert booklet has a really interesting and informative interview with Costa.

Vitalina Varela Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're looking for a film with a strong narrative thrust, snappy dialogue and wide open spaces, Vitalina Varela is probably not a wise choice. If, however, you're willing to let this film's weird, almost hallucinogenic, spell work its peculiar magic, Vitalina Varela is a really bracing viewing experience. Costa's imagery is consistently riveting, even when there's next to nothing happening, which is certainly a unique achievement. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very interesting. Recommended.