Jugu Abraham Seventy-six year young Carlos Saura charmed film lovers with several melancholic dance, music and song styles: Flamenco in "Flamenco" (1995), "Blood Wedding" (1981) and "Sevillanas" (1992), tango in "Tango" (1998), and finally, opera and flamenco in "Carmen" (1983). Then comes his latest film "Fados," a heady mix of dance and melancholic Portuguese folk song rendered by mesmerizing singers such as Mariza and Carlos do Carmos…If you thought as I had, that I had seen all that the wizened genius from Spain could do, you will be pleasantly surprised. "Fados" is undoubtedly one of his finest films—forget the music, forget the song, forget the singers (if you possibly can!) and enjoy the art of fine direction.I am forced to recall the US film "Woodstock" (1970). Millions would remember that wonderful film, but few would recall its director Michael Wadleigh. The gifted Wadleigh not only directed the fascinating documentary film, he was one of the cinematographers and one of the editors of the film. His assistant film director for the film was Martin Scorsese! If you enjoyed "Woodstock's" groundbreaking editing, it is important to note that Wadleigh's editing collaborator was Thelma Schoonmaker, who has edited each and every Scorsese movie since 1980. Now why am I writing about "Woodstock" instead of "Fados"? It is because like "Woodstock," "Fados" is very likely going to be discussed in years to come for its endearing music, song and dance, bypassing its vibrant cinematic ingredients.The first few minutes into the film introduce you to breathtaking effect of the cinema of "Fados". You have shadows of live individuals walking as they do on a street (you do not see them under direct light). These shadows fall on a screen where another film image is projected. As the opening credits roll, you realize you are being seduced by the kinetic images. And even up to the final shot of the film, you realize that you are under the spell of creative use of shadows, images, mirrors, projection screens and shiny reflecting dance floors. The final shot is of the film camera lens, which is the appropriate mainstay of the film—not the music, song and dance, which merely provides the subject for the director. Even the English subtitles were aesthetically placed in the left corner of the frame, so that the beauty of each shot is maximized for the viewer.Saura has a great ear for music. No wonder he made all these movies on music, song and dance. Go back in history, and you will recall his most famous film, "Cria cuervos (cry ravens)" (1975) featured a song called "Porque te vas (Because you are leaving)" sung by an American singer called Janette who was living at that time in Spain. The song had been released by the singer earlier but few took note of it. After Saura's film won honors at Cannes, Janette's song soared in popularity and became a worldwide hit. (Somewhat like Antonioni's boost to Pink Floyd in "Zabriskie Point", even though Pink Floyd was arguably quite famous by the time of film's release) That was unfortunately the career high for the singer. Today, some 30 years after I saw "Cria cuervos" during a Saura retrospective in New Delhi, the notes of the song ring in my ear. "Fados", like "Cria cuervos", is a delight for those who can appreciate good music.In Saura's "Fados", achievements are many. The film is entirely made on a set, eliminating extraneous sounds such as street noise. The Portuguese icons of song come to Spain to film the scenes—a clever canvas of light and shadows, dance and song, mirrors and projection screens that recall the brilliance of another of my favorite documentary films—Hans Jurgen Syberberg's "Hitler--a film from Germany". Like all Saura's films there is some politics at play—his work is a cry for Iberian unity between two neighboring nations that never trusted each other historically. In an interview Saura stated that he was deliberately removing artists from their natural surroundings so that they could create "something new". To Saura watchers, he is continuing his favorite exploration merging theater and film, without being hemmed in by the boundaries of a written play.

freeds 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

rui mota 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.

sezme 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.