Central Station (1998,R) *** 1/2 (out of ****)
Directed by Walter Salles, Jr.
Written by Marcos Bernstein (Terra Estrangeria), Joao Emanuel Carneiro
Story by Walter Salles, Jr. (Meia Noite)
Starring Fernanda Montenegro ("Zaza"), Marilia Pera (Mixed Blood), Vinicius de Olveria
By all outward appearances, this Brazilian drama is a standard road movie--and to a certain extent, it is. Central Station in Rio is what brings together the film's unlikely traveling duo: Dora (Fernanda Montenegro), former schoolteacher, now letter-writer; and Josue (Vinicius de Olveira), an orphaned 10-year-old boy, whose mother was one of the Dora's customers before her untimely death. The two set off on a rough journey across the country to find Josue's long-lost father.
Central Station's travellers follow the beaten cinematic path, but the film is made unusually compelling by the lead characters. This is because they are so recognizably human; neither Dora nor Josue are the most likable of characters. Dora is, at times, unbearably bitter; Josue is often unnecessarily cruel to his de facto guardian, often ridiculing her haggard appearance. What keeps the audience involved in the plight of this prickly pair are the actors. de Olveira, a shoeshine boy who was discovered by director Walter Salles after the boy asked him for change, is a remarkable find, exuding the right balance of toughness and vulnerability. The same can be said, but to a greater degree, about Montenegro (who has been named Best Actress of the year by both the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association); she rightfully sees Dora's bitter anger as less a weariness with the world than with herself, a desperate, self-destructive mechanism to keep the world even more distant than it already is. The nuances of Montenegro's work--and the film--are too subtle to notice along the way, but by the film's poignant yet understated conclusion, they are powerfully felt.
Movie Reviews by Michael Delinqua