Fernando, a solitary ornithologist, is looking for black storks when he is swept away by the rapids. Rescued by a couple of Chinese pilgrims, he plunges into an eerie and dark forest, trying to get back on his track.
Young and handsome Sergio works the night shift as a trash collector in Lisbon, Portugal. He can't force himself to connect with his pretty female co-worker Fatima, who displays an avid ... See full summary »
Director:
João Pedro Rodrigues
Stars:
Ricardo Meneses,
Beatriz Torcato,
Andre Barbosa
Two filmmakers leave to Macao in an adventure of discovery of a city-labyrinth, multicultural and mysterious, where the memories of the childhood - featured memories by the lived reality in... See full summary »
Directors:
João Pedro Rodrigues,
João Rui Guerra da Mata
Stars:
Lydie Barbara,
João Rui Guerra da Mata,
João Pedro Rodrigues
Pedro and Rui kiss after a first-anniversary dinner; Pedro drives home, dying en route in a crash. Another pair of lovers, Odete and Alberto, split over her desire to have a child. Pedro ... See full summary »
Director:
João Pedro Rodrigues
Stars:
Ana Cristina de Oliveira,
Nuno Gil,
João Carreira
Upon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.
Director:
Albert Serra
Stars:
Jean-Pierre Léaud,
Patrick d'Assumçao,
Marc Susini
Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
Fernando, a solitary ornithologist, is looking for black storks when he is swept away by the rapids. Rescued by a couple of Chinese pilgrims, he plunges into an eerie and dark forest, trying to get back on his track.
Fernando is trying to observe the rare Black Stork (Ciconia nigra). In reality, its endangered status is officially mix as its population is increasing in parts of a wide range habitat such as the Iberian Peninsula. As a result, International Union for Conservation of Nature is a species of least concern. It is experiencing a population decline in parts of India, China and parts of Western Europe. Various conservation measures have been taken for the black stork, like the Conservation Action Plan for African black storks by Wetlands International. It is also covered under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. See more »
Soundtracks
Canção do Engate
Performed by António Variações See more »
You can't watch "The Ornithologist" as a traditional movie. You have to instead approach it as you would a poem, just opening yourself up to sensations and images to see what they might say to you.
I can and have really enjoyed this kind of movie watching -- I'm thinking of a film like "Last Year at Marienbad" or any number of David Lynch's movies. But they have to be done extremely well to work, and "The Ornithologist" just isn't.
The motifs in this film are largely either sexual or religious/spiritual. A bird watcher finds himself lost in the wilderness when his canoe capsizes. He's captured by two fellow hikers who intend to castrate him as part of some strange ritual, but he escapes. He comes across some random dude and has sex with him on the beach before stabbing him. He comes across some other dudes dressed like birds and engaging in some kind of midnight bacchanalia. Toward the end, the actor playing this man is replaced by the actual film's director. Along the way, the director shows shot after shot of birds when he seemingly has nothing else to do or say, and sometimes we even get shots of the protagonist from the birds' perspectives.
Of course one will be tempted to impose meaning on all of this randomness and will probably be frustrated by the film's resistance to making that task easy. I was fine just going along for the ride, but once I realized this film wasn't saying much to me, I gave up on it and stopped caring much about anything happening on screen. It doesn't help that I'm not a remotely religious person, and that the strong religious themes in the movie meant nothing to me. Perhaps someone who is more interested in the big questions surrounding God and faith would find more to enjoy, but I'll never know.
Grade: D
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You can't watch "The Ornithologist" as a traditional movie. You have to instead approach it as you would a poem, just opening yourself up to sensations and images to see what they might say to you.
I can and have really enjoyed this kind of movie watching -- I'm thinking of a film like "Last Year at Marienbad" or any number of David Lynch's movies. But they have to be done extremely well to work, and "The Ornithologist" just isn't.
The motifs in this film are largely either sexual or religious/spiritual. A bird watcher finds himself lost in the wilderness when his canoe capsizes. He's captured by two fellow hikers who intend to castrate him as part of some strange ritual, but he escapes. He comes across some random dude and has sex with him on the beach before stabbing him. He comes across some other dudes dressed like birds and engaging in some kind of midnight bacchanalia. Toward the end, the actor playing this man is replaced by the actual film's director. Along the way, the director shows shot after shot of birds when he seemingly has nothing else to do or say, and sometimes we even get shots of the protagonist from the birds' perspectives.
Of course one will be tempted to impose meaning on all of this randomness and will probably be frustrated by the film's resistance to making that task easy. I was fine just going along for the ride, but once I realized this film wasn't saying much to me, I gave up on it and stopped caring much about anything happening on screen. It doesn't help that I'm not a remotely religious person, and that the strong religious themes in the movie meant nothing to me. Perhaps someone who is more interested in the big questions surrounding God and faith would find more to enjoy, but I'll never know.
Grade: D