Colossal Youth
Juventude em Marcha
Switzerland, France, Portugal
2006
156 Min
Color, Black and White
1.33:1
Portuguese
Synopsis
Many of the lost souls of Ossos and In Vanda’s Room return in the spectral landscape of Colossal Youth, which brings to Pedro Costa’s Fontainhas films a new theatrical, tragic grandeur. This time, Costa focuses on Ventura, an elderly immigrant from Cape Verde living in a low-cost housing complex in Lisbon, who has been abandoned by his wife and spends his days visiting his neighbors, whom he considers his “children.” What results is a form of ghost story, a tale of derelict, dispossessed people living in the past and present at the same time, filmed by Costa with empathy and startling radiance. —The Criterion Collection
Director
Pedro Costa
Pedro Costa (born 1959) is a Portuguese film director. He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations. Many of his films are set in a district of Lisbon inhabited by the socially disadvantaged and shot in a natural and low-key way that makes them resemble documentaries. While studying history at University of Lisbon, Costa switched to film courses at School of Theatre and Cinema (Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema). After working as an assistant director to several directors such as Jorge Silva Melo and João Botelho, he made a first feature film O Sangue (The Blood) in 1989. He collected the France Culture Award (Foreign Cineaste of the Year) at 2002 Cannes International Film Festival for directing the film No Quarto da Vanda (In Vanda’s Room). Juventude em Marcha (Youth on the March, known as “Colossal Youth” in Anglophone countries, and “En avant, jeunesse” – “Onward, Youth” – in Francophone countries) was selected for… read more
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Zachary Phillip Brailsford
10Jan11
As a film itself, I think it's wonderful. As the third part in Costa's Fontainhas trilogy, it is absolutely astonishing and essential. This film shows the souls from the first two films now stuck in a limbo from which it seems there is no escape. This might be one of the most depressing films I've ever seen. Savvy
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ILoveCourtneyHate
29Jul11
thank you Stunner. I really dig both Colossal Youth and Singin' In The Rain, I think there's something very wrong with me! this can't be right....this CANNOT be right....
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Articles
Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
Image of the Day. Records of Material Objects in the Cinema #1
By Daniel Kasman on May 1, 2010
A chair from Pedro Costa's Colossal Youth (2006); cinematography by Pedro Costa and Leonardo Simões.
Pedro Costa, Midnight Eye, ND/NF
By David Hudson on March 30, 2010
"For a small group of diligent cinephiles, Criterion's Letters From Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa is one of the most anticipated
The Auteurs Daily: NYFF. Ne change rien
By David Hudson on October 20, 2009
"Like his earlier documentary, Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? on seminal filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet at work on Sicilia
The Auteurs Daily: Sight & Sound, Costa & Criterion
By David Hudson on September 26, 2009
The Pedro Costa retrospective currently underway at the Tate Modern (through October 4) occasions two pieces in the new issue of Sight &
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Reviews
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Epic, angular shots
By kelvanE on October 10, 2010
Epic shots encapsulate this picture like a fine crystal prism. The way Pedro Costa films ‘Juventude em Marcha’ is brave, unusual, angular, and frequently gnarly. While his characters sit and… read review
Untitled
By Dave McDougall on November 3, 2008
an epochal achievement: a film whose eloquence on memory is matched only by the heights of Chris Marker, a criticism of a present political situation, a stinging critique of the legacy of colonialism… read review
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Why is Colossal Youth not available on netflix...
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over 1 year ago
Boomtown Babylon
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almost 2 years ago