Artistic and sleek breakout film from Portuguese auteur Pedro Costa, following a few depressingly poor slum dwellers through the immediate aftermath of the delivery of an unwanted baby. Costa’s style is deliberately slow, with little movement, dialogue, lighting, characterization, or plot, like a cinema verite documentary composed of static shots and only slightly altered versions of the actors’ true selves (whose own slum was demolished a few years later partly because of the celebrity of this film). This is for serious fans of directors like Liang, Bresson, and Hsien only, and for them Criterion rewards their patience with interviews with Costa and collaborators.