Pedro Costa: Post-Punk Poet of Portugal

"Music is a bitch. I worship her."
--Bassoe, Casa de Lava

His movies feature music by The The ("This Is the Day") and Wire ("Lowdown"). His latest, Colossal Youth (2006), even takes its title from the Young Marble Giants. 

Reviewing their sole record for Resonance earlier this year, I wrote, "Originally released in 1980, Colossal Youth is the musical equivalent of Charles Laughton's expressionist masterpiece Night of the Hunter. The British actor never directed another feature film. The Welsh trio never recorded another studio album. No matter. In retrospect, it was a brilliant move to quit while they were ahead--there's no way they could have topped this post-punk classic...their spare songs play like messages from another world." 

Yet Portugal's Pedro Costa (b. 1959) is better known for the otherworldly look and existential feel of his films than for the music they feature--or for the degree to which music has influenced his filmmaking. It is, however, one of the more intriguing ways Cinema Scope Managing Editor Mark Peranson introduced the series Still Lives - The Films of Pedro Costa at the Northwest Film Forum last night, so I've decided to run with it.

Right: Isaach de Bankolé in Casino Royale

The six-part series began with Costa's first film, 1989's O Sangue ("Blood"), a languid, monochromatic musing about a young man's efforts to raise his brother after their father's death. It was shot by the late German cinematographer Martin Schäfer (Radio On). According to Peranson, it was the first and last time Costa would work in 35mm (he now works strictly in digital video). 

The series continues tonight with Casa de Lava. I was hoping to cover this 1995 feature first because it stars Isaach de Bankolé, a powerful presence in numerous films from Claire Denis (Chocolat, I Can't Sleep) and Jim Jarmusch (Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai). 

After the screening, Peranson mentioned that the Ivory Coast-born actor stars in Denis's upcoming White Material, which follows reports that he'll be taking the lead in Jarmusch's untitled Spanish project (The Limits of Control). In addition, Bankolé appears in Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, so if the name is unfamiliar, that's sure to change soon. (And speaking of music, I just discovered that he's married to acclaimed jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Not sure how I missed that.)

  Left: T-shirt in the window of the NWFF 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get hold of the DVD until last night. With plans for the evening and most of the next day, I didn't get a chance to start watching Casa de Lava ("House of Lava") until late this afternoon, with hopes of posting a preview before the screenings this evening at 7:15 and 9:15pm. Worse yet, I wasn't able to get the disc to play in either of my machines, so here's the NWFF synopsis: "A Portuguese nurse accompanies a comatose immigrant worker back to his hometown in Cape Verde, where she struggles to piece together the details of his life while navigating a strange, mysterious culture steeped in superstition." 

Bankolé's co-stars include Ines de Medeiros (O Sangue) and Edith Scob (Eyes without a Face). The Flickering Wall describes the movie as "elliptical" and "stylized," while Strictly Film School adds that it's "dense and ingeniously metaphoric." According to Peranson, Costa couldn't stand working with Bankolé, so he enjoyed keeping his character confined to a bed for the bulk of the shoot. (Which begs the question: I wonder if Julian Schnabel felt the same about The Diving Bell's Mathieu Amalric...?) The Young Marble Giants could almost be referring to the film when Alison Statton sings, in "N.I.T.A.," "Nature intended the abstract for you and me."  

Next up: Colossal Youth   

Still Lives - The Films of Pedro Costa takes place at the Northwest Film Forum from Mon, Dec 3, through Wed, Dec 12. The series is rounded out by Ossos, In Vanda's Room, and Where Lies Your Hidden Smile? (The latter is accompanied by the shorts 6 Bagatelas and Ne Change Rien featuring Amalric's wife, Jeanne Balibar.) The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Avenue on Capitol Hill between Pike and Pine. For more information, please call 206-329- 2629. Images from NWFF and Cinematheque Ontario.