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Horse Money (2014)

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In 2007, soon after a screening of Pedro Costa’s Colossal Youth at the San Francisco International Film Festival, I went for a long walk through Golden Gate Park and decided on a whim to explore… Horse Money (2014)

Casa de Lava (Costa)

Casa de Lava (1994)

Pedro Costa’s second feature, Casa de Lava, opens with a barrage of arresting juxtapositions. The first few minutes pass in complete silence as we watch the simple white-on-black credits, followed by a montage of volcanoes.

Costa Close-Ups

“When one is in prison, the most important thing is the door” — Robert Bresson

A Toast to Cinephilia!

A total trainwreck of a day had suddenly been redeemed by a simple act of kindness — or acts of kindness, as, first, Girish was looking out for me and then other members of the Cinematheque staff (projectionist Alexi Manis most of all) were, I’m sure, inconvenienced by the sudden change of plans.

Aspiration (Douglas, 1936)

Colossal Youth (2006)

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Nearly all of the press coverage of Colossal Youth has been accompanied by the same low-angle shot of Ventura, the film’s protagonist. He’s an elderly man, tall and thin. In this particular image, we see little of his face — just one eye peering over his right shoulder. The photo is dominated, instead, by the stark lines and sharp angles of a newly-constructed, State-funded tenement high-rise that blots out the sky behind him.