X
- 2020
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 39 m
- 2020
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 39 m
Summary Charming and ambitious art critic, James Figueras (Claes Bang), has fallen from grace. He spends his days in Milan lecturing witless tourists about art history. His only glimmer of hope is a new-found love interest, the enigmatic American, Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki). An opportunity strikes when he is contacted by wealthy art dea...
Directed By: Giuseppe Capotondi
Written By: Charles Willeford, Scott B. Smith
- 2020
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 39 m
- 2020
- R
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 39 m
The Burnt Orange Heresy
57
6.1
Where to Watch
Summary Charming and ambitious art critic, James Figueras (Claes Bang), has fallen from grace. He spends his days in Milan lecturing witless tourists about art history. His only glimmer of hope is a new-found love interest, the enigmatic American, Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki). An opportunity strikes when he is contacted by wealthy art dea...
Directed By: Giuseppe Capotondi
Written By: Charles Willeford, Scott B. Smith
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
57
50% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
50% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
57
50% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
50% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
In short, this is fundamentally a movie of surface pleasures, placing gorgeous actors in an equally stunning location and letting them parry with sharp words and lithe, angular bodies.
This is no piece of pretentious fluff. It’s a grim and nasty but wickedly entertaining bit of business, seasoned with sharp little plot turns before an admittedly ludicrous but dramatically satisfying twist-on-top-of-a-twist ending.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 User Ratings
6.1
44% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
56% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 User Ratings
6.1
44% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
56% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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I'll admit I put on my Criterion BluRay of BLACK ORPHEUS with scant enthusiasm. I honestly knew nothing about the film and the brief description on the box didn't really sell the film to me. But I am working my way through the films of Criterion and have an agreement with myself not to skip any just because they don't sound great. I've exposed myself to some great films with that approach; movies like THE ASCENT, which I never would have watched otherwise and which now are among my favorites.
BLACK ORPHEUS proved to be entertaining and fairly enjoyable, without really grabbing me. The Criterion bonus features were essential viewing for an uninformed viewer such as myself, so that I could understand the context of this film a little better. That it is widely considered responsible for bringing the excitement of Carnaval in Rio to the world in general is well worth knowing. That it is credited for popularizing the bossa nova is great to know. But does this background make it a great movie to view today?
Yes and no. Black Orpheus is a retelling of the tragic Greek myth of the love between Orpheus and Eurydice (although it's actually based on a play that is this retelling), set against the background of Carnaval. The characters are now citizens of the poorer outskirts of Rio, preparing to celebrate in the big city. Orfeu, his town's lead dancer in the samba school which is going to be parading during Carnaval, is unenthusiastically engaged to Mira. When the enchanting Eurydice comes to town to stay with Serafina (another dancer), Orfeu is immediately drawn to this naïve but lovely young lady. They embark on an affair, stirring up all sorts of domestic turmoil. But in addition, Eurydice is apparently being chased by a strange man she believes wants to kill her (a man dressed in a Death costume, of call things).
The plot of the movie, though neatly related to the Greek story, is really not that terribly interesting, truth be told. The character actions and motivations are often sketchy, and the "death" character is not even remotely adequately explained.
What gives this movie life is the almost constant music and the nearly as constant background of dancing. The drumbeats of the bossa nova are almost always at least in the background if not in the foreground. The villagers wear wild costumes for the festive occasion. The locale is humid and everyone sweats all the time. The atmosphere created by the film is one of frenetic forward movement. One can certainly see why the film popularized the music. It's in the blood, the DNA of the film. What would be a silly drama becomes something actually akin to myth with the addition of all this music. It heightens passions. It creates forward momentum even during introspective moments. And the dance sequences, though filmed in a stagey manner by today's standards, are prolonged and come close to drawing the viewer in to their ecstatic nature. The people in this film can't help but dance; it's palpable.
Without spoiling anything, the latter sections of the film require Orpheus to travel through the underworld of Rio, to some strange locales. These sequences are almost from another film, which is actually totally appropriate. He's gone from the happy, sensuous world of his village and the celebrations on the street to the mysterious and foreboding dark alleys of a sometimes unfriendly city.
In the end, I was very content to have seen the film. The music is sensational. There are ample moments of light and fun. But while it captured my tapping feet and my musical brain, it didn't grab my heart, at least not enough to overlook the sometimes half-baked melodrama. It's tough to recommend the film on its own merits.
Criterion has done a great job, as usual, and their version is the one to see. Allow yourself another 45 minutes or so to enjoy some of the terrific little documentaries that accompany the film.
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When a cast is assembled that is as elegantly depraved as the one in The Burnt Orange Heresy, attention must be paid. And this art-world thriller has enough burnished surfaces, glamorous locations, and dark doings to keep an audience rapt for much of the running time. Yet somehow you may end the movie feeling less full than when you began.
A sprightly and mischievous cameo from Mick Jagger is one reason to enjoy this movie.
What really sets The Burnt Orange Heresy ablaze is the chemistry between Bang, Debicki and Sutherland. Each of their characters functions as a sort of walking puzzle, their motives slowly revealing themselves only as the story develops.
Everything’s in place, and there’s not a weak link in the cast, with Debicki — lofty, playful, and unreadable — in especially beguiling form. The idea that art, like love, is something that you can make or fake, and that surprisingly few people can tell the difference, will always be ripe for exploration. And yet the movie stumbles.
Unfortunately, the digressions into an unformulaic art heist plot can't cure, and often exacerbate, The Burnt Orange Heresy's habit of dragging interminably whenever it focuses on anything other than James, Berenice, and Jerome.
This is undoubtedly a Stylish picture with good locations, performers, cinematography, and a strong, eerie music score, that actually adds more chills than some of the script elements. It’s interesting for a film about ‘art’ to quite honestly expose the charlatans and shonky dealings within this sometimes overrated & overpriced, business. Being an international co-production it unfortunately, indulges in some sensationalist type sex scenes, to bring together a couple of unlikely ‘partners in crime’. The first half offers some promise and intrigue between a shady con-man art critic, an obscure artist, and a somewhat immoral art collector - with greed and deception being their catalyst.
Problems begin to overshadow any possibility of the better elements of the story remaining in the foreground when the script gives way to a particularly nasty murder, and some clumsy attempts to cover it up - leading to an ultimately unsatisfactory resolution. Thriller fans may not mind the finale but those who look for more believable outcomes could be left disappointed. The participation of rock star Mick Jagger does little to advance him as a film star - beyond being an odd interest. The rest of the cast acquit themselves well, with what they have to work with.
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Production Company
Ingenious Media,
MJZ,
Wonderful Films,
Rumble Films (II),
HanWay Films,
Indiana Production,
Carte Blanche Cinema,
Achille Productions,
Sea Around Us
Release Date Mar 6, 2020
Duration 1 h 39 m
Rating R
Tagline You Can't Paint Over the Truth
Awards
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Alliance of Women Film Journalists
• 1 Nomination
