Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Director Marcel Camus grabs us from the outset in this film, with the energy of samba music playing as women return to their village carrying large containers on their head. Children are scampering about and they're on a hill overlooking Rio de Janiero, surrounded by stunning mountain peaks and beautiful bays below. The film takes the classical tale of Orpheus and Eurydice and adapts it to Brazil at the time of Carnival, and while I liked the mythological reference, it was the setting, cast, and overall vibrancy that really had me enjoying it. How fantastic it is to see all this color and energy in a film from the 1950's. The cinematography is excellent, with those beautiful vistas and sunsets, and quite a few street scenes as well. There's also some great music, with the spontaneous wailing and drumming in the streets offset by a couple of love ballads with touching lyrics.The central characters of Orfeu and Eurydice are played by Breno Mello and Marpessa Dawn reasonably well, and it was fascinating to me to find out later that Mello had never acted before. Camus saw him on the street and asked him if he wanted to be in a movie, and then he was the star. Orfeu is a ladies man engaged to the vivacious Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira), but he's drawn to the simple purity of Eurydice, who has come to the city for the first time. It's a good-looking cast, and hard not to be drawn by its magnetism. The supporting roles are fine too, starting with Serafina (Léa Garcia) and Chico (Waldemar De Souza), who engage in delightful banter. The two little boys (Jorge Dos Santos and Aurino Cassiano) are also a joy to watch.Sensitivity surrounds the film, since dancing and partying are stereotypes some hold of Brazilians or people of color in general, e.g. reducing them to simple-minded people who do nothing else. I can see the concern and understand a possible negative reaction, and it carries even greater weight when it comes from Brazilian themselves, or the likes of President Obama. I confess I have not had to live with the consequences of these types of stereotypes, so you can take my opinion for whatever it's worth, but I saw it as a celebration of the culture, and it was fantastic to see the diversity. The characters are not single-dimensional, and I enjoyed seeing the love and tenderness alongside sassy playfulness in the romances. As for the lack of realism, well, it's a Greek myth adapted to Carnival, so it's fantasy by definition - and certainly meant to be a complete view of life in Brazil. You have Death chasing Eurydice around, for goodness sake. In adapting the myth, I wish it had been more closely tied to the classical story. It's interesting to me that amidst all of the colorful, wild, chaos of Carnival, which is an extreme representation of Life, we have Death so near, and maybe that's one of the points. The film drags a bit towards the end, though the final scene of the three children dancing nicely lightens the tragedy. Overall, well worth watching, and quite a unique film - just be mindful of the sensitivity.

I'd never heard of this film before I stumbled on it at my local library, but I was instantly intrigued. Disappointed however. I'll keep this brief.The constant beat in the background was interesting and vibrant, but really did become annoying when dialogue is being exchanged, especially when everyone in the film acts like a complete character of a weird hyper active child. Seriously the acting was probably the worst thing in the whole picture. It was obnoxious and illogical most of the time. Also typical plot holes, like why the women just kept running away from the masked man, instead of being protected by the people around her? Especially towards the end when there are COPS that she literally runs into, but doesn't seek help. Really obnoxious. There's more that makes this a really unenjoyable watch, but mainly it has a 15 minute plot stretched to an hour and forty minutes, filled with people acting way over the top, and loud thumping leaving this film with nothing more than a headache. PS I'm 21 so it's not because I'm too old for the noise!!

Palme d'Or and Oscar's BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (although it should have been rewarded to Brazil instead of France) double-honour is a tremendous wow factor to lure in cinephiles, but sometimes the prestige backfires, the film may introduce Samba and Boss Nova to the world, but how can it overshadows an awkward truth, it won over 400 BLOWS (1959, 9/10) in the Cannes competition, a mania of over-exploited exoticism may be the answer.Marcel Camus' second film, it restyles the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice during the Carnival ruckus in Rio de Janeiro, the black Orpheus (Mello) is a boisterous trolley conductor who is just engaged to an even more boisterous girl Mira (de Oliveria), at the same day, he meets his Eurydice (Dawn), a young girl flees from her home to her cousin Serafina (Garcia) because Death (De Silva) is stalking her. While Serafina and Orpheus are next-door neighbours on a hill overlooking the city, naturally the serendipity pulls them together after lavishly sambaing with the folk, which consequently interrupted by a macabre encounter with the flamboyant Death sporting a clownish gymnastic suit.Orpheus is a musician, he has the power to bring sunrise every morning by crooning with his guitar, he and Eurydice copulate during the very first night out of irresistible passion, and the next day is the Carnival, but the fierily jealous Mira cannot bear the betrayal meanwhile Death is also on his track to his prey. A tragedy occurs in the heat of the Carnival, and Orpheus is in complete despair to bring Eurydice back, but he cannot yield to the "don't look back" warning in a ritual ceremony, thus his lost is permanent, and the myth comes to a climax in a deadly fall. But mercifully, the finale heralds an auspicious future, a new Orpheus is born out of schmaltzy puppy love, a false hope is better than a bizarre dismay out of a sloppy production. The acting is inadequate, playing-house, sometimes unbearably hammy (de Oliveria and Garcia are two examples of overdoing their characters with opposite reactions, irksome and hilarious), the rumbustious dancing and bandwagon scenes are affecting enough to involuntarily shake your posterior but enough is enough, we are not watching a documentary about local customs and manners of Carnival or Brazil. The detachment between the narrative and lush surroundings is markedly protruded, but the appreciable saving grace is Camus contrives to frame awe- inspiring panorama shots and overhead takes, with the poverty-stricken people roister in their festival, which showcases their aboriginal glee is authentic (at least mostly). The more grim and satanic facet of the ancient Greek legend is deadened by the unremitting revelry and polychromatism, if only Camus could pander to the obsession of the dark side of the myth a bit more, say, the grisly corridor in the missing person division or the fluorescent terminus where Eurydice absurdly being electrocuted, the film would be more palatable both in visual style and in emotive rhythm.

"Black Orpheus", as my summary states, is a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice. The film is set in Rio de Janeiro during the time of Carnaval. On the eve of his wedding, Orpheus meets Eurydice and they fall madly in love. However, Death lurks around every corner, intent on claiming Eurydice for himself.Familiarity with the source material would probably aid your appreciation but it isn't essential. The film moves along at a brisk pace and sports an energy that makes it hard to resist. The bossa nova soundtrack contributes greatly to this effect.The cast boasts no outstanding performances but the leads, Breno Mello & Marpessa Dawn, make an engaging couple. The direction of Marcel Camus impressively creates a colourful landscape and fills it with the almost ever-present music of Antonio Carlos Jobim.While I feel that the latter stages of the film didn't work quite so well without prior knowledge of the underlying mythology I still found the film enjoyable on the whole. I wouldn't rank it among the greats of foreign film but it does possess a charm all its own.