Our Beloved Month of August

Set in Portugal and taking full advantage of the nature and characteristics of the land and its people - at least in one particular provincial location of Arganil - this is a lovely and unusual little film. The style of filmmaking makes it sound a little obscure and intimidating - it's a mixture of documentary, commentary, improvisation and fictional drama with the filmmaking process opened up as well - but the end result is a fun and fascinating film that is not so different from the themes and subject matter of Xavier Giannoli's The Singer starring Gérard Depardieu.Central to the storyline - such as it is - is Tânia, a young girl who sings in a cabaret band with her father and other relatives. She's becoming close to her cousin, but there's uncertainty about their romantic feelings for each other and it's complicated further by the close bond that exists between her and her father ever since her mother left them years ago. The actual nature of the fictional story isn't the most original or in-depth examination of the father/daughter relationship. It's got nothing on Ozu and something like Late Spring, but it's the actual nature of how this story is developed that makes Our Beloved Month of August rather more compelling.Earlier, the filmmakers themselves feature, interviewing real-life and larger-than-life characters in the beautiful little provincial area, getting a feel for the lives of the people there, and through the almost documentary approach (fact blending with fiction however, it's not that straightforward or clear-cut), we gradually get to know the people, their background, culture, traditions and attitudes, and out of this, a story seems to rise naturally. Threading through it all however is music, much of it popular cabarets songs and sung by the characters themselves at various festivals and community events, or on the radio. The songs are catchy, poppy, a little bit cheesy, but they express other aspects of the people of the region, forming a part of who they are and how they see the world, bringing them together as a community. This creates many memorable moments and scenes, such as one impromptu drunken incident where challenges and views that might not otherwise be expressed are done so in song. The viewer can't help but be similarly drawn into being deeply interested in these characters and their lives.

This Zone-1 DVD may differ slightly from the Zone-2 DVD I bought a few weeks ago, published by Second Run DVD [...]. Here is a comparison:Zone-2 DVD (shown at several film festivals) - main feature: 144 minutes; special features: 23 minutes (including only one short film, "Canticle of All Creatures"; 16-page booklet featuring an essay by Kieron Corless).Zone-1 DVD (as described above): 153 minutes run time, including three short films (70 minutes) and "deleted scenes"; published by Cinema Guild.How the film was made is described in the booklet included with the Zone-2 DVD:"In summer 2006, when funding collapsed for a feature film he'd planned to shoot in Arganil, Gomes scaled down his crew, downsized from 35mm to 16mm and went there anyway to document the summer festivities, without any clear idea of what he'd use the footage for. Editing it together afterwards he and his collaborators realised, in the light of the amassed material, that they could rework their original script, prune it drastically, and cast some of the people they met to play the characters. They returned to Arganil the following summer to shoot the fictional story in the second half, as well as the scenes with the crew -- Gomes even imposed an arbitrary rule that every crew member and every piece of equipment should appear on screen."As I said, I own the Zone-2 version, enjoyed it immensely, and do not plan to buy a second version of it.For your information:- Arganil is located about 20 miles east of Coimbra, between the Serra de Açor and the Rio Alva.- other movies by Miguel Gomes: The Face you Deserve (his first full-scale movie), and Tabu (to be released soon).Personal note: I think the director and his crew had a lot of fun making this movie, in spite of their funding problem.If you like Portugal and Portuguese movies, check Pedro Costa: three of his movies are available in the Criterion Collection, as a set: "Letters from Fontainhas"; two other movies are available at very reasonable prices from Amazon.co.uk (Zone-2): "Casa de Lava" and "Blood" ("O Sangue"). And, of course, you should not miss Raul Ruiz's masterpiece: "Mysteries of Lisbon" (blu-ray, from Amazon.com).

A great representation of a annual 'ritual' for many Portuguese living abroad that return home for the month of August. The perspectives of both the emigrants and the people still living in their hometowns is captured to perfection.

Sur la fiche du produit, on annonçait comme langues le français et le portugais et l'anglais en sous-titres. Or, le DVD ne comportait pas de français. Je l'ai signalé au vendeur. Sans résultat. Je me retrouve avec un produit qui ne correspond pas à mes attentes et une mauvaise communication avec le vendeur. C'est vraiment dommage!