The Strange Case of Angelica (2010)

THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA  (2010)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Manoel de Oliveira
    Ricardo Trêpa, Pilar López de Ayala, Adelaide Teixeira
This movie was made in Portugal. It's preoccupied with death. It moves real slow. Most of it was shot with a stationary camera. The story's about a photographer who's hired to take a few pictures of a woman who's died. Through the lens of the camera, and then in the prints he makes later on, he imagines the woman coming to life. He becomes obsessed with her. Sometimes he sees her out on the balcony and they fly off together. He's a strange guy. It's probably not a movie that'll keep you awake if you watch it late at night. For a lot of it, people just talk and not much happens. But here's the thing: Manoel de Oliveira, when he directed it, was 101 years old. Maybe when you're that old, you are preoccupied with death. Maybe time does slow down. Maybe at that point, a breakneck narrative is not what you're after. If anybody else out there makes it to 101, let the rest of us know.