Tabu [DVD] [2012]

I saw this in the cinema last year (2012), and was blown away by how amazing it is, So good in fact I wanted to get it on dvd and watch it again. It begins slow, but the film is easily one of the best of 2012, as well as being just a fantastic film, full of rich emotion, relatable tales of love and loss, and a timeless quality.

One of my faves from 2012/13. The first half requires some patience, but stay with it - the second half is achingly brilliant and pays off in the most unexpected way.

An unbelievably beautiful film, a structure of 2 parts that complement each to a level I’ve never seen. Completely unique and unexpectedly amazing.

I love it! It has very quickly made it to the forefront of my all-time fave films, right up there with Babette's Feast and Tokyo Story. It's that rare film I can, and will, watch again and again. I've bought several copies of the DVDs as surprise presents for my friends. Incredibly talented works like this must be shared, and savoured.

Sound film recorded between silent and talking, the format of Tabu Murnau is 1.20 and not 1.37 as the film Gomes did. Murnau’ film has no sound effects but is accompanied by a soundtrack. Gomes beeps in his film as wished by Murnau (nature sounds, voice, music) while keeping silent dialogue of the characters...

A strangely haunting, atmospheric and disturbing film about obsession. This film demonstrates how the destructiveness of obsessive-compulsive thinking can take hold in one's own life, and through us, lives of others, both in the present and the future. In this case, the obsession changed its focus from sexual obsession to gambling, the latter conducted as if in a dream. The crocodile represents the symbolic aspects of both repetitively returning to something familiar, alongside an omnipresent self-destructiveness and threat. The creature is there, half submerged, representing the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the behaviour of the protagonists: particularly the female lead. If ever there was an argument for Freud's theory of the unconscious in the sense that what is not consciously known, and therefore an aspect of the 'unthought known' can and will be acted out in another form, this is it.

I bought this film on the basis of comments by critics with whose opinion I tend to concur, but, having set aside an evening to watch it, we were very disappointed. Not only is the plot muddled and trivial, but its delivery by voiceover narrative is insufficiently connected to the opening scenes. To be fair, the problem may lie in part with the translation, but I do not speak Portuguese which means I have nothing else to judge by. The use of black and white and 4:3 format is a cliché derivative of recent films such as 'The Artist', 'The Artist and his Model' and 'Blancasnieves' but used to little effect. The 'silent' sections are given a grainy quality which is supposed to remind us of the quality of silent cinema celluloid but fails, and there is little in the rather amateurish acting to support that illusion. The melodrama is supposed to be parodic and humorous, but we were bored.

Good film - not amazing though

La segunda película de Gomes es una gran sorpresa y nos remite a lo mejor del cine de los años 50

Molto bello e originale. La storia d'amore s'intreccia benissimo con la vicenda storica. Peccato che i sottotitoli siano bianchi e il film sia in bianco e nero. Qualche volta non si riesce a leggere. Accurata la confezione e gli extra.

livraison dans les temps; avec un très courtois message d'accompagnement, et le choix de beaux timbres pour l'enveloppe. Parfait!

AN EXCELLENT AND AVANTGARDE PICTURE WHICH DESERVES THE BEST AND GRATEFUL AUDIENCE

...quand vous sortez de la salle, une seule pensée: "oh le pied! je viens de me taper un chef d'oeuvre" . un film de cette classe c'est 1 tous les 10 ans