(Recollections Of The Yellow House)
Utterly irreverent, hilariously deadpan, Portuguese helmer João César Monteiro ("Silvestre") is destined to win a place in the hearts of sophisticated dimgoers with "Recollections Of The Yellow House."
A work of pure anarchy, pic traces the inconsequential ramblings of a mangy old goat (played to a T by Monteiro himself) who goes from boarding house to mad-house and comes back to infect the world with his nonconformism. Pic wowed Venice (winning a Silver Lion) and should catch on elsewhere with the right launch.
João de Deus (Monteiro) is a scrawny but erudite eccentric in-habiting a room in Manuela de Freitas' boarding house, which may or may not have bedbugs.
He's a connoisseur of the bathwater left by the landlady's daughter (Teresa Calado), a trumpet player. Mimi (Sabina Sacchi), a sweet, not-too-bright girl of easy virtue, becomes his confidante and 1-shot lover before she dies of a botched abortion. There also are cafe buddies, a doctor who prescribes difficult remedies for sensitive body parts and João's 70-year-old mother, a charwoman whom he still takes money from.
More than black humor, "Yellow House" is infested with a fatalistic view of life that's both outrageous and exhilarating.
When João discovers the tender Mimi has just been taken to the morgue, his first thought is to search for her savings — which he then leaves behind when the land-lady surprises him attempting to seduce her daughter.
Penniless and homeless, but as elegant in his manners as ever, he dons an old army uniform and fools a number of people before being locked up in the city asylum. Even there it's clear no walls can hold him back for long.
Vulgar, theatrical, much too talky. "Yellow House" captures its audience anyway. Whole cast deserves kudos, but Monteiro (born 1939) outshines all as the old boy. Camerawork by José Antonio Loureiro is a limpid joy; Schubert and Vivaldi have never been funnier.
Yung.
Publicado na revista Variety , a 25- 31 de Outubro de 1989