Vai~E~Vem

I saw this movie one year and half ago... When I saw, i give 1 star, and now, after all this time, I gave another's 4 stars.. Its a movie like the book Little Prince, you have to grow to understand, and get the knowledge to realize what its the main problem there, and after that, you will see the pain behind the movie... Its a movie to see every 3 years, and every time you will change your perspective about this magnificent piece of art. Its a slow movie, but once you get the reason and love from the characters, the slow begin to feel faster that you want your life to be. It was the mirror of many old people that feel left from their family, and after all they give for us, we felt them. I love the movie, and most the message.

Great were my expectations when I went to watch this film, because the Portuguese film critics were writing wonderful things about it. And how disappointed did I get! Sixty six shots in three hours and and nothing new. The film is nothing but an old man's fantasizing with young servants.

Monteiro has always had a very special approach to filmmaking, and he has his place in Portuguese film history, but that doesn't make this movie any better. What a pity.

More than the fact that this is a filmed testament from the dying director, this movie is a lesson of life. Life and cinema showed by someone who knew both very well. It's not a lesson of moral, things are sometimes weird, so this is a complete, pertinent, not hiding anything, and leading us to all kind of enjoyment. Pleasure and contemplation are always showed with a kind of nostalgia. Also, some plans are really interesting to watch and shows a way of filming, and of seeing life very difficult to show (except in painting). Playing with different factors, (rhythm, time, some objects) it's showing this Beyond all objectivity, or with an objectivity beyond objects... Monteiro is playing with our senses...

I agree it can be difficult to watch, because it's long, slow, without a lot of cuts, neither a lot of movements, everything is done with long plans. But all that is the rhythm of an old guy watching life, and having his last pleasures, and taking time to have it. It's an ode to life in all its ways. I've never written any comments on this sites (only on message boards) but I had to write something about this one. This movie is really special and intense, (and in a soft way, what is strange...).

Until the last plan which put the character, the director, and us to eternity... (I won't say more about this plan, but it has to be seen...)

João César Monteiro, as always, in all is movies, showed a great disregard for conventions. Branca De Neve was a good example of that, Vai e Vem is also a good example of that.

Considered a madman by some and a fraud by others, is attempts to create movies that were at the same time groundbreaking and interesting were always misunderstood.

One of the greatest and most underrated Portuguese Directors of all time, no doubt about that.

Now one thing is, if you are not from Lisbon, or if you never visited Lisbon, you won't ever understand this movie. Because this lives out from the feeling that Lisboa is... I see this as an ode to the things that João Cesar Monteiro found dearest to him. Almost a farewell to life itself, and since this was Monteiro's last film, this is revealed to be true.

The last shot of the movie is the strangest thing I've seen ever in cinema. And you can take many conclusions out of it. Maybe he's trying to invert the papers, watching the spectators as they are watching him. Saying goodbye to the people that admired is work for decades.

Just like all the good things, you need to have a developed sense of inner-depth, to stomach this. Or else you're just going to quit after the first 2 minutes.

This is a unique film-maker, this is a unique film. If you don't appreciate you can always go watch, Scary Movie or some Meg Ryan movie. There's no problem with that.

I loved this film. The dialogues are wonderful and the story itself is amusing as we see J.César Monteiro in one of his best performances. The script has wonderful dialogues and is filled with bright and irreverent humour (a quality of Cesar Monteiro's writting). It's the story of an old-man (João Vuvu played by João César Monteiro) who has a son in jail and lives alone..strange events takes place as he goes to the hospital after being sodomized by a a very weird beard woman who fancies women. This is the last film by João César Monteiro because he left us this year at february..another victim of cancer..this film holds his memory.