Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Manoel de Oliveira

THIS JUST IN: More stunning news from the world of cinema. Manoel de Oliveira, the great Portugese film director, did not die at his home in Lisboa yesterday at the age of 98.

Instead, the sprightly nonagernarian continued work on two new projects, a segment of the film Os Invisíveis, and his own feature, Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loira, both of which are due out in 2008, when Oliveira will be 99.


Director Manoel de Oliveira, 98, editing his new film.

Oliveira directed two films this year, two last year - including Belle Toujours, a follow-up to Buñuel's famous Belle de Jour (1967) that recently premiered at the New York Film festival - and two in 2005. While some younger directors have been slacking off lately and using death as an excuse for not working, Oliveira has been kicking some serious cinema butt.

I highly recommend Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo [Journey to the Beginning of the World] (1997), which was Marcello Mastroianni's last film before he got lazy and stopped acting because he was "dead."

According to IMDB, Eric Rohmer (87), Alain Resnais (85), Claude Chabrol (77), and Jean-Luc Godard (77) are also STILL ALIVE this morning - and all but Resnais, who did a film last year, are currently working on projects.

Orson Welles, however, still hasn't made another full-length feature film since Chimes at Midnight in 1965. Evidently, he's been having some trouble financing the new production.

Gratuitous shot of Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour (1967).

4 comments:

Liam said...

Oliveira will live to 200.

Apparently he's the only still working director who made films in the silent era.

crystal said...

I noticed that a number of people have been visitng my blog post of an interview with Bergman - it's popular to be recently dead. I think I might post something about Blow Up later. Nice photo - she's so beautiful.

Jeff said...

Sorry to be late in posting here. I've been weeping the last 48 hours over Randy Moss and his "tweaked" hamstring. Does this mean we won't just have the Super Bowl trophy handed to us after all?

Well, at least Herzog and Almodovar are still around.

Poor Marcello. Nice of you to cut him some slack on his acting for being deceased. I think teaming up with Sonia Braga in Gabriela might have been a little bit too much for him at his age.

Nice photo of Catherine Denueve. She was (and still is) a beauty. She was gorgeous even in Roman Polanski's Repulsion.

cowboyangel said...

Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I was away for a few days, still dealing with our move, etc.

Liam,

Oliveira probably will live to 200. And still be making movies.

Crystal,

It does always seem popular to be recently dead. But then, you never get to enjoy your popularity. I'll check out your Bergman interview.

Yeah, I suppose Deneuve isn't bad looking.

Jeff,

I am truly sorry to hear about Randy Moss. Really. I can't even imagine the emotional turmoil. :-)

Yeah, Marcello. Rough life. Did you know he and Deneuve had a daughter together? Chia Mastroianni. She's married to a pretty good French singer/producer: Benjamin Biolay.