We went to see this film because it was described a the Portuguese version of flamenco. We went directly from a flamenco class to the film and were enthralled. Never heard of fado before, but we became fans at first hearing it and watching this movie. I really liked the director getting out of the way and letting the performers perform without some distracting commentary droning on. Most touching was the older woman singing about regret, the passage of time, and the desire to change her past. Most upsetting was seeing that the virus of rap has infected yet another musical genre. However, this was an excellent movie that has inspired us to learn and listen more. We cannot wait for it to be released in a US format DVD.

Okay, can I announce that there is music and dance in this film? Does this constitute a spoiler? Just kidding.Seriously, though, I was really disappointed with this film. I love almost all kinds of music and this music is now among those I like. Those with ears more trained to the distinctions between this Portuguese music and, say, Brazilian music can say more about it than I. However, there are certainly aspects to Fado that resemble Brazilian music.Be that as it may, Fado, to my understanding, is not dance music, per se. On the other hand, the director, for who knows what reason, chose to greatly enhance the film experience with often cluttered visuals and dance that sometimes doesn't seem to fit the music. What I wanted to see was either a live concert film, like "Buena Vista Social Club", which showcases the musicians and also told about the musicians' stories, or a film like "Calle 54", a concert film simply done on a soundstage with no audience. Either way, those films focus on the musicians performing the music."Fado" is so visually busy, you get the sense that either the director didn't trust his audience to merely sit through a concert film so he enhanced it with visual pizazz, or he felt like doing an exercise in showing off visual style as a director (the way it sometimes feels Tarentino does). Other than a few exceptions, the musicians and the music are not the stars here (but they should be!). What we have are, instead, set pieces comprised of music and dancing and sets and colors and camera tricks. Hey, let's put on a SHOW!!! There was so much going on, with no microphones in sight, I thought I was watching singers lip synching.The music is lovely, sometimes exciting and the performers seem to be passionate about what they're performing. Their efforts, however, are so often conflicting with the director's vision, or just drowned out.Remember how tacky those musical numbers used to be at the Academy Awards years ago? You could have a singer like Shirley Bassey mesmerizing us with her vocal of "Diamonds Are Forever", but behind her would be busy Busby Berkeley choreography performed by 50 tuxedoed men and 100 scantily clad women, not really doing anything all that pointed regarding the lyric she was singing. Just complete idiotic distraction. Well, that's how a lot of this film felt to me. As Simon on American Idol would say, "Sorry." Could someone do a film of this music before a live audience and serve THAT up to us? I'll be anxiously awaiting.

I've been dreaming about this film. Despite i've seen this some months ago, i didn't comment on it before because i wanted to understand how it would fit in my imagination. And it has been moving my dreams in ways i had never experienced before. This is a milestone work, and i am marking it as a film one should necessarily watch in order to get maximum range of what moving images can give you.I had experienced the musical genre according to Saura's vision. This one tops what he had done previously with Iberia and Flamenco. He topped everything he had done before in this area. The thing with this is: i'm not sure i watched cinema here. I watched a composition, which concerns music, plastic development of sets based on the feeling they cause, framing, camera movement and so on. So, Saura plays with the whole deck of cards. He plays with camera, sound and image/composition. He uses all the possibilities, and oh, he knows so well where he wants to go.Probably, as a Portuguese i connect with this more specially. Fado is an work in progress, it is a form of expression that jumped out of the "neighbourhood". Amália Rodrigues tried to cross barriers, she looked for making Fado something more jazzy in the way it could play with more notes, breaking forms, and even breaking the idea of rigid forms. Ary dos Santos was her equivalent in what concerns lyrics (and he supported in this quest the upcoming Carlos do Carmo, who performs here). But when Amália started, she had fascism supporting "traditional" and fado had necessarily to play the cultural role of supporting the soul of the people, and the health of the empire. So she could never take the music to a whole new level, as it is being done in recent years.Mariza shows now, well supported by the right people, and she took musically fado to a new artistic level. Fado is also music, Morelembaum told her. New musical developments are taking its way. And now we have this. Here the question becomes more universal and has to do with other "sports". Several parallel forms of expression, which intersect fado without being exactly fado. Over those expressions, Saura places flat colored surfaces, and he uses them at his will, to bring out the best all the numbers (dance or music) have to offer. So, he uses mirrors to multiply the area or to reflect movements he cares about, and he uses strong colors, usually to place faces against them. Here he can achieve in moments genius. I dream about that yellowed orange, i believe i cried a tear in my sit over that orange. The genius here comes when Saura is able to use all the media he has in order to bring out the value of music. He creates a new form of art, that may be beyond cinema, something between the happening and the installation, but oh much more interesting than any of these. Curiously, 2007 also gave us a film i consider essential, Caótica Ana by Medem, another spaniard, and in this film i commented on a specific scene which i considered to be something more than cinema, something which included the viewer. Very interesting, same year, same country. I believe the next step over this would be to place an architectural/spatial eye. That could come by studying the cinema architects (Welles, Tarkovsky, Antonioni...) and emulate them, or turning this into a physical real experience, but there, cinema is gone. I would prefer seeing this done the first way.My opinion: 5/5 I felt i was watching to the construction of a new medium, of something never seen before. I enjoyed the sensation

I sat in a theatre listening to the music coming out of the big speakers: the latest from Brazil. The film I was coming to see was "FADOS" by Spanish auteur Carlos Saura. I thought fado was from Portugal - I was confused. Not because a Spanish filmmaker had taken the challenge to film a few performers (mostly non-Portuguese) to showcase in a video-clip style some fado music... I was disappointed because it barely related to anything to do with Portugal. I give one star for Carlos do Carmo influence in the film. A second star goes to the fight superstar Mariza has with the Spanish singer in MEYU FADO MEU - probably the only emotional moment in the film due to the struggle shown by Mariza in wanting to keep her own fado. maybe even an irony relating to the whole film. A third star goes to the filmmaker for having the balls to do the film. Finally, I give FADOS 4 stars because of Mariza herself. She is truly the only one that will probably win from this. Her beauty and star power comes through the screen like a magnetic force. Her powerful voice and stature are beyond anything that Saura could accomplish. If she was not a part of the film then it would have no redeeming qualities at all. Yes, i was disappointed. Why can't the Portuguese and Portugal be shown to the world for itself?