#48 is a visual and musical tour de force I never heard about - Black Orpheus -
disclaimer - I think it's like one of FOUR Orpheus movies in the first couple hundred Criterion releases but I'm betting it's the most original (Edit 12/26/2018 - this comment uh, didn't age so well - all of the Orpheus films were sorta out there - LOL)
The story is a South American take on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Rio De Janeiro at Carnival time - While I think they caught a lot of the atmosphere they maybe didn't do enough to truly capture the city except from the Mountains. I think this movie could have done for Rio what Summertime did for Venice - but what I DID learn was that it did bring Bossa Nova music out of Brazil to a wider audience and that's got to count for something - I also heard it was Barack Obama's Mother's favorite film but that he personally had issues with it when he went to go see it with her
There is a beauty and life to this film that's hard to beat - The Color is excellent, the actors are very telegenic, and the music is awesome - music infuses the background of the whole movie and the child actors bring a strong sense of levity and joy to the film
some great special features, interviews, etc - it was a Brazil/France co-production - and as such there is some controversy - some folks feel it's an outsider's take on Brazil and glorifies the poverty of the folks there - but as a colorful and beautiful film it cannot be denied that it's a fantastic film
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