Number 3 in Sight & Sound‘s Best Films of 2014 list, Horse Money is the stunning new film from award-winning Portuguese auteur Pedro Costa (Ossos, In Vanda’s Room, Colossal Youth).
Shot in 4:3 aspect ratio with a mostly static camera, Costa follows Ventura – the enigmatic lead of his previous film Colossal Youth (2006), through a series of haunting tableaux; watching as he travels through Lisbon slums populated by the ghosts of his, and his country’s past, over the course of one night.
From the restless spirits lingering in this decaying urban landscape, Costa conjures a spellbinding and unclassifiable cinematic experience with allegorical, hallucinatory visuals that feel like dreamscapes.
What results is a memorable and experimental contemplation of Portugal’s troubled past and uncertain future, from one of the true poets of contemporary European cinema.
