Central Station

Theatrical Release Date: 1998 11 20 (USA)

UPC: 043396038332

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Profanity]

Summary: Former documentary filmmaker Walter Salles (Foreign Land) directed this Brazilian-French road movie tracing the travels and travails of a young boy and an aging woman across the Brazilian landscape. In Rio de Janeiro's central railroad station, callous Dora (leading Brazilian stage/screen actress Fernanda Montenegro) works at a stand where she writes letters for a parade of poor and illiterate. Some of these remain undelivered because she chooses not to mail all of the letters. One of her customers is a woman whose nine-year-old son, Josue (Vinicius de Oliveira), hopes to see the father he has never met, but after the mother dictates two letters to the father, she's killed when hit by a bus. Since Josue is left homeless, Dora reluctantly takes him home to her small apartment overlooking the railroad tracks, where she sometimes spends time with her neighbor Irene (Marilia Pera). Dora places Josue with people who claim to find adoptive parents. When Irene informs her they actually sell children who are then killed for their organs, Dora rescues Josue, and the two board a bus. After a failed attempt to abandon Josue at a roadside stop, Dora and Josue hitch a ride from a religious truck driver. Failing to locate his father, they arrive penniless at a huge rural religious convocation, where Josue suggests Dora bring her letter-writing skills back into play. The notion works, and Dora profits by writing letters to saints for the more devout among the assembled multitudes. Continuing on, they arrive at a sprawling-mass housing development -- and hopefully, a solution to the problem of a family for Josue. Young actor de Oliveira was a shoeshine boy who beat out more than 1,500 other children who auditioned or were interviewed for the Josue role. Made with grants from the Sundance Institute, NHK, and the French Ministry of Culture, this film was shown at 1998 film festivals (Sundance, Berlin). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Foreign Language Film – null Best Foreign Language Film – French Academy of Cinema Best Actress – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Language Film – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Golden Bear – Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actress – Berlin International Film Festival Best Actress – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Interactive menus
Language: Portuguese [stereo]
Walter Salles, Arthur Cohn, and Fernanada Montenegro audio commentary
Subtitles: English
Theatrical trailer
Talent and filmographies
Scene selections
Widescreen format

Central Station

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/13/1999

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 106 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) Portuguese

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [5:22]
2. Letter Review [2:53]
3. Revisions [3:00]
4. Orphaned [1:15]
5. No Money, No Letter [3:42]
6. Penalty For Stealing [4:47]
7. Guest For The Evening [5:53]
8. Yolanda [1:42]
9. Finder's Fee [2:50]
10. "I've Changed My Mind." [5:57]
11. Bus To Bom Jesus [4:06]
12. "The Kid's Drunk!" [1:17]
13. Benemer?ncia [4:04]
14. Cesar [2:24]
15. "What's In The Bag?" [7:58]
16. Scared Evangelist [3:02]
17. Bartered Ride [2:20]
18. Mother's Handkerchief [5:14]
19. Jesse [2:53]
20. Cursed [4:59]
21. Messages To A Saint [7:24]
22. New Settlements [:58]
23. Forgotten Faces [1:27]
24. Vanished [2:26]
25. Isaias [2:30]
26. Moises [1:47]
27. Letter To Ana [5:42]
28. Graceful Exit [11:48]

Karl Williams

Global awareness of Brazil's rebounding film community continued to grow with Central Station (1998), the third feature of Rio de Janeiro-born director Walter Salles. Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and for the performance of leading lady Fernanda de Montenegro, the film is similar to Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948) in its depiction of the fragile relationship between a world-weary, cold-hearted adult and a fearful but idealistic boy. Salles's preoccupation with Brazil's economic hardships and their effect on his native society was also the basis for his previous film, Terra Estrangeira (1995), about a generation of Brazilians who have emigrated to the industrialized south or out of the country entirely, seeking greater economic opportunity. Central Station is also a tearjerker and functions effectively on a purely emotional level, due in no small part to the non-manipulative, dazzlingly subtle performance by Montenegro. Reminiscent of both the DeSica classic and of the writing of Charles Dickens, Salles' film is a tale of spiritual reawakening that calls, like many nostalgic American films, for both a new identity and a return to a place and sense of self that has been lost. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Antonella Rendina  Actor 
Arthur Cohn  Producer 
Walter Salles, Jr.  Director 
Walter Salles, Jr.  Screenwriter 
Donald Ranvaud  Executive Producer 
Marcos Bernstein  Screenwriter 
Thomas Garvin  Executive Producer 
Lillian Birnbaum  Executive Producer 
Joao Emanuel Carneiro  Screenwriter 
Jaques Morelenbaum  Composer (Music Score) 
Antonio Pinto  Composer (Music Score) 
Elisa Tolomelli  Executive Producer 
Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre  Producer 
Fernanda Montenegro  Actor 
Marilia Pera  Actor 
Vinicius de Oliveira  Actor 
Soia Lira  Actor 
Othon Bastos  Actor 
Otavio Augusto  Actor 
Stela Freitas  Actor 
Matheus Nachtergaele  Actor 
Caio Junqueira  Actor 

Country: France,Brazil