Does it even ring a bell?

Bom dia. Nao falo Portugues muito bem. Sou Gales. Mas queria viver em Portugal, pais maravilhoso(?) de Amalia Rodrigues.

Hi! I'm fascinated by Portuguese culture + adore the sublime fado of Amalia Rodrigues especially.

Oliveira; the man should be a legend, a household name worldwide, but the lack of replies so far says a lot about the terrible neglect of his work. Abraham Valley is one of my very favourite films- an elegant, elusive masterpiece, transposing Madame Bovary to Portugal's beautiful Douro valley. Excellent use of music and it has a magnificent eye for composition (at times could draw comparisons with the Spanish painter Velasquez, but unfortunately too often overlooked, a well as a sense of beautiful stillness at times. Leonor Silveira is superb in the lead role.

Oliveira is now well into his 9th- yes 9th!- decade of film-making (he started on Douro, Faina Fluvial at the end of the 20's), and in the last 2 decades has been incredibly prolific, still entering films annually at the top international festivals. I also recommend I'm Going Home (though a slighter film) and the flawed but interesting No or the Vainglory of Command. It's a pity some classics i'd love to see by him- e.g Aniki Bobo, Amor de Perdicao- aren't available here on video or dvd, but i do intend to catch up with a few other films when i can. An intelligent man of great cultural breadth, having also been a theatre director and sportsman in his younger days- which may partly account for his longevity.

Fiquei contente com os elogios !!!

You my Welsh friend seem to be rather au fait with Oliveira's life and work.

And your grasp of his (often) difficult and erudite way of shooting, image-capturing and scene-composing is amazing (really !!): that's the way some of his defenders propose an (all too frequently) tough audience should watch his films.

Back to land of Dylan Thomas, Ian Rush and Super Furry Animals.

I have given Oliveira a wide berth and haven't seen any of his films. What is interesting is that until the last decade or so I don't think Oliveira's films were distributed in the U.S. and don't even think they made the festival circuit. Several of his recent films have screened at the New York Festival, which has raised his profile in the U.S.

I did attempt to buy a ticket to THE CONVENT at the New York Film Fest. It sold out. The film I believe starred Catherine Deneuve & John Malkovich, both of whom have been in Oliveira's films.

THE CONVENT, like one or two of Olivira's recent films, has received commercial release, albeit a very limited commercial release. THE CONVENT, which I also missed on its commercial run, played in one NYC theatre for maybe a week.

He had another film that was well received that I didn't see that starred the French actor Michel Piccoli. And then there was another one, with Deneuve I think, where she journeys on a boat.

They seem too abstruse for me.