Cheap O Fantasma (DVD) (Ricardo Meneses, Beatriz Torcato) (João Pedro Rodrigues) Price

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Customer Reviews of O Fantasma

Truly Strange!!!
First, let me say I am giving this completely unorthodox film four stars because I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not really sure I liked it, but I will say it is pretty daring in its approach to what can loosely be called "storytelling." There is very little dialogue, so we don't learn much about the characters, particularly Sergio, the central character, by what they say. Their actions are the primary sources of information into their unusual psyches. Sergio, a very attractive but deeply disturbed young man, is in the midst of a psychological meltdown, but I don't think his bizarre behaviour fully explains what is going on deep in his soul. The minimalist approach of the filmmaker in depicting Sergio's descent seems intent on providing slightly less information than we need to know. Perhaps the idea of this approach is to leave viewers in the dark just enough to be haunted by the film's imagery long after it is over. Maybe this film is an indictment of promiscuous gay sex, but then again, maybe it's an endorsement. I say this because there is an insidiously sexy edge to this work that snuck up on me and wouldn't let go. It's both seductive and repulsive at the same time. A very interesting, but perhaps not altogether successful endeavor. Yet, I highly recommend it!

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A Bizarre Tale of Obsession and De Clerambault's Syndrome
In 2000, João Pedro Rodrigues directed and co-wrote a dark and unusual film entitled "O Fantasma" ("Phantom" in English). The film's protagonist is a young man named Sérgio (Ricardo Meneses), who works as a garbage collector in Lisbon, Portugal usually during the predawn hours. Sérgio lives alone and has very few friends (which are mostly his coworkers), but identifies with a dog named Lorde. He is also obsessed with having casual, gratuitous sex with anonymous men, which never seems to satisfy him. One morning, while collecting trash from a private home, Sérgio meets a very attractive and muscular man named João (André Barbosa) working on his motorcycle and is immediately attracted to him. Unfortunately, João, who lives with his mother (Maria Paola Porru), becomes the object of obsession for Sérgio, who begins to unrepentantly stalk him. This and several other actions by Sérgio are symptoms of a mental disorder known as De Clerambault's Syndrome, which causes Sérgio to enter an increasingly delusional, animalistic and predatory state of mind.

Filmed mostly at night, the cinematography in "O Fantasma" is usually dark, colorless and surreal. This adds to the feelings of inner darkness and loneliness that Sérgio experiences as his obsessions slowly destroy his ability to interact with others and transforms him into the anonymous, shadowy phantom wearing a tight, black, all-encompassing costume like a comic book antihero. Other memorable characters in the film include Sérgio's coworker Fátima (Beatriz Torcata), his boss Virgilio (Enrico Vieira), Mário (Joaquim Oliveira), Matos (Florindo Lourenço) and the two police officers (Jorge Almeida and João Rui Guerra da Mata, who also did the art direction and costume design in the film). Overall, I rate "O Fantasma" with 4 out of 5 stars. Clearly, the film isn't for everyone, but it was directed and acted well.

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***TOO MUCH AND NOT ENOUGH*** O FANTASMA!
AGAIN I TOOK A CHANCE & BOUGHT A DVD WITHOUT FIRST HAVING SEEN IT. ITS' SUBJECT--A YOUNG MANS' SAME-SEX ESCAPADES ABOUT TOWN IN LISBON, PORTUGAL--SEEMS QUITE PROVOCATIVE WHEN BUYING A FILM. I MUST SAY ITS MAIN CHARACTER--SERGIO--WAS A DELIGHT TO WATCH & A GREAT CHOICE FOR THIS FILM AS HE POSSESSES THAT "BRANDOESQUE", UNTAMED SEX-APPEAL THAT CAN'T BE TAUGHT OR LEARNED. THE WAY HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS SEXUAL PROCLIVITIES WITH SUCH SELF-ABANDON WAS TRULY BELIEVABLE IF NOT RISQUE & DISTURBING. THE FILM STARTS OUT WITH WHAT APPEARS TO BE SOME FORM OF S&M & PROGRESSES TO ANONYMOUS SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS IN A CAR & A PUBLIC RESTROOM. MIND YOU, THESE ENCOUNTERS ARE STRICTLY CARNAL & DEVOID OF ANY IDEALIZATION OF SEXUALITY ITSELF. ALL THE WHILE SERGIO MADLY OBSESSES OVER A DUDE THAT FINDS HIS STALKING BEHAVIOR ANNOYING AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE. THIS DOESN'T DETER SERGIO AS HE PROCEEDS DEEPER INTO HIS SEXUAL DILEMMA. THE GUY BECOMES A "PHANTOM" IN SERGIOS' PSYCHE; THE MORE HE AVOIDS & REFUSES SERGIOS' ADVANCES THE DEEPER SERGIO FALLS INTO HIS SELF-CREATED ABYSS. THE OVERALL SCENERY OF THE FILM IS DARK & DESOLATE WHICH HELPED TO ISOLATE & AMPLIFY SERGIOS' TROUBLED STATE OF MIND. OVERALL, THE FILM WAS NOT ALL BAD BUT "TOO MUCH & NOT ENOUGH". KUDOS TO RICARDO MENESES ON HIS DEBUT; HE ALONE MADE THIS FILM MEMORABLE.