Existential problematics in the films of Pedro Costa

Abstract

Films of the Portuguese director Pedro Costa seldom steal the limelight of cinema scholarship. The specific marginality of his works, the complex semi-documentary structure of his films and, at first glance, the social nature of his subjects complicate the analysis of his films. This essay undertakes a detailed investigation of his films' structures and problematics in the context of intellectual development in 21st-century European cinema. Four films by Costa Bones (Ossos, 1997), In Vandas Room (No Quarto da Vanda, 2000), Colossal Youth (Juventude em Marcha, 2006) and Horse Money (Cavalo Dinheiro, 2014) are regarded as elements of a single artistic system that transforms, becomes more complex and absorbs more and more cultural codes.
 The essay defines the motifs representative of the four films, visual metaphors that refer to sacred texts and the gradual transformation of the directors aesthetics. It is motivated by the necessity to carry out a complex research of all components of Costas films from the existential perspective: in the authors opinion, such perspective gives the opportunity to define specific features of the directors aesthetics. The systemic interdisciplinary approach is determined by the necessity to expose the aesthetic and anthropological problems explored in Costa's films and to define their philosophical basis, using a combined historical, cultural, semiotic, anthropological and hermeneutical approach. The essay concludes that the core of Pedro Costas art relates to existential philosophy and anthropology and that his main concern is spirituality, a theme realized most adequately via cinema.