Ventura has Parkinson’s disease. His memory isn’t up to much either. When a doctor asks his age, the old man says he is 19. He regularly gets lost in the past, roaming his memories.
Ventura grew up in Cape Verde and left for Lisbon as a young man, where he embarked on a poverty-stricken existence as a bricklayer. Pedro Costa portrayed him previously in his film Colossal Youth (2006). In his characteristic long, static shots, the idiosyncratic director registers Ventura’s encounters with friends and strangers; encounters that occasionally only seem to exist in his imagination.
Costa has a sharp eye for both the beauty and misery of the life of working migrants. Horse Money, which won the prize for best director at the Locarno Film Festival, is striking for its beautiful camera work and stunning tableaux, in which Ventura roams as a ghost of his former, powerful self.
Film details
- Country of production
- Portugal
- Year
- 2014
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2015
- Length
- 104'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
