Colossal Youth, in my view, is pretentious and tedious. It apes certain features of serious cinema without any genuine commitment or depth.

| Feb 14, 2021

There is a strange type of anonymity to this film, as if the personality behind the camera has utterly vanished, allowing what is depicted, to be genuinely seen, not just looked at.

| Aug 23, 2017

Costa strikes at the core of what makes these people tick and the tragedy of their being ignored and abandoned by the government and general population.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 11, 2015

If you're not already a fan of Costa by now, joyfully mainlining on his existential aesthetic, you better sidestep this one.

| Jul 30, 2015

Colossal Youth demands to be seen more than once.

| Jun 18, 2012

[VIDEO ESSAY] How human beings learn from history in the face of unending injustice, or retain their dignity when everything is taken from them, are just a couple of the titanic issues Pedro Costa grapples with.

| Original Score: A | Jun 4, 2012

Pedro Costa's chronicle of poverty and loneliness is tough and demanding to watch but ultimately rewarding.

| Original Score: B | Aug 4, 2011

It's aesthetically pleasing, but lacks entertainment value.

| Original Score: B | May 14, 2011

You need a bit of patience with director Pedro Costa.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 6, 2010

Colossal Youth can best be described as a revelation... Costa abandons even the pretense of pseudo-documentary, instead transforming the quotidian into mythology.

| Original Score: 10/10 | May 1, 2010

Frustrating perhaps, but hypnotic if you can stick with it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 18, 2008

If you are able to slow down to Colossal Youth's deliberate rhythms, there's a strong chance you'll be dragged in by the film's undertow and resurface completely mesmerized.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 18, 2008

Beautifully photographed, the elliptical, often mysterious and wholly beguiling film Colossal Youth looks and sounds as if it were made on another planet.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 8, 2007

It's impossible to describe as anything less than reverie.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 2, 2007

Eventually, across the monumental boredom, mesmerizing, nearly still images and poetic rhythms of this 155-minute film, something like pathos or meaning can be sensed, if not really apprehended.

Full Review | Aug 2, 2007

Rather than impose actors on the scene, Costa involves the people who already live there. Instead of training them to perform a story, he locates a skeletal narrative from a rehearsal process based on their personal stories.

| Jul 31, 2007

A unique metaphysical vision that, tracing its characters' dislocation, seems to weave between alternate worlds as easily as it navigates from image to image.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 30, 2007

| Original Score: A- | Mar 3, 2007

It's a challenging 155 minutes, but it's a film that you can easily drift too and from while retaining a clear sense of place, person and purpose.

Full Review | Oct 30, 2006

Costa's experimentation reaches an aesthetic peak.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 23, 2006