A series of music videos playing Fado music. It was interesting to see the many interpretations for the songs. Some of the singers are actually Brazilian, so some of them already mixed a little bit of Samba with it.

Beautiful emotion in this one! Pure Fado!

Hermoso. Pero aburrido.

Not a piece of fiction or a documentary, Fados is a musical journey, featuring major artists from the Portuguese speaking world. And a great journey it is, taking the Fado genre and exploring its history and interpretations. From the back street bars of Alfama we travel to Mozambique for some African fusion, Cabo Verde where Fado rubs shoulders with its cousin Morna, Brazil with the seminal Chico Buarque and even Lila Downs brings a Mexican touch. Impeccably performed, beautifully staged and what else can I say. Magical.

Excelente! Um magnifico trabalho de Carlos Saura (completando a triologia) sobre a musica mais nacional que temos: O FADO! Nas suas mais diversas variacoes e estilos, bem como nas suas mais diversas vozes e artistas. Para quem nÃo conhece Fado é um bom filme/documentario para o perceber... ou pelo menos sentir. English coments: Excellent! A magnificent work of Carlos Saura (completing a trilogy) about the music we (the Portuguese) have more national: FADO! In its various variations and styles, as well as in its various voices and artists. For those unfamiliar Fado is a good movie / documentary to find out ... or at least feel. If you are going to see a movie about or over Fados. You are mistaken! But wait! It is really worth SEE! It is a pearl on Fados and all its variations! From the classic to modern, from the north, the country's PLOP and beyond! It's a great reference! By the way, Congratulations to Carlos Saura for the completion of his trilogy!

Absolutely fabulous! I saw it thousands of times. Hipnotic! An experience! Saura at his best!

Great soundtrack but a little insubstantial.

Love the music. So much like saudade from Brazil.

The best musical since--well, Saura's Tango ten years ago. You don't need to know anything about fados (a traditional popular song from Portugal) to appreciate the longing and passion of the singers, the talent of the accompanying musicians, the mastery of the dancers, and above all, the cinematic genius of Saura. Through simple lighting, projection, and camera movement, he creates a poetry of the screen which parallels or complements the profundity of this deceptively simple-sounding music. Young folks may find filming an entire song in one camera shot boring, but in so doing for some of the numbers, Saura focuses your attention on the singer and the music. I'm going to go back and watch this again tomorrow night, that's how much I loved this movie.

little dissapointed by Saura

Saw this film at the MFA this spring and although I don't understand a word of Portuguese I found I didn't need to. The emotion of the lyrics comes through in these amazing musical vignettes.

Fado is a genre of Portuguese music that has survived to this day. This movie is a collection of traditional and contemporary fado performances that gives a great glimpse into that world of music. The camerawork gives good focus to singers, musicians, and dancers. Often they are dressed in traditional clothes and costumes, which reveals another facet of the culture. The music is phenomenal and the dancing spans a wide range of styles. I found myself wanting to applaud on several occasions before the movie was over. My main complaint about the movie is that most, if not all, of the performances take place in the sterilized space of a studio. While this gives the dancers an optimal place to perform, it leaves this viewer wanting more. The most striking example is the first piece, which is a parade of drums, whistles, dancers, and people holding up model airplanes and ships. This was an energetic piece to kick the movie off with, but the whole thing felt artificial as the performers marched around screens instead of buildings and danced on a wooden studio floor instead of cobblestone streets. The last shot of the movie is a bird's-eye view showing dancers rehearsing, film crew, and costume racks that ends with a slow zoom on a camera lens. It was probably meant to acknowledge the "behind the scenes" people, but it took some of the magic away for me. Why not use a shot like that as the lead-in/buildup to one of the performances? The director, Carlos Saura, could be working with a limited budget and timeline. It shows in the setting of the performances as mentioned before, but also in the repeated use of shadows and mirrors to try to keep the audience visually interested in the film. "Fados" is a recommended film to anyone who enjoys music, especially music from other countries. The film cuts to the chase and there is no filler for sure. However, I would've liked to see Saura break up the performances with some interviews or documentary-type footage even if it would mean extending the film. One thing that Carlos Saura did well though was in showing that fado is for everyone: the young and old, the poor and well-off, Portuguese, Brazilian, and even someone who has never heard it before.

A must see. Playing at E-Street. Probably won't last more than a week.

Beautiful music, good dancing, lots of nice cinematography. A bit uneven, but some of the individual bits were stunning (esp Caetano Veloso, Mariza, Carlos do Carmo, Argentina Santos). I appreciated that Fado has a long history and has changed through the ages, and I loved hearing all the different evocations, including the Fado-Flamenco duet between Mariza and Miguel Poveda and the rap-inspired piece. But wildly different settings and feelings for each piece, and no transitions between them, made it feel like a documentary without any explanation at all, instead of a more emotional journey through song and dance. For the vast majority of audience members with absolutely no background on Portugal or Fado, the historical footage of certain singers was unenlightening without some kind of explanation of what these people meant to the genre. Those sections are the ones that made me want more, for instance, it would have been nice to hear current Fado artists explain how those older artists inspired them. And the archival footage of the protests also begged so many questions that it really felt out of place. But for anyone who loves to hear new music, this is an important film that captures a little-known musical form as performed by artists who are clearly masters of their craft.

On a par with Sauras' other music & dance films. I could have seen it again immediately. The music is stellar and is perfectly matched with some of the best dance I have ever seen on screen

you shouldn't expect a movie or a documentary. but it's great music and great musicians and dancers!

A beautiful film. It is not really a documentary -- there is no voice-over, no narrative, and if some of the images and music provide a historical context it is not sufficiently self-explanatory for the uninitiated. It is a beautiful film of song and dance, a celebration of fado both contemporary and traditional.

100% just music: simply beautiful! The music is awesome and the images behind it are great too!

Great music-- choreography a little too "circa early 90's" style for me. The drama during Lila Downs was hilarious. I wish they were not ballet dancers but real traditional dancers. But, great music.

A very nicely filmed presentation of Fados music. Some performers are awesome.