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‘The Luminous Life’ Review: A Portuguese Charmer Brimming With the Joys of Youth, Love and Lisbon
A young man presses pause on life to nurse his breakup wounds, while fate has other ideas, in João Rosas' winning romantic comedy 'The Luminous Life.'
Yes, he’s unemployed, living at home, recently broke up with his dream woman and is firmly convinced that he’ll never love that way again — but it’s spring in Lisbon, the city’s sidewalks, bars and cinemas are alive with social possibilities for an affable, handsome young lad such as he, and he’s not about to miss out on all of them. Which is to say the title of Portuguese director João Rosas ‘ debut feature isn’t at all ironic: This droll, delightful romantic comedy is an ode to the good times that can be had amid and around heartache, and the healing that eventually comes out of that very conflict. Rosas and cinematographer Paulo Menezes shoot Lisbon’s streetlife, nightlife and even its quiet cemetery parks with the breezy, sauntering flow of Eric Rohmer’s Paris, and occasionally the hot-to-the-touch luminescence of Wong Kar-wai’s Hong Kong.
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