For over three decades, Portuguese director Pedro Costa has been widely admired for his unusual and innovative body of work, which has earned accolades and wide acclaim.
The Haunted Cinema of Pedro Costa is the most complete treatment of his work, exploring Costa’s feature films from Blood to Vitalina Varela, and from the documentaries to the short films, museum exhibitions, and the forthcoming Daughters of Fire. Authors James Naremore and Darlene J. Sadlier situate Costa within the history and culture of Portugal, at the same time providing insightful close readings and stylistic analysis of the films. Their work explores the unusual features of his artistry and illuminates his unique contribution to cinema.
An accessible portrait of an important artist, The Haunted Cinema of Pedro Costa is an indispensable companion for scholars, students, and cinephiles everywhere.
“There is no one better than James Naremore, in collaboration here with Darlene J. Sadlier, to define and explore the enigmatic artistry of Pedro Costa, the neorealist Rembrandt of Portuguese and world cinema. The authors deliver elegant prose, dry wit, searching analysis of style and substance, and an unsurpassed command of film understanding.”―Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
“In nuanced and richly informed analyses, James Naremore and Darlene J. Sadlier illuminate all aspects of Pedro Costa’s films, proving especially insightful on atmosphere, performance, and gesture. As they write of Costa’s Horse Money, the director’s work has been ‘more praised by critics than carefully described and analyzed.’ This exhilarating book goes a long way toward correcting that imbalance.”―Chris Fujiwara, author of Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall
About the Authors
James Naremore is Chancellors’ Professor Emeritus of English, Comparative Literature, and the Media School at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of numerous books, among them, More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts; On Kubrick and Charles Burnett: A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge. He is editor (with Patrick M. Brantlinger) of Modernity and Mass Culture.
Darlene J. Sadlier is Professor Emerita of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the author of numerous books, most recently Memories of Underdevelopment; A Century of Brazilian Documentary Film: From Nationalism to Protest; and The Lilly Library from A to Z: Intriguing Objects in a World-Class Collection. She is the editor and translator of One Hundred Years after Tomorrow: Brazilian Women’s Fiction in the Twentieth Century.
Book Details
Title: The Haunted Cinema of Pedro Costa
Authors: James Naremore & Darlene J. Sadlier
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Language: English
Paperback: 222 pp
Available @ Amazon.com
