Black Orpheus

Winner of the Oscar for best foreign film and the Palme d'Or at Cannes, this transposition of the myth of Orpheus and the Underworld to Rio de Janeiro at Carnival time is a riot of exotic colour and dynamic movement. Yet there's also an overweening sentimentality about trolleybus conductor Breno Mello's doomed affair with Marpessa Dawn (who was, incidentally, the director's wife). Director Marcel Camus is guilty of a certain naivety in his political symbolism and of failing to compensate for the limitations of his inexperienced cast. Yet this remains a visually exhilarating and - thanks largely to a superb score - vibrant experience.