Hard Times

Joao Botelho's HARD TIMES, filmed in black and white and stylistically reminiscent of early cinema, adapts the Charles Dickens novel and sets it in modern-day Portugal. The story takes place in Poco do Mundo (World's End), the smoke-billowing town where Viana is a wealthy factory owner. The film focuses on the two children of the town's schoolmaster, who grow up to be played by Britton and Furtado. Britton is unhappily married to Viana, while Furtado is a rather irresponsible employee at Viana's factory. As is usually the case in a Dickens tale, the characters harbor dark secrets and longings and are inevitably done in by their own duplicity. Scripted, directed, an...