Central Station (1998)
8.1 /10
1072 Reviews
Rate This Movie:
An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Isadora 'Dora' Teixeira
... Josué Fontenele de Paiva
... Irene
... César
... Pedrão
User reviews
“Dora” (Fernanda Montenegro) used to be a school teacher, but now she sits at a table in the station in Rio de Janeiro and writes letters for the illiterate traveller for a few réals a time. She thinks little of a woman and her young son who stop by, except perhaps that he isn’t the most trusting of boys, but when a tragedy promptly befalls this pair she finds herself being asked to write another letter by the young “Josué” (Vinícius de Oliviera) - who’s still fairly suspicious that she never posted the last one! This one is to his dad in a remote town but what is he going to do, alone and penniless, in a city fraught with danger? Despite the fact that she is initially as keen to be shot of him as he of her, the two begin a journey that they hope will reunite him with his father, but that will certainly see these reluctant companions push each other’s buttons as their meagre funds barely stretch to the bus fares. If they ever do make it, what chance they will find and reconcile with his dad, or - for that matter - will “Josué” even recognise this man he has yet to meet? I’ve got to say, I’ve rarely seen a more engaging chemistry on screen than that on display here between these two. Montenegro is a natural - not just at portraying her own character but at gelling, convincingly, with an Oliviera whose mischievous urchin becomes an hugely charismatic personality that grows throughout. The road trip element serves to cement their relationship as you might expect, but it also shows us a little of life in Brazil’s fairly poverty-stricken and undeveloped interior as well as the decency of it’s population. This is a story that tells us of a significant episode in the lives of both of them but it’s incomplete and I found that to work really well, especially as it doesn’t contrive to create unnaturally melodramatic or histrionic scenarios. It’s underpinned by some skilfully written dialogue that provides for some characterful humour amidst the earnestness as they each wise up to the other and the all but two hours provides a personable and entertaining love story that’s poignant and really quite charming.
Director:
Genres:
Release Date:
1998-04-03
Run Time:
111 min
Reviews of
Central Station
“Dora” (Fernanda Montenegro) used to be a school teacher, but now she sits at a table in the station in Rio de Janeiro and writes letters for the illiterate traveller for a few réals a time. She thinks little of a woman and her young son who stop by, except perhaps that he isn’t the most trusting of boys, but when a tragedy promptly befalls this pair she finds herself being asked to write another letter by the young “Josué” (Vinícius de Oliviera) - who’s still fairly suspicious that she never posted the last one! This one is to his dad in a remote town but what is he going to do, alone and penniless, in a city fraught with danger? Despite the fact that she is initially as keen to be shot of him as he of her, the two begin a journey that they hope will reunite him with his father, but that will certainly see these reluctant companions push each other’s buttons as their meagre funds barely stretch to the bus fares. If they ever do make it, what chance they will find and reconcile with his dad, or - for that matter - will “Josué” even recognise this man he has yet to meet? I’ve got to say, I’ve rarely seen a more engaging chemistry on screen than that on display here between these two. Montenegro is a natural - not just at portraying her own character but at gelling, convincingly, with an Oliviera whose mischievous urchin becomes an hugely charismatic personality that grows throughout. The road trip element serves to cement their relationship as you might expect, but it also shows us a little of life in Brazil’s fairly poverty-stricken and undeveloped interior as well as the decency of it’s population. This is a story that tells us of a significant episode in the lives of both of them but it’s incomplete and I found that to work really well, especially as it doesn’t contrive to create unnaturally melodramatic or histrionic scenarios. It’s underpinned by some skilfully written dialogue that provides for some characterful humour amidst the earnestness as they each wise up to the other and the all but two hours provides a personable and entertaining love story that’s poignant and really quite charming.
Cast & Crew of
Central Station
Cast
... Isadora 'Dora' Teixeira
... Josué Fontenele de Paiva
... Irene
... César
... Pedrão
... Isaías Paiva
... Moisés Paiva
... Yolanda
... Waitress
... Dora's Client
... Ana Fontenele
... Jessé's Wife
... Bené
... Man on the bus
... Nordeste preacher
... Dora's Client
... Dora's Client
... Dora's Client
... Jessé
... Violeta
... Dora's Client
... Woman in the photograph
Crew
... Director of Photography
... Production Design
... Screenplay
... Screenplay
... Executive Producer
... Executive Producer
... Set Designer
... Sound Designer
... Executive Producer
... Director
... Producer
... Producer
... Casting
... Costume Design
... Sound Designer
... Editor
... Makeup Artist
... Set Designer
... Screenplay
... Line Producer
... Editor
... Production Design
... Sound Designer
... Original Music Composer
... Producer
... Executive Producer
... Sound mixer
... Original Music Composer
... Producer
... Electrician
... Special Effects Supervisor
... Producer
... Assistant Director
... Assistant Director
... Thanks
... First Assistant Camera
... Special Effects Coordinator
... Assistant Director
... Assistant Director
... Color Timer
... Additional Soundtrack
... Additional Soundtrack
Videos & Photos of
Central Station
Videos (2)
![4K Restoration Trailer [Subtitled]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qCoqppCsEa8/mqdefault.jpg)
Photos 14
Similar Movies To
Central Station
The Class (2008)
6.986/10
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
Release: 2008-09-24
Bete Balanço (1984)
6/10
A small town girl, who's an aspiring singer, tries to make a living out of music in the big city of Rio de Janeiro.
Release: 1984-07-30
My Magic (2008)
5/10
A single dad looks to give up drinking and his bartender job in order to impress his son and find work as a magician.
Release: 2008-05-23
Dear Frankie (2004)
7.1/10
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Release: 2004-05-18
The River Wild (1994)
6.456/10
Gail and Tom Hartman are struggling to stay together and decide to take a white-water rafting holiday adventure in Montana for their son Roarke's 10th birthday, only to meet up with a pair of mysterious men whose desperation grows, turning their vacation into a nightmare.
Release: 1994-09-30
The History Boys (2006)
6.62/10
The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.
Release: 2006-10-02
Lower City (2005)
6.515/10
Best friends Deco and Naldinho co-own a cargo boat in Brazil's Salvador da Bahia. They give a ride to a sultry prostitute named Karinna, and soon both men fall prey to her considerable sexual charms, pushing the bounds of their friendship to the limit.
Release: 2005-11-04
Joyless Street (1925)
6.798/10
In 1921, we follow two women - Marie and Grete - from the same poor Viennese neighborhood, as they try to better the lives of themselves and their families during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation.
Release: 1925-03-01
The Kangaroo (1976)
8.2/10
Istvan Varju a.k.a. Kanya is a track driver. He drives alone on the roads and listens to the radio. We're In the middle of seventies, the radio broadcasts hungarian beat music. He is convinced that interesting and significant events in the life happen on the roads, so we should go, go and go in order not to miss something.
Release: 1976-01-15
Black Pearls (1958)
5.8/10
Reform school teacher tries to carry his class to the right path by teaching them diving.
Release: 1958-04-16
AHORA SI LLEGO! (2015)
10/10
The first Road Movie feature film made by the Italian artist Sanzi together with the Cuban Balboa is inspired by friendship, the island and the motorbike. The two artists used, for the first time in Cuba, the form of the Road Movie--the cinematic genre the plot of which is developed during a trip.
Release: 2015-12-26
3rd Reich Mothers, in the Name of the Master Race (2012)
7.2/10
Two beautiful and different girls, Alice and Lisette are 17 years old, when forcibly removed from their Alsatian family to cooperate in the war effort in Germany. After spending six months in a indoctrination camp, they are both sent to a munitions factory where they are tasked to perform inhuman works. An explosion erupts, they are suspected of sabotage and threatened with being sent to a boot camp. Alice and Lisette believe they saved when transferred to a maternity where they continue living the hell of war.
Release: 2012-09-14
The Opposite of Sex (1998)
6.152/10
A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.
Release: 1998-05-22
Dangerous Minds (1995)
6.984/10
Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to the wind. When Johnson returns to the classroom, she does so armed with a no-nonsense attitude informed by her military training and a fearless determination to better the lives of her students -- no matter what the cost.
Release: 1995-08-11
Danube (2021)
4.5/10
The introvert Russian girl Nadia goes on holiday to Belgrade, inhabited by extrovert Serbians. She lives according to a plan, while the Belgraders live for joy. At first, Nadia is involved with the local guy Nesha, and then with his relaxed, semi-vagrant way of life. She takes the impulsive decision to give up her dull job and Moscow for the sake of love, freedom and Belgrade. Both this love, and this freedom must undergo the test of reality, which is always more difficult than our expectations.
Release: 2021-10-21
The Principal (1987)
6.451/10
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Release: 1987-09-18
The Brave (1997)
6.041/10
A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.
Release: 1997-07-30
Honey (2003)
6.355/10
Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.
Release: 2003-12-05
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
7.233/10
A cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for a replacement aircraft they need to build before their food and water run out.
Release: 1965-12-15