Xavier

The troubled title character of Xavier (Pedro Hestnes, star of Pedro Costa’s O Sangue) returns to Lisbon after a military stint, determined to lead a meaningful life, only to find his world closing in on him. This almost lost classic of recent Portuguese cinema was shot in 1991 but only completed in 2002, and has barely been seen outside Portugal since. Deadpan and dreamy, it’s a work of bone-deep melancholy, a young man’s film that bears the scars of age.