Central Station (Central do Brasil)

Central Station (Central do Brasil) (1998)

  • 94% of critics liked it
    (48 reviews)

  • 93% of users liked it
    (13,018 ratings)

Former documentary filmmaker Walter Salles (Foreign Land) directed this Brazilian-French road movie tracing the travels and travails of a young boy and an aging woman across the Brazilian landscape. In Rio de Janeiro's central railroad station, callous Dora (leading Brazilian stage/screen… More

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In Theaters
Nov 20, 1998 Wide
Sony Classics

Critic Reviews

  • Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

    As beautiful as it is wrenching.

  • Paul Tatara, CNN.com

    It'll probably work better if you're not terribly familiar with the movies that inspired it.

  • Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

    Salles provides a textbook example of how to toy with our emotions, how to involve and move us, without necessarily condescending to us or insulting us.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    The movie's success rests largely on the shoulders of Fernanda Montenegro, an actress who successfully defeats any temptation to allow sentimentality to wreck her relationship with the child.

  • Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

    What separates and elevates Walter Salles' film above the familiar neo-realist type of melodrama is the stylized visual style and Fernanda Montengero's stunning performance.

Read all 7 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Jan Marc M


    Central Station is of a tale of sorrow that brought two strangers together to embark on an uncertain journey. Sophisticated cinematography and lush musical score. Metaphor-rich, heavy, moving, and very powerful that is surely to deliver a pinch in the heart.

  • Stella D


    certainly it's a story we've seen before: cranky person saddled with kid learns compassion and reconnects with humanity. what keeps the viewer engaged is the wonderful performance of fernanda montenegro, always pulling it back from the brink of sentimentality, and the… More

  • Anthony L


    Beautiful film about a young boy looking for his father and the woman who helps him. Brilliantly acted by Fernanda Montenegro & Vinìcius de Oliveira and beautifully shot by Salles. I cried a little bit at the end!

  • Randy T


    I don't remember who recommended this movie to me but, whoever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)

  • El Hombre I


    The film is darker than standard road trip fare. Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) is a mean, cynical and condescending individual. She writes letters for illiterate people full of hope and dreams while she frequently mocks and discards letters soon after writing. She revels in the… More

Read all 11 featured audience ratings

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