September 21st 2023
St Ali Italian Film Festival - four reviews
A Day and a Half (streaming on Netflix)
To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (streaming on Foxtel)
It's a light-on week for cinema releases for me, but the Italian Film Festival makes up for that with some excellent offerings. Plus I review a couple of fine "streamers" for the stay-at-home viewers.
St Ali Italian Film Festival
Melbourne: now until 18th October
Palace cinemas
 |
© - exquisitely lovely tale of a
lifelong friendship |
One of Australia's most popular film festivals is back with the usual outstanding collection of latest releases, award-winning films, special events, and a retrospective on legendary actor Massimo Troisi.
As always, I've previewed a small selection, and they come highly recommended.
The Eight Mountains: Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize (2022) and Italian awards for Best Actor, Best Film and more, this beautiful film is a story of friendship over many years. Bruno lives in the remote mountan village of Grana in northwest Italy, while Pietro visits from the city of Turin for a holiday. After establishing a firm childhood friendship, their paths diverge but they reconnect over many years. The film has a long runtime (147 minutes), so this is the sort of movie one needs to surrender oneself to - its glorious landscapes, the gentle enduring quality of the friendship, and the heartaches, happiness and loss that the vicissitudes of life deliver. There is an underlying deep philosophy about one's place in life, and what is most important. With glorious music and cinematography, it is a most worthy journey to share with the two friends.
The Circle: Winner of the Donatello award 2023 for Best Documentary, this is a unique look at a group of kids in a primary school in a multi-ethnic neighborhood. The director follows the kids for about five years; she and their teacher interview the youngsters, starting at age six, about how they perceive their lives and the adult world around them. The kids are encouraged to sit in a circle and speak openly, with no judgment, about their feelings and thoughts. There is something so fresh, authentic and delightful hearing them talk, and watching them play, interact, give each other advice, and occasionally stare disarmingly into the camera lens. This is probably a film any adults raising kids should see, as an inspiration for how to handle children in a way that should encourage rich, self-confident adult lives.
Burning Hearts: Romeo and Juliet have got nothing on these guys! Andrea is heir to the Malatesta family, but he makes the big mistake of falling for Marilena, the sultry wife of the boss of the Camporeale clan. These warring clans have had a period of peace, but this affair, plus a murder, reignites the war. According to the Mafia code, only blood can wipe out another blood debt. Italian singer and model Elodie makes her impressive acting debut as the object of the young man's love and lust. The film is shot in Puglia, and the spectacular, stark choice of black and white seems to add to the drama. It's a tense and seething story, as old as time, which continues to prove that ongoing hatred serves no purpose but to create more grief and loss.
Like Sheep Among Wolves: Vera is an undercover police agent. She infiltrates a Serbian crime syndicate in Rome, only to find, to her horror, that her younger brother Bruno is mixed up with the group, who are planning a heist. Family dynamics take a central role in this tense police thriller. Bruno has an angelic little daughter, Martha, while Vera and Bruno have a horrid father. In fact most of the men in this film are brutes, so Vera survives by being tough and inured to violence (an excellent lead performance from Isabella Ragonese). Here, the Rome that tourists love is overshadowed by a dark and dangerous underbelly.
A Day and a Half
Dir: Fares Fares
Length: 94 mins
Streaming on Netflix
 |
| © Netflix - tense and tragic family drama |
Albanian immigrant Artan (Alexej Manvelov) is separated from his wife Louise (Alma Poysti). He's distraught at not being able to see his daughter, so he turns up at the clinic where Louise works and kidnaps her. Artan then demands a car to take him and Louise to where his inlaws are minding his daughter. Police officer Lukas (Fares Fares, so excellent in Cairo Conspiracy) is engaged as a driver and negotiator to try to defuse the sitation. Claiming to be inspired by true events, this film is at once a very taut action/thriller, and also a rather tragic look at what happens when post-natal depression, marginalised immigrants and racist parents intersect. It is powerfully acted and the tension stays strong for its short runtime. 3.5 - well recommended
To End All War: Oppenheimer and
the Atomic Bomb
Dir: Christopher Cassell
Length: 97 mins
 |
| © Foxdocs - |
While I loved the recent film Oppenheimer, I actually wish I'd seen this documentary in advance, as it very clearly explains the trajectory of the life, work and subsequent fall from grace of this complex and brilliant man. Here we get Oppie's life from a young child, through college, his years studying in Germany, and on to the Manhattan Project - that history-changing work that saw him dubbed "the father of the atomic bomb". Fantastic archival footage, interviews with people who knew him, including his grandchildren, and the man himself captured on film from the pre-war to post-war years make for engaging viewing. A fine companion piece to the feature film.3.5 - well recommended
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