Tutti gli articoli di Roberta Torsello

“DYLDA” BY KANTEMIR BALAGOV

Article by: Alessandro Pomati
Translated by: Selene Novaro Mascarello

Ila, Ija: the names of the protagonists of two of director Kantemir Balagov’s films are separated only by one letter. Two women divided by fifty years of history and yet somehow connected: on the one hand, Ila, the protagonist of Tesnota, a young Jewish woman who acts like a tomboy and works as a mechanic; on the other hand, Ija, or Dylda (“beanpole”), as everyone calls her, a slender nurse who suffers from sudden epileptic seizures which completely isolate her from the real world. Two women whose lives are similarly marked by diversity, in spite of their living during two different periods of the history of Russia: for Ila, the start of the war between Russia and Chechnya; as for Ija, winter 1945 in Leningrad. On the one hand, the crumbling of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, its origins. And, at the two opposite ends of the spectrum, two women grappling with motherhood.

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“A WHITE, WHITE DAY” BY HYLNUR PÁLMASON

Article by: Giacomo Bona
Translated by: Ilaria Roma

A white, white day is about a day which is as white as snow and Icelandic fog, as black as a film noir, and as red as blood. The death of Ingimundur’s wife is the trigger point for a series of events. Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a cop who lives and works in a small village in Iceland, far away from everything and everyone. He hides his pain but at the same time he tries to manage and overcome it. 

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“FIN DE SIGLO” BY LUCIO CASTRO

Article by: Giulia Leo
Translated by: Giorgia Bellini

The end of the century mentioned in the title of Lucio Castro’s work is an uncertain end, a feeling of uncertainty that manages to craft a simple and delicate story about the encounter of two souls that discover each other all over again.

It is a warm, quiet Spanish night, Ocho (Juan Barberini) is spending his vacation in Barcelona, exploring and taking pictures. When he gets back to his apartment, he sees Javi (Ramon Pujol) from the balcony and invites him upstairs, where the physical attraction between the two takes over. A sudden spark of passion, that seems to be meaningless. But Castro revolves things around, he brings us back in time and makes us realise that the fling between the two men is actually the story of a universal love, not bound to any space or time.

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“OHONG VILLAGE” BY LUKE LUNGYIN LIM

Article by: Fabrizio Spagna
Translated by: Cecilia Malanima

Ohong Village, director’s debut film, is the intimate portrayal of the everyday life of a Taiwanese family. Due to its detailed development, understated technique, hasty images and story editing, it seems to be more of a documentary than a feature movie.

It talks about a highly skilled and extremely clever boy who has just got back home to Taiwan, to his family and his longlife friend. It talks about lies, about (weak) symbols, and about incredibly powerful and emotional sounds.

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“RAF” BY HARRY CEPKA

Article by: Noemi Castelvetro
Translated by: Viola Locci

The young director Harry Cepka takes part to the TFF37 with his debut feature film. He explores the power dynamics in interpersonal relationships. “It took me five years of tears, sweat and efforts to make this film.” says Cepka to introduce his work, which is the result of the collaboration with the actress Grace Glowicki (of which he produces Tito in 2019) who interprets Raf.

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DAVID BORDWELL AND KRISTIN THOMPSON: TWO LECTURES ON CINEMA

Article by: Alessandro Pomati
Translated by: Giorgia Bellini

“For further information, see D. Bordwell and K. Thompson”, “see D. Bordwell, K. Thompson”: every film student has found these specific footnotes – or they have heard those two names, or maybe they have studied from their books at least once in their lives. Nevertheless, those distinguished names could still be perceived as far away from reality, they could be considered just as simple names, labels, quotes. That happens to Bazin, Kracauer, Morin, Zavattini, etc. But, on Tuesday, November 26th, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson gave two lectures to a large group of students at the auditorium “Guido Quazza” of Palazzo Nuovo. Finally, bodies have been associated to their names, the content of a textbook became matter of a dialogue.

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“BEATS” BY BRIAN WELSH

Article by: Lorenzo Radin
Translated by: Cecilia Malanima

Glasgow, 1994. That’s where the fourth film by the Scottish director Brian Welsh, Beats, takes place. Specifically, during the introduction of the act that banned gatherings of twenty or more people listening to music characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.

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“PINK WALL” BY TOM CULLEN

Article by: Cristina Danini
Translated by: Selene Novaro Mascarello

Jenna (Tatiana Maslany) and Leon (Jay Duplass) met in college; he wants to be a photographer, she hasn’t made up her mind yet, although Leon believes that she has a promising career as a producer ahead of her.

Jenna and Leon are in a loving, committed relationship; they have been together for six years when they finally notice the wall dividing them.

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“MIENTRAS DURE LA GUERRA” BY ALEJANDRO AMENÁBAR

Article by: Maria Bruna Moliterni
Translated by: Lucrezia Villa

Alejandro Amenábar returns to his homeland, the marvellous Salamanca, to film his new movie: Mientras dure la guerra (While at War). The city, home to a prestigious university, is the setting of the internal conflict the former chancellor Miguel De Unamuno went through after he supported the military revolt against the Spanish Republican government. When the military junta’s purges started taking place in 1936, Unamuno did not use his position to denounce the violence and the abuse of power, as a matter of fact he did not take a stand. However, he had to face reality,his family and friends, and his troubled conscience soon after.

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“NOUR” BY MAURIZIO ZACCARO

Article by: Siro Alessio Giuliani
Translated by: Francesca Massa

Does it make sense, especially in this time, to make a film about a phenomenon as complex and controversial as migration? According to the director Maurizio Zaccaro, it does, as long as you are aware that what you are telling is a universal story.

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“TOMMASO” AND “THE PROJECTIONIST” BY ABEL FERRARA

Article by: Maria Bruna Moliterni
Translated by: Alice De Vicariis

The controversial and provocative American director Abel Ferrara is present in the section Festa Mobile of the Torino Film Festival with two films: Tommaso and The Projectionist. The former is a story of redemption, the latter of determination.

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“ALGUNAS BESTIAS” BY JORGE RIQUELME SERRANO

Article by: Ottavia Isaia
Translated by: Viola Locci

What do six abandoned people on a desert island turn into? Algunas Bestias tries to give an answer. The second featured film directed by the Chilean Jorge Riquelme Serrano opens the contest Turin 37.

Ana (Millaray Lobos), Alejandro (Gastón Salgado) and their teenage children decide to take Ana’s parents (Paulina García and Alfredo Castro) to a desert island to talk about their own project: building a holiday eco-resort. But all of sudden, the keeper disappears and the family remains without water, phone signal and at the mercy of cold.

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“DREAMLAND” BY BRUCE MCDONALD

Article by: Chiara Perillo
Translated by: Anna Benedetto

The title Dreamland perfectly captures the essence of Bruce McDonald’s latest film, as it revolves around the fundamentals and the basic logic of the dream world. From the very first scenes, the audience gets lost in a daydream in which the two main characters end up being caught in criminal activities. A kind-hearted hitman and a drug-addicted jazz musician, both played by the talented Stephen McHattie, have also a strong connection that causes them visions of their possible future  or a remote past that involves them both. The plot becomes more and more complex as the film goes on, introducing a variety of stone-cold and grotesque characters that results comical at times.

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“THE GOOD LIAR” BY BILL CONDON

Article by: Maria Bruna Moliterni
Translated by: Viola Locci

In 2015 Bill Condon obtained a good success with Mr Holmes, a film inspired by Mitch Cullin’s book. Today Condon grapples with a new film based on Nicholas Searle homonymus’s novel, The Good Liar. The two main actors are Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen who play together for the first time on the big screen.

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“VITALINA VARELA” BY PEDRO COSTA

Article by: Alessandro Pomati
Translated by: Alice De Vicariis

Creatures that move around in the darkness, some limping, others standing on their feet. Creatures that live in some sort of ruins of an ancient city. Creatures that don’t talk, they just act, like animals. Creatures that, once they are pierced through by the dim light that comes from cracks, finally appear to us for what they are: human beings, mostly men.

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“MS. WHITE LIGHT” BY PAUL SHOULBERG

Article by: Beatrice Ceravolo
Translated by: Giorgia Bellini

“Death is thriving”, or “the death’s business is going really well”: these are the cynical but trustworthy words said by Spencer, a psychic played by Zachary Spicer, who also produced the film. That definition describes also the films revolving around this theme: it is quite rare to find a new approach to the everlasting issue of the end of life, but the second film by director Paul Shoulberg gives us a new surprising perspective.

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“NE CROYEZ SURTOUT PAS QUE JE HURLE” BY FRANK BEAUVAIS – “SIX PORTRAITS OF PAIN” BY TERESA VILLAVERDE

Article by: Noemi Castelvetro
Translated by: Anna Benedetto

A diaristic voiceover adornes a steady stream of moving images: Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle, in English “Just don’t think I’ll scream”, belongs to the cinematic trend of “spoken” films, in which the writer-director combines powerful images with meaningful words. Switching between personal stories and digressions, the director reveals some autobiographical events and private thoughts that led him to an almost self-destructive “addiction to cinema” from April to October 2016. During this short amount of time, he watched nearly 400 films, whose brief clips pieced together form the unique visual feature of the movie.

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“BLOOD QUANTUM” BY JEFF BARNABY

Article by: Gianluca Tana
Translated by: Selene Novaro Mascarello

In the U.S., the expression blood quantum is used to refer to Native Americans as opposed to other ethnic groups: those whose percentage of Native American ancestry is at least 51% are labelled as Native Americans. This can often lead to racial discrimination in one of history’s darkest times as far as inclusion is concerned. The film, by Mi’gMaq director Jeff Barnaby, serves as an allegory for the cannibalisation carried out by white culture to the detriment of Native American culture, slowly leading to its disappearance. 

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OPENING PRESS CONFERENCE – 37TH TURIN FILM FESTIVAL

Article by: Marco De Bartolomeo
Translated by: Alice De Vicariis

Anxious, prophetic, mysterious. It’s the raven face of Barbara Steele – queen of Italian and international horror – that introduces the press conference of the Turin Film Festival. Already at its 37th edition, the festival set-up by Emanuela Martini reveals itself to the public, proving once again to be one the most important cultural events of Turin.

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