Quando si parla di Svezia, si parla della madre della Scandinavia. Si parla della nazione che ha guidato il nevoso settentrione, l’apice benestante della civiltà occidentale. È lo Stato Sociale per eccellenza, il modello da seguire. In Scandinavia un uomo che uccide settantasette persone (vedi Anders Breivik) è condannato a ventuno anni di carcere. È un sistema da emulare: hanno le scuole migliori, gli ospedali migliori, gli stipendi migliori… È una favola quasi utopica, sembra che nessuno stia male in Svezia. Ma Ovidie (che aprì IL Fish & Chips Festival nel 2018), l’occhio dietro la cinepresa di Everything is Better than a Hooker, vuole raccontare un’altra Svezia.
Continua la lettura di “EVERYTHING IS BETTER THAN A HOOKER” DI OVIDIEArchivi categoria: Universal
“IFIGENIA IN AULIDE” DI TONINO DE BERNARDI
Vi sono infiniti modi di accostarsi alla trasposizione cinematografica di una tragedia greca, ma quello adottato dal regista piemontese Tonino De Bernardi si è sempre distinto, a partire da Dèi del 1968 e da Elettra del 1987, per lo stretto legame con la realtà. Nel caso di questo lungometraggio, inserito non casualmente nella sezione Onde del Torino Film Festival, la realtà è la vera e propria protagonista della tragedia, e si manifesta attraverso le riprese effettuate da De Bernardi in diversi luoghi e tempi.
Continua la lettura di “IFIGENIA IN AULIDE” DI TONINO DE BERNARDI
“TYREL” BY SEBASTIÁN SILVA
Article by: Elisabetta Vannelli
Translation by: Laura Facciolo
Loneliness is an emotion that you can feel in an empty room as well as in a square full of people. It’s a reflection of the private feeling of inadequacy, a physical limit that it’s hard to overpass.
Sebastián Silva is a young Chilean director who is now committed in the United States. After presenting another film called La nana (The Maid 2009), now he returns at the Torino Film Festival in the After Hours section with his film Tyrel (2018), which has been presented at the Sundance Film Festival in a world premiere. In the United States this film has been defined as “the new Get Out” (Get Out, 2017, Jordan Peele). Tyler (Jason Mitchell) is an Afro-American boy who spends a weekend with a group of white guys, but he can’t fit in because he is black.
“TYREL” DI SEBASTIÁN SILVA
La solitudine può emergere in una stanza vuota o in una piazza gremita di persone. È il riflesso di un’inadeguatezza interiore, un limite fisico difficilmente valicabile.
Sebastián Silva è un giovane regista cileno attualmente impegnato negli Stati Uniti. Già presente al Torino Film Festival, dove aveva presentato La nana (Affetti e dispetti 2009), Silva ritorna nella sezione After Hours con il film Tyrel (2018), proposto in anteprima mondiale al Sundance Film Festival e definito negli States “il nuovo Get Out” (Scappa-Get Out, 2017, Jordan Peele). Tyler (Jason Mitchell) è un ragazzo afroamericano che trascorre un week-end di baldoria insieme a un gruppo di “white guys” ma che non riesce ad integrarsi per via della sua condizione di unico ragazzo di colore. Continua la lettura di “TYREL” DI SEBASTIÁN SILVA
“FIGURAS” DI EUGENIO CANEVARI
“Ti piacciono i film in bianco e nero? No? A me nemmeno”: questa la domanda di Valeria a sua madre Stella, proprio in un documentario girato interamente in bianco e nero. Il film nasce, come riferito dal regista Eugenio Canevari, al Q&A presso il Cinema Massimo, da una forte esigenza: dopo aver conosciuto Valeria e la sua difficile situazione familiare, Canevari sentì il bisogno di fare qualcosa per tre persone che si stavano misurando con un male come la SLA sostanzialmente senza aiuti da parte di alcuna istituzione. Il materiale è stato raccolto grazie ad un’osservazione giornaliera ed a lungo termine della realtà di Stella, una donna un tempo molto attiva e poi costretta ad essere aiutata in ogni parte della sua vita quotidiana dalla figlia e dal compagno Paco, a sua volta afflitto da problemi di salute; non è dunque stato preparato alcun copione, mentre il compito del regista è stato di unire degli elementi per creare una storia accessibile per il pubblico.
Return to Spoon River by Francesco Conversano and Nene Grignaffini
Article by: Giulia Conte
Translation by: Lorenzo Matarazzo
Nene Grignaffini and Francesco Conversano dedicate a film to the Spoon River Anthology to celebrate the hundred years from the publishing of the famous poetry collection by Edgar Lee Masters. The movie was shot in Lewiston and Petersburg, Illinois, where the current inhabitants of those places read the compositions in their houses’ rooms. Slow pace, even too much sometimes, but a particular idea for sure. 104 minutes of traveling through small towns which tell the tale of the provincial America and the lives of those who live there.
All of the characters who read one of the epitaphs, identify themselves with one of the protagonists from the book, as if the latter were speaking of their lives too.
“All, all, are sleeping on the hill.”
Time is still, and the film moves from house to house, listening to the story of everyone. The feeling is that the inhabitants of the two cities are lazily living their lives, stuck like the Spoon River characters, who, and here lies the difference, were dead. As it is well known, life in suburban America can be many things, except easy and fun. This narration is a clear example of what means living isolated and almost imprisoned in cities, which might be big under the aspect of territorial extension but empty and not interesting on a cultural level.
One of the Lewiston citizens reads one the most touching sentences from the Anthology:
“It takes life to love life”
This to say that a certain kind of spirit is needed to love life, despite living there.
The Spoon River Anthology is a work written in 1915, which is still very contemporary today: George Gray said:
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.”
And I think that this is a very common thought, shared by anyone of us, just like it is by the characters of the movie.
The work of Grignaffini and Conversano is entirely focused on this aspect, i.e. passing on the hunger for life and the willingness of persons to tell themselves, in order to give life to an film that, although not easy in its comprehension, is moving and makes one think.
Brooklyn by John Crowley
Article by: Giulia Conte
Translation by: Rita Pasci
Brooklyn, a drama directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby, based on the novel of the same name by Colm Toìbin. It’s the moving story of Eilis Racey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant who, attracted by the promise of America, departs from Ireland leaving her family and her home to reach the coasts of New York City. The initial chains of homesickness quickly fade away and Eilis lets herself get lost in the intoxicating charm of love. Pretty soon, her liveliness is interrupted by her past, and this young woman will have to make a choice between the two countries and the two lives they involve. Continua la lettura di Brooklyn by John Crowley
Burnt by John Wells
Article by: Elisa Cocco
Translation by: Rita Pasci
After reaching success and having been awarded with two Michelin stars, the famous chef of a Paris restaurant, Adam Jones (played by Bradley Cooper), destroys his career with his addiction to drugs and women.
After a period of redemption, spent opening a million oysters, he decides to go back to London, determined to open the best restaurant in the world and to gain the much desired third Michelin star. In order to achieve this, however, he needs a group of experts and so he assembles the best team possible: financer Tony (Daniel Bruhl), his friend Max (Riccardo Scamarcio), his old French workmate Michel (Omar SY) and most of all, his colleague Helene (Sienna Miller), one of the best chefs on the British market.
Adam’s desire of redemption, the cooperation of his team and Helene’s love will bring him to conquer the sought-after third Michelin star.
Bradley Cooper is supported by a great cast: in addition to the above-mentioned actors, Uma Thurman plays the role of Simone Forth, the most important food reviewer in London; Emma Thompson is Dr. Hilda Rosshilde, a well-known psychiatrist; while Matthew Rhys plays the role of Montgomery Reece, a top celebrity chef well-known all around Europe, who has already owned three Michelin stars.
Burnt, directed by John Wells, tells a story about love for food and cooking, but it also focuses on the importance of second chances.
A witty, funny film. But, above all, a film that can make one’s mouth water.
- “He is a two star Michelin chef, to get even one Michelin star you have to be like Luke Skywalker, and if you manage to get three… you are Yoda”.
- “What if he is Darth Vader?”
Kilo Two Bravo by Paul Katis
Article by: Luca Bellocchia Translation by: Rita Pasci
An excellent debut film from British director Paul Katis, after working his way up directing short films. The film is based on real events that happened to Mark Wright and a small unit of British soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, on a ridge near the Kajaki dam.
To disable a Taliban roadblock, a three-man patrol offers to carry out the mission. In a dried out river bed, one of them accidentally detonates a landmine, losing his leg in the process. This triggers a tense and claustrophobic narrative, where shots of vast deserted spaces define an indifferent and merciless setting. Although the film was shot outdoors, the action takes place in a very confined space.
What’s thought-provoking is the fact that even though the film is set in Afghanistan, the indigenous population is kept at a distance from the centre of the action, apart from the very beginning of the film.
Katis favours all that is anti-spectacular, the events are told in a dry and blunt manner. The outstanding performance of the actors playing the main characters cannot leave even the most insensitive viewer indifferent.
One thing that’s astonishing is the sense of humour of the soldiers, who, despite the tragic situation they find themselves in, still manage to defuse the tension. The soundtrack is reduced to the essential, the panting of the maimed and wounded and the noises made by flies cast the viewer directly into what’s happening, making everything more real.
Kilo Two Bravo is a film that gives an opportunity to elaborate on a point of view about war that is still unexplored, namely that of real war, where young people die simply because of distraction, misunderstanding, or just pure bad luck.
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TorinoFilmLab – Mr. Kaplan
Article by: Fabio Olivetti
Translation by: Greta Moroni
Mr. Kaplan is the second film by Alvaro Brechner, a director who had a great personal success in 2009 with Mal día para pescar. He gets back to film direction thanks to the Torino Film Lab, too.
Jacob Kaplan lives in Montevideo, Uruguay. He lived the atrocities of the Nazi persecutions in Europe and did not forget his Jewish origins. When he hears that a German man lives and works near him, all the terrible feelings related to the period of the Second World War resurface. He knows about what Simon Wiesenthal did in 1960: he worked for the seizure of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann. In the same way, with the help of a family friend, a former police officer, Jacob tries to carry out investigations in order to arrest his enemy and move him to Israel for the trial.
This event will push the protagonist beyond his physical limits trying to pursue his ideals and maintaining his dignity. He’s trying to get his revenge, which is within his reach.
In this film both comedy and detective story features are perfectly mixed together. There are comical situations, based on the personalities of the two main characters. One is determined to reach his goal, while the other one wants to find a way to regain his family’s respect.
This film is the boast of the Torino Film Lab. It has been chosen for the 2015 Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. It is a funny but undoubtedly composed film, which encourages defending your ideals as well as pursuing justice and truth, even many years later.
WISDOM AND HAUGHTINESS
Article by: Romilda Boffano
Translation by: Ilaria Rana
“La Sapienza” is the fifth feature film by Eugéne Green. Its preview was screened last summer at the Locarno Film Festival and it opens the section “Onde” of the 32nd Turin Film Festival. This film tells about the meeting between two couples. Alexandre and Alienor Schmidt are married and they are an architect and a psychoanalyst respectively.