Leopardi (2014) Open Roads 2015

This is the award winning film biography of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi. Locked away from an early age by his aristocratic father so that he could better himself through study, he longed to see the world. However once he got out he struggled to balance family, the call of the real world and his need to create some of the most moving poetry the world has ever known.

This is a beautifully crafted film. Everything from top to bottom is perfect from the sets, the costumes the photography, the cast and even the script. Its a film that has rightly won a boat load of awards around the world.

On the other hand I never connected with it. This isn't to say that the film is bad, it's not, it's far from that, Rather its to say I never quite found away to connect. I suspect the mannered nature of the telling, its very formal almost painterly, that kept me distant. Perhaps had I not seen this at home as a screener I would have liked this more.

As it stands its an eyecatching trip to another time and place and highly recommended for those who love historical dramas.

The film plays tomorrow and the 10th at Open Roads at Lincoln Center.

In Brief: Natural Resistance (2014) Open Roads 2015

You have a single shot to see NATURAL RESISTANCE at Open Road at Lincoln Center and if you want a really good very thought provoking film that transcends it subject organic wine production, to become something so much more you have to go.

Nominally the film is about growing organic wine but the film spins off into other directions including a wonderful discussion of film restoration. The two subjects may sound unrelated but this film brings them together nicely.

I am not quite sure what to say about the film other than I need another shot to really appreciate it. The film is one of those films that when you watch it you get carried along,going where its going only to get to the end when you realize- wait a second I need to see that again. I mean you have wine, film, history and three or four other subjects banging around inside the film and by the time you realize what the film was doing you know you have to go back to really see how how it all ties together. Films like that rate very highly in my book because they become part of you and aren't "boom on to the next thing"

Definitely a must see if you want food for thought go see this Monday night. For tickets go to the film's festival page.

Ice Forest (2014) Open Roads 2015

If it wasn't for the make of cars and the language this would be a thriller set in the American Rockies since everyone dresses with baseball caps and cowboy hats. You can see the film being recast and remade with American actors because the film echoes any number of American films...

But the ICE FOREST is set in the Italian Alpine where in a remote village that has become prone to blackouts an electrician has been dispatched to fix the generating station. This sets in motion a series of events that some how harken back to a night 20 years earlier when a tragedy involving illegal immigrant occurred. Also a wild life officer isn't quite who she seems to be, she in fact a detective looking into the death of a young woman found frozen to death just over the border.

This is a very good thriller that is almost great. There is a real sense of tension here and some killer set pieces, especially late in the film that made me kind of wish that this film had been just a tad more original.

There is a reason I opened talking about how much this film feels like an American set thriller and that feeling is way too strong for this film to ever work on its own terms, simply because the film doesn't really have it's own terms. Seriously when you see this film you tell me if the female detective wouldn't have been cast by a young Holly Hunter a few years back or perhaps Kate Beckinsale now or Emma Watson in a another year or two.(Hell, Beckinsale played a similar role in WHITEOUT).

I really like this film but at the same time I hate that I spent most of the time I was watching it trying to sort out who was going to play who in the American remake.

Is this film worth seeing? Oh most definitely. Its a fine little thriller. I just dare you not to think about how to remake it.

The film screened last night and screens again Sunday at Lincoln Center. For more informaation go to the film's festival page here.

N-Capace (2014) Open Roads 2015

N-CAPACE is part documentary, part fiction film part meditation. It’s a gorgeous film that takes a variety of styles and puts them together into a glorious whole. This film is one of the most amazing films I've seen in 2015

I wanted to write a three word review of this film that read "Beautiful Strange Surreal" but then I realized I would need "Wondrous" as well. I seriously toyed with the idea of running that as a review but I realized that if I did it you’d have no idea what this film was so I decided to write a few more words.

The film is a trip between Terracina and Rome over the course of which director Eleonora Dance interviews various people, both old and young , and asks them about life and their parents. The people act out portions of their lives and scenes concocted by the director. Sometimes they are, sometimes they wear masks of their younger selves, in one case they wear space suits. People sing and dance. The director also interviews her father and they talk about her mother and other
It sounds strange and it is. But it’s also amazingly magical. Somewhere somehow Dance has found the very beating heart of life and put it on the screen. I was enraptured from almost the first frame. Somehow I went from looking at the screen quizzically with my head cocked to staring straight on and murmuring “this is so cool”.

I don’t know if the film will work for everyone but it worked for me. I loved this film a great deal.

What dis I want to say? Beautiful Strange Surreal, and of course wondrous.

See this film.

The film Plays Friday and Next Wednesday at Lincoln Center. For more information go to the film's festival page

The Lack (2015) OPEN ROADS 2015

THE LACK will either thrill you or leave you wondering what the point of it all is. Nominally its six women in four stories about absence or the lack of something. I don’t know that it adds up to very much.

One of the more beautiful film I’ve seen in 2015, the film is more art work than art film. This is the sort of film that would be great in a museum or gallery but a bit tedious in in a theater. Yes the visuals are truly amazing on a big screen, but the infusion of the narratives distract from them. Instead of just watching pretty eye candy you have these stories that just seem obtuse as if a perfume commercial suddenly bulked up to feature length.

(And please don’t ask me what any of the narratives are, I don’t know. The first one about a woman and her lover had me disconnected from the film so I don’t really remember anything after that other than there is a ferry, and later pictures are scattered in water while we hear English narration. Theres more I know but I didn’t care)

If you like form or eye candy over substance give this a look, but otherwise, wait for this to show up in a gallery where you can walk in and out of it at will.

Nightcap 5/31/15 Open Roads starts Thursday, Random thoughts and Randi's links

Open Roads, the Lincoln Center's annual look at New Italian cinema starts Thursday As in the last few years there are some real gems here, not to mention a few films that may not be the be all and end all, but really damn interesting.

Our coverage will begin on Wednesday and it’s going to be a bit smaller than in years past. As we head into the festival I have five films already written up, I have another waiting to be watched and few more possibilities hanging around the edges (I’m waiting for someone to make a decision about my getting access to the films.) The reson our coverage is smaller is that the fall out from Tribeca and some projects that occurred right after simply ate up too much of my time.

As I’ve learned in years past pretty much anything that screens as part of the festival is worth seeing. I’ll try any film they run because I’ve never really run across a truly bad film. Yes there have been some I haven’t liked but none I hated to the point of wonder why they were running it.

Of the few that I’ve seen I recommend N-CAPACE a highly original look at loss and growing up. I also liked ICE FOREST a thriller set in the Alps which fels like a Hollywood production, to the point I was reacsting it in my head with American actors. There are others but that should get you started.

My advice is pick something and go. For a list of films, more information and tickets go here.
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The problem with some of the smaller distributors is that despite their best effort to change things up- or seem to youstill know going into a film what the film is going to be

For example Drafthouse is releasing a film called THE INVITATION. They are marketing it as a psychological drama where they want you to think that the main character is imagining all of the danger he sees, but it’s coming from a releasing house that specializes in exploitation films, especially horror. The result was watching the film I knew instantly who the bad guys were and that the danger was real and much worse than anyone imagined.

(A brief capsule review will appear in our BAMcinema Fest piece and a full review is to appear next February or March when the film hits theaters)
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Once again I’m pondering whether or not one should give a documentary a pass if it’s on an important subject but it bobbles how it tells the story. The immediate reason for the pondering is Amy Berg’s latest film PROPHET’S PREY which I saw at a press screening for BAMcinema Fest. The question is not whether it’s a good film or a bad film, it’s a good film, rather it’s a question of how much I should take the film to task for its presentation, which isn’t as clear as it could and should be. The film sits on this fine line where I’m willing to accept its flaws and wanting to shake it for not being better

I have a while before I can post the still being written review-its to be timed with the regular theatrical release- but I was wondering where do you put the line that separates the point at which you accept a film without question and then get annoyed because it could have been better.
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The next couple weeks I going to be mostly festival coverage. After some book reviews the next two says we’ll have the aforementioned Open Roads coverage. This will lead right into Human Rights Watch coverage next week. Additionally look for a bunch of new release coverage via new and repost reviews.
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And now Randi's links

The graphic tale of the MAD MAXROAD FURY FX
Why the loss of the old Penn Station saved much of the rest of NYC
From threats of closing on opening night to the Tony- The story of THE WIZ
Slenderman
In space no one can hear your office supplies
Which Python are you?
God Bless America
Talking to George Clinton