The four times Michelangelo Frammartino
Synopsis
After the good result at the Cannes Film Festival , where he was selected (and loved) the Directors' Fortnight and after winning the Europa Cinemas Label prize - to support the European distribution - comes the second film from source Calabrese, who was born and lives in Milan, even if "his" Calabria is hidden between the mountains and countryside the set that privilege. It was in Gift, his first film, returns in which yesterday won the Silver Ribbon (assigned by film journalists) the special tape. It really is a special film Four times, the poetry of cinema rooted in the essence of life. As the seasons that inspired the title, which are also the steps that matter in the universe through human, animal, plant, finding each of them a new function.
The test was hard, a long process to address the need to film the changing seasons, and especially the possible "ghost" of onset that had made him known internationally ( The gift was presented at the Locarno Film Festival). Of the previous film that keeps the loving and caring for landscapes and light, the composition of the shots and the relationship between those who live (the assembly of perfect balance is Benni Atria), showing a more safety conscious in the reciprocity of narration images.
We are in a small village, an old shepherd in the fields every day brings his goats. He is accompanied by the dog that watches the flock. The 'old man is ill, has a bad cough, take care all night drinking a little water in the holy ash that passes a pious woman. One day it loses the precious package, look, she runs to the sacristy, but now it's night and the door is closed. The next morning, the goats are waiting, the dog barks to the villagers who prepare the procession but the man does not arrive. The goats are dying in his bed, surrounding him as if to say goodbye.
Second movement, the birth of the kid. Now the goats are the main characters, funny and savvy in front of the camera - must have been incredible patience and work to capture those magic moments of humor, "goat." We see them in the barn, grazing, hypnotic gaze on us (other than The Men Who Stare at Goats ) the flock in some ways reflects the community of humans. One day the kid is lost in the forest and falls asleep under the big tree. Third movement, the huge fir is about to be shot down. It is indeed time to prepare the pita, the holiday that celebrates the fertility in the country tradition. The whole country is united in the effort, and then in songs and dances. At the end of the rite, in the fourth movement, the wood becomes charcoal for the winter, a wisp of smoke in the infinite horizon of the sky ... This parable in the look of
Frammartino becomes simple (and universal) as a fairy tale. The "once upon a time" the director takes us gradually into the essence of an ancient world, perhaps destined to disappear, which in its dynamic - gestures, rituals, bond with nature - it expresses the deep sense of the world. We could say that is our Frammartino Apichatpong Weerasethakul , its mountains and forests are not populated by ghosts as the Thai jungle, but we also return the memory, and that breath out of time in which things come together to to become one.
No pompous tone, however, nor any aesthetic appreciation of the beautiful picture-of-a-po'-empty - even if the shots are magnificent, painting and condense invention. The challenge of Frammartino is that of cinema, that's where the feeling passes, spirituality, history. His images "document", filmed the reality nell'imprevisto in detail and in the flow of existence of all living things. And invent a personal dimension, in secret, tell a mystery. This is their power, it is here that fail to retract the eye of the viewer, a surprise to take him elsewhere. Theirs is in fact an open horizon, which offers no explanations and neither imposes a guided reading priority. Give a home run instead of wonder, thought, sweetheart.
(Cristina Dot, The poster )