Margareth Made with Giuseppe Tornatore and Francesco Scianna
The 66th Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest, has opened with Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria”, a cinematic homage to his Sicilian home town, Bagaria. It is the first time in 25 years that an Italian film has been requested to open the festival. It was, however, met with mixed reviews. “Baaria” tells the autobiographical story of Tornatore and what it was like growing up in a small Sicilian town. He presents us with a grand portrait with intimate undertones. Tornatore only captures our affections occasionally, since he has difficulty containing the nostalgic visual rhetoric.
“The sun-drenched photography is rich. The editing helps give a natural flow to the film with jump cuts in time that add to the sense of how quickly life passes. “Baaria” would benefit from a shorter running time, if only to keep Tornatore from becoming overly wistful in scenes that start out strong but lose resonance.” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety magazine also underlines the film’s over the top style and how it is “awash in phony nostalgia, cheap sentimentalism and puffed-up orchestrations”. Tornatore, however, confirms his attraction to films of nostalgic affections and stylistic incontinence.
The films is a double-sword in some ways. On one hand, it has received unconditional support from its producer-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who claims that “every real Italian should see the film”, whilst Tornatore defines it as “inappropriate”.
Director-screenwriter: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast: Francesco Scianna, Margareth Made, Nicole Grimaudo, Lina Sastri, Salvo Ficarra, Valentino Picone, Enrico Lo Verso, Nino Frassica
Producer: Mario Cotone
Director of photography: Enrico Lucidi
Production designer: Giuliano Pannuti
Music: Ennio Morricone
Editor: Massimo Quaglia
Production: Medusa Film
Lenght: 163 minutes
Popularity: 6% [?]
