seven different stories that share the mystery that surrounds them, but the screenplay fails the final exam

(Rome Luigi Noera with the kind collaboration of Marino fearful- The photos are published with the permission of Rome Film Fest)

First presented - within the Official Selection - to thirteenth edition of the Rome Film Festival, 7 Strangers in El Royale It is the last work of American director Drew Godard, already known for That house in the woods.

A horse hotel between California and Nevada. A concierge shy and insecure, addicted to heroin. And then, one after the other, an arrogant secret agent, a priest, a blues singer and a neurotic hippy. From the first minute is breathes voltage. much tension. A tension that is so close to presage the imminent explosion of a bomb. And the bomb, in fact, will soon burst.

With obvious references to the Tarantino film, Hitchcock and - why not?? - even Sergio Leone, his latest feature film, albeit qualitatively lower than the above-mentioned first work, in fact he did not disappoint the expectations. The story staged, therefore, It is much more complex and intricate than you might think. Slowly, But, all back, almost forming, like so many pieces of a puzzle, a single framework, without leaving any pending item, but taking care of everything to the smallest detail. To enrich the whole, a clean directed, wise and that is to play often with symmetrical images and reflections: fake balance about to disintegrate and false truths that every character, from time to time, It is led to believe.

What, Immediately after watching a product like 7 Strangers in El Royale catches the eye is above all the fact that the same Goddard seems to have a lot of fun in realizing the present work, cleverly using the viewer and its suggestions and working mainly assembly. A movie, his, by pulp tones so as to take what has been achieved in the past, but that, at the same time, can assume an identity all its own, finishing more as a tribute to the aforementioned filmmakers as a result of various influences from the past. And this, certainly, It is not just.

marina fears