Italy strikes again

(from Cannes Luigi Noera and Marina Pavido – Photos are courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival)

Great expectation, in competition at this 76th Cannes Film Festival, for Il Sol dell'Avvenire, latest effort by our local director Nanni Moretti, particularly loved in Cannes (where he had won, Moreover, the Palme d'Or in 2001 for the Son's Room). and yet, the film was not the only surprise on this ninth day of the festival. Below, indeed, here's an overview of what premiered on the Croisette.

COMPETITION

THE SUN OF THE FUTURE by Nanni MORETTI

Giovanni, famous Italian director, prepares to shoot his new film. But with his marriage in crisis, its French producer on the verge of bankruptcy and his daughter abandoning him, everything seems to work against him! Always on the razor's edge, Giovanni will have to rethink his ways if he wants to lead his little world towards a bright future. Luigi Noera saw it for us (REVIEW).

THE PASSION by DODIN BOUFFANT by TRAN Anh Hun

Eugenie, exceptional cook, works from 20 years for the famous chef Dodin. During the years, the passion for gastronomy and mutual admiration gave birth to a love relationship. The result was a series of dishes, one more delicious and delicate than the other, that have amazed the greatest chefs in the world. however, Eugenie, yearning for freedom, she never wanted to marry Dodin. So Dodin decided to do something he had never done before: cook for her. Luigi Noera saw it for us (REVIEW).

OUT OF COMPETITION

CANNES PREMIERE

LOVE AND FORESTS by Valérie Donzelli

Quando Blanche against Gregory, she thinks she has met the man she was looking for. Their story takes off quickly. The couple moves, Blanche moves away from her family and her twin sister and opens up to a new life. But one thing leads to another and she finds herself in the grip of a possessive and dangerous man. Luigi Noera saw it for us (REVIEW).

FORTNIGHT

Agra di Kanu Behl

Patriarchy understood as an institution capable of making one lose all identity and all lucidity. How many times have we heard of such, very current topic? and yet, Often, depending on how you want to decline it, you can create some real cinematic gems. One of these goodies, eg, came directly from India a Cannes 76, where it celebrated its world premiere inside the fortnight of the Filmmakers. We are talking about Agra, directed by young Kanu Behl.

The story staged, therefore, it takes place right in the city of Agra, to the present day. Guru is twenty four years old, works in a call center and would like to emancipate himself from his family at all costs, with whom he lives in a recently built multi-storey building. In order to be able to get the terrace of the building, before his uncles can expand their apartment, the boy invents that he has a girlfriend. Things seem to be changing, however, when the young man gets to know a widow who runs an internet point.

Agra, therefore, is the desperate story of one of the many young people who struggle, Nowadays, to find their place in the world. Humorous, but also raw when needed, the feature film opens, in reality, with a strongly dreamlike and surreal scene, to then take a totally different direction that makes rough realism its trademark (while, from time to time, the protagonist's hallucinations do not allow us to understand what is true and what, instead, be part of his imagination).

Overall well written, very colorful and with an important metaphor inside (self-affirmation through the occupation of a physical space), Agra turned out to be a pleasant surprise inside the fortnight 2023 and it makes us want to delve further into the (baby for now) filmography of Kanu Behl.

INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL di Thien An Pham

Search for new languages ​​by treasuring, at the same time, than what has been done in the past. It is absolutely not a simple operation, the present. On this there is no doubt. and yet, when this operation goes through, the satisfactions for the eyes can be really many. The young Vietnamese director Thien An Pham knows this well, than with his first work, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, premiered at Cannes 76 inside the fortnight of the Filmmakers, he gave us moments of pure Cinema.

Young Thien has, therefore, the task of accompanying the body of his sister-in-law to his country of origin, along with her little son. During this long and painful journey, the past will make itself felt stronger than ever and in the search for a brother who has rebuilt his life away from everything and everyone can do a lot, very bad.

A strongly contemplative trend - within which the images speak for themselves and do not need dialogue or redundant captions - almost acts as the absolute protagonist. Long sequence shots (most of which all have a fixed chamber) they show us events with detachment and closeness at the same time, pointing out, in reality, like the man, in front of the greatness of Life, is, in reality, small small.

Tien An Pham is clearly inspired by the cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, but search, at the same time, constantly its own way. Path that he seems to have already found in this precious first work of his, in which the brutality of everyday life, a cumbersome past and a present, If we want, even more difficult they combine well in a rare manifestation of Beauty.

CRITICS WEEK

Special screenings

HER FATHER'S DAUGHTER by Erwan Le Du

Closing movie Week from the Critique 2023, The Daughter from son Father, Erwan Le Du's debut feature, is a tender love story between a young father and a daughter who is entering the world of adults for the first time. A father and a daughter who, During the years, they overcame many and many difficulties, staying, at the same time, always united and never forgetting that playing and laughing together are fundamental aspects of everyday life.

Stephen (played by the excellent Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) he is twenty and, deeply in love with Valérie, he has a daughter with her, Rosa. His girlfriend, however, she will soon decide to abandon him and their little daughter, in order to make a living elsewhere. Rosa, therefore, grows up with his father and on the eve of his graduation, now eighteen, may even have the opportunity to know, finally his mother. Such an event, however, it will send poor Etienne into a crisis.

Tender, delicate and pervaded by a welcome humour, this feature film uses an overall clean writing, although a little too unbalanced, ma, all in all, it turns out to be a comedy with a pleasant and not at all obvious bitter aftertaste, which, while not shining for originality, however, it does its duty and gives us a story that is sometimes moving, but also light as a feather and pleasant as a fresh spring breeze.

The young director, its part, although at times it seems to be playing on safe ground, without having yet found the courage to "take flight", it turned out to be incredibly close to its protagonists, characterizing them at 360° and giving humanity to each of them. And who knows what other nice surprises it will give us in the future.

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marina fears