From Marlene-Dietrich-Platz the Focus of the day

(from the #Berlinale Luigi Noera with the extraordinary participation of Carla Cucchiarelli and the kind collaboration of Marina Pavido, and Eleonora Ono of the editorial staff Ground floor – Photos are published courtesy of #BERLINALE)

Tizza Covi signs a delicate film, but also from France Mahamat-Saleh Haroun presents an equally mystical story, the second Italian short film at Forum

COMPETITION

The Lonieliest Man in Town by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel | with Alois Koch, Brigitte Meduna, Alfred Blechinger, Flurina Schneider – Austria 2026 | WP

The plot: Blues musician Al Cook lives in an apartment full of memories. Out, the world continues without him. But when his house is destined for demolition, from the ruins of its existence, a long forgotten dream suddenly resurfaces.

Review: the incipit shows us the protagonist bringing home the Christmas tree, but first he goes to the cellar, the place of his memories.

Al Cook is a man out of time. His apartment — crammed with books, VHS and vinyl — it's not just a physical space, but an emotional archive in which the past stubbornly resists the present. The film builds a melancholy reflection on mourning around this immobility, on identity and memory, avoiding easy sentimentality.

He blues, which for Al is more than a musical genre — it's a language, a faith, a way of being in the world — becomes the symbol of a dwindling culture. The direction insists on details as if they were symbols: the needle sliding on the vinyl, the dust that settles on the covers, the dim light of the basement. Time doesn't pass: sediment.

The death of his wife Silvia is the indelible wound and hovers in every frame. The house is his domestic mausoleum, and when a real estate company decides to demolish it, the conflict takes on an almost metaphysical dimension. It's not just about eviction: it is the last tear to an already fragile identity.

The most powerful part of the film is the progressive dispossession. By selling or abandoning his objects he is not just making a material gesture, but a dissection of oneself. Every record given away is a surrender, every empty box has an unanswered question. however, the screenplay at times lingers too much in the allegory: the real estate company remains a one-dimensional figure, more symbol than real antagonist.

The end, with the choice of a radical new beginning, avoid the pathetic and seek a form of sober reconciliation. There is no triumph, but a fragile acceptance: moving forward does not mean forgetting, but rather to change the way in which the past is preserved.

An intimate film, essential, which talks about loss without screaming and finds its most authentic note in silence and music, played by the same real character.

Finally we remind you that FORUM – Short the second Italian short was presented:

THE MOST HANDSOME MAN IN THE WORLD by Paolo Baiguera Italy‑ DOC

The plot: Only one family member remains 25 Photo: he is the uncle who died of AIDS. The nephew asks both the mother for confirmation, looking at the photos, and the artificial intelligence tool Google Vision API, which statistically reads the photo data. Cultures of memory.

luigi Noera