Life in the country and the sea, depicted without ornaments is a theme that always reappears in Italian cinema through an overwhelming work. From time to time, these films follow up on a perhaps Mediterranean tradition, which evokes the rites of the gods associated with natural phenomena and that govern life on Earth. The three great examples that come to my mind, are by Visconti, who gave us "The Earth Trembles" in 1948; by Olmi, who in 1978 created "The Tree of Wooden Clogs", and by Alice Rohrwacher, who in 2014 chose for her second feature a tale similar in spirit, "Le meraviglie" (The Wonders), in which days pass on a farm . They are rigorous works, concentrated in basic activities, without volatile escapism in the style of Bertolucci's "Novecento".
No doubt a beautiful and thoughtful film, "The Wonders" won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes, but, curiously, the film does not arouse passion or seek to wonder its audience, despite its title. The moments that aspire to a certain lyricism are mixed, suddenly, with a tone "out of focus" and deliberately, with a gaudy television contest, presented by a mature star, who looks bored and jaded (Monica Bellucci). Perhaps the reasons for the "soft focus" of the story are the various conflicts of a family of dad, mom, aunt, four daughters, and German child in probation; a social worker, an irritating neighbor, TV people and a friend of the past, all with their own agendas and interests. At the center of the plot, there is Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu), in the process of leaving adolescence behind, and there is her German father, Wolfgang (Sam Louwyck), an adventurer struggling to be a farmer.
However, this film and her third feature "Lazzaro felice" (with which Alice Rohrwacher took a big, significant step) confirm that the filmmaker is in the same league as Paolo Sorrentino and Matteo Garrone, integrating a kind of trio of archangels of the current Italian cinema, as confirmed by my young "film advisors". Thanks to them. The others, watch the movie with patience and tranquility, as if you were spending a holiday in the farm of a grandfather, an aunt or a friend, under the shade of a tree, near a brittle, hearing the noise of running water animals, letting time pass.
No doubt a beautiful and thoughtful film, "The Wonders" won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes, but, curiously, the film does not arouse passion or seek to wonder its audience, despite its title. The moments that aspire to a certain lyricism are mixed, suddenly, with a tone "out of focus" and deliberately, with a gaudy television contest, presented by a mature star, who looks bored and jaded (Monica Bellucci). Perhaps the reasons for the "soft focus" of the story are the various conflicts of a family of dad, mom, aunt, four daughters, and German child in probation; a social worker, an irritating neighbor, TV people and a friend of the past, all with their own agendas and interests. At the center of the plot, there is Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu), in the process of leaving adolescence behind, and there is her German father, Wolfgang (Sam Louwyck), an adventurer struggling to be a farmer.
However, this film and her third feature "Lazzaro felice" (with which Alice Rohrwacher took a big, significant step) confirm that the filmmaker is in the same league as Paolo Sorrentino and Matteo Garrone, integrating a kind of trio of archangels of the current Italian cinema, as confirmed by my young "film advisors". Thanks to them. The others, watch the movie with patience and tranquility, as if you were spending a holiday in the farm of a grandfather, an aunt or a friend, under the shade of a tree, near a brittle, hearing the noise of running water animals, letting time pass.