Summary: intriguing story that delightfully goes in weird directions, yet all makes sense if you pay attention. The problem is, the production is so uneven, it distracts you from paying attention, and tempts you to turn it off. Nice effort to self-fund a movie produced over 20 years, but that doesn't forgive the fact some of it is nearly unwatchable. I have to take off some stars for that. Maybe Grion can sell this as a TV series and get proper funding.
Longer: I was immediately confused and distracted because I wasn't sure what character I was watching. He seemed to age and regenerate at will. Or it was the best makeup ever. I paused the movie and read here that it was filmed over 20 years. Congrats to Grion for pulling this off, even if by desperation. The great Kubrick wanted to do that and failed.
The two main leads do a fine job. Vasconcellos is good, and even brilliant in the final surprising main sequence. Most supporting actors have issues.
Production distractions are everywhere. Some of the scenes have fireflies. Why? And why are there right hand drive vehicles with Maine license plates in Italy? Why is the setup shot of the villa in Italy taken by camera with resolution not seen since 1870? Who blocked and framed the green-screen scenes? It was not, uh, good.
I won't bore you much more except to say I ultimately enjoyed the movie once I ignored the defects present due to budgets. I even watched it a second time. I particularly enjoyed the surprise sequence at the end, obviously shot recently since the skill level of production was higher all around, and Vasconcellos was excellent, despite gaining weight, losing hair and getting deeper wrinkles. His aging actually fits with the story too, and he embraces it.
Longer: I was immediately confused and distracted because I wasn't sure what character I was watching. He seemed to age and regenerate at will. Or it was the best makeup ever. I paused the movie and read here that it was filmed over 20 years. Congrats to Grion for pulling this off, even if by desperation. The great Kubrick wanted to do that and failed.
The two main leads do a fine job. Vasconcellos is good, and even brilliant in the final surprising main sequence. Most supporting actors have issues.
Production distractions are everywhere. Some of the scenes have fireflies. Why? And why are there right hand drive vehicles with Maine license plates in Italy? Why is the setup shot of the villa in Italy taken by camera with resolution not seen since 1870? Who blocked and framed the green-screen scenes? It was not, uh, good.
I won't bore you much more except to say I ultimately enjoyed the movie once I ignored the defects present due to budgets. I even watched it a second time. I particularly enjoyed the surprise sequence at the end, obviously shot recently since the skill level of production was higher all around, and Vasconcellos was excellent, despite gaining weight, losing hair and getting deeper wrinkles. His aging actually fits with the story too, and he embraces it.