Into its 5th year, the Italian DocFest returns to the Curzon Bloomsbury this weekend 4th-5th July featuring three films of Italian documentary.
I was lucky enough to cover two of the titles ahead of this weekend, the third one STORIES FOR SANDRO (Storie per Sandro) gains its UK premiere on Saturday 4th at 3pm
At 6pm, the same evening, is the UK premier of I WANT HER DEAD (Il quieto vivere) directed by Gianluca Matarrese. A darkly comic and emotionally charged tale of a Southern Italian family on the verge of implosion. Luisa, a fierce and unruly woman at war with her sister-in-law Imma, fuels a bitter feud that consumes their entire household. As tensions spiral, three eccentric aunts stage a surreal family “trial” in a last-ditch effort to restore peace. Blending reality and fiction, farce and tragedy, the film explores the fine line between everyday resentment and irreversible catastrophe.
This film was quite gripping when you feared it would border on vain-glorious; the tension arising from two fierce women in rage against each other, naturally drives a wedge in the family and Matarrese is keen to show both sides of the story as necessary. Yet what comes across is the wealth of film language he has at his disposal as well as years of Italian stereotypes and tropes to convey.
There are moments of high comedy through his visual style and storytelling coupled with an observant eye for detail in the editing room with these ‘real-life’ performances. This blend and mix of fact and fiction; fable and legend; she said and she said is a gift to make a convincing drama out of.
Matarrese marks himself out as a talent to watch and will do well when he transfers these clear directorial skills to a feature length film of dark comedic potential.
The highlight film of the weekend however, is ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: LIVING WITHOUT A SCRIPT which also has a UK Premiere on Sunday 5th July, 3pm.
In 1956, Roberto Rossellini is in the midst of a personal and artistic crisis. His recent films with Ingrid Bergman have failed, their marriage is unravelling, and the press is relentless. When Bergman returns to Hollywood, Rossellini accepts an invitation from Indian Prime Minister Nehru to document India’s progress.
A three pronged attack of documentarians – Ilaria de Laurentiis, Raffaele Brunetti, Andrea Paolo Massara- give the film a sense of balance to tell the story of Italian film’s grandfather. Following a trope of biopics, in that you start with the lead character at a low ebb and how he endeavours to pick himself up by a change of scenery (or sound if he were a musician) while attempting to maintain his independent spirit and beliefs.
Rossellini as much as anyone helped bring European cinema to a wider audience by harnessing universal themes to the globe; he kicked down the door for Bergman, Godard and Truffaut (himself a huge admirer of the neorealist bent) to walk through.
Yet for such a visionary, he wound up lost in his ideas and not fully appreciated until his passing when his work garnered the acclaim he always wished for.
Living Without A Script is a great introduction to a master of film for whom many, myself included, perhaps only knew him as Mr. Ingrid Bergman. The masterful use of archive footage is exemplary throughout.
4 – 5 July, Bertha DocHouse, Curzon Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1AW
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