NZIFF Film Review: "Lost and Beautiful" ("Bella e perduta") (2015).

"A film by Pietro Marcello" comes Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta). This Italian fantasy-drama film directed by Marcello and written by Marcello and Maurizio Braucci. Despite death threats from the Mafia and his country’s general apathy, a humble shepherd, Tommaso, takes it upon himself to look after the abandoned Bourbon palace of Carditello, deep in the heart of the ‘Land of Fires.’ One day, Tommaso is seized by a heart attack and dies; but not before making a final wish. He summons a masked character named Pulcinella to rescue a buffalo calf called Sarchiopone from the forsaken palace. Together, man and beast, embark on a long journey through a lost and beautiful Italy, searching for something which may no longer exist.

The film stars Sergio Vitolo, Tommaso Cestrone, Gesuino Pittalis and Elio Germano. Vitolo's journey is a string of remarkable vignettes that delivers fashion and sociology in equal measure. What makes the character so poignant is that his final fortification is not his wisdom -- that's all surface -- but his innocence. His ultimate protection is our sympathy for him.

This film is a mixture of drama, fantasy and documentary that at times is whimsical. There is more than a hint of sadness in it, but also it is a salute to the nobility of men like Tommaso Cestrone. It's not a film for everyone, but if you're more inclined toward quiet afternoons in art galleries than watching the latest blockbuster, you may find its refined yet playful approach quite magical. The film treads into Chris Marker territory, but here the ideas are firmly anchored in specific characters who become more fleshly as the storytelling patchwork unfolds. Inventively comic with melancholy notes around the edges, the film has more going on than you may at first anticipate. Such as in most Fellini films, in the film, Marcello acknowledges his neo-realist foundation, and displays a capacity for fantasy. However, at times, the film is expectedly uneven, but retains insight and awareness, tinkering with verite touches while maintaining its cinematic posture. Probably no one since Fellini has so well revealed the moments of simultaneous humor and tragedy which underscore human life. Symbols, metaphors, and larger-than-life performances hold sway, and moments of bizarre if inconsequential charm abound. Marcello has used his small cast, and, equally important, his camera, with the unmistakable touch of an artist. His vignettes fill his movie with beauty, sadness, humor and understanding. The film operates on so many levels that it's tough to know where Marcello is coming from or where he's headed, regardless of how many times you've watched his film. Rather than wallow in cynicism, Marcello's genius is characterised by a zest for life -  albeit a tragically insatiable one - as he sprinkles dreamlike snapshots like glitter in the darkness. It comes from a period in which the filmmaker was perched between neorealism and all-out fantasia. As such, it represents the best of two worlds, even as Marcello can't find contentment in either one.

Simon says Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta) receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Johnny Guitar.