Il Teatro Buce enjoyed a screening of Paulo Sorrentino's Il Divolast night. That would be the one about Giulio Andreotti, seven times prime minister of Italy and so long the black hole at the center of alliances that make up what passes under the name of "Italian politics."
Well: "half-enjoyed" might be better. I stuck with it in a stance of reserved enthusiasm. Mrs. Buce bagged it early, generously revealing a preference in favor of finishing the dinner dishes. I can see why: Divio is inside calcio if ever there was such a thing. I just barely know enough and care enough to catch something like 30 percent of what is going on in this fusillade of names and events and alliances and betrayals; Mrs. B, wisely. has never wasted scarce brain cells on the topic.
She did agree, based on limited viewing, that the film has a certain style about it--perhaps the only aspect that can really appeal to the uninitiated. Though we had a bit of difficulty putting a name on just what that style might be. Surrealism? No, not really. Modernism? Way too broad. I entertained the notion of "video game" but then I had what struck me as an even closer analog: it's Batman, with its murky urban exteriors, its imputations of exotic villainy and its €2,000 bespoke suits.
Yes, Batman in tone and flavor, and this fact may help to explain the corollary point that strikes one about this murky movie. That is: at the end of the evening, after all the inquiries, all the charges and counter-charges, we can make only two points about Andreotti: one, he seems to have been in or around the scene of the action for just about everything that happened in Italy in the generation before the Berlusconi era. And two, we have really no idea how (if at all) the hell he did it. Move along folks, no plot to unfold here. Might as well just enjoy the pretty pictures.
Well: "half-enjoyed" might be better. I stuck with it in a stance of reserved enthusiasm. Mrs. Buce bagged it early, generously revealing a preference in favor of finishing the dinner dishes. I can see why: Divio is inside calcio if ever there was such a thing. I just barely know enough and care enough to catch something like 30 percent of what is going on in this fusillade of names and events and alliances and betrayals; Mrs. B, wisely. has never wasted scarce brain cells on the topic.
She did agree, based on limited viewing, that the film has a certain style about it--perhaps the only aspect that can really appeal to the uninitiated. Though we had a bit of difficulty putting a name on just what that style might be. Surrealism? No, not really. Modernism? Way too broad. I entertained the notion of "video game" but then I had what struck me as an even closer analog: it's Batman, with its murky urban exteriors, its imputations of exotic villainy and its €2,000 bespoke suits.
Yes, Batman in tone and flavor, and this fact may help to explain the corollary point that strikes one about this murky movie. That is: at the end of the evening, after all the inquiries, all the charges and counter-charges, we can make only two points about Andreotti: one, he seems to have been in or around the scene of the action for just about everything that happened in Italy in the generation before the Berlusconi era. And two, we have really no idea how (if at all) the hell he did it. Move along folks, no plot to unfold here. Might as well just enjoy the pretty pictures.
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