AFI’s EU Showcase ’15: Tale of Tales

Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile’s fairy tale collection predated Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, but despite their subtitle, “Entertainment for Little Ones,” they are considered idiosyncratically macabre and even a little NSFW. Of course, those are both rather cinematic qualities. Matteo Garrone duly emphasizes the strange and baroque in Tale of Tales (trailer here), his English language adaptation of a trio of intertwined Basile fables, which screens as part of the AFI’s 2015 EU Film Showcase.

Three neighboring kingdoms largely coexist quite peacefully, because their respective monarchs are so self-absorbed with their own issues. Thanks to the help of a necromancer, the Queen of Longtrellis magically conceives the son she always desired, at the mere cost of her indulgent husband (and basically her soul). However, Prince Elias never adequately returns her codependent love. Instead, he prefers to spend time with the commoner Jonah, who is his exact spitting image.

The King of Highmountain is equally problematic in the completely opposite way. He ignores his antsy-to-be-married daughter, Princess Violet, preferring to obsess over his abnormally large trained flea. When he finally makes a show of arranging a contest for her hand, he inadvertently grants her hand to an ogre.

Meanwhile, the horndog King of Strongcliff has fallen in lust with the voice of the peasant Dora. However, he does not realize she is one of two old crone sisters living hand-to-mouth in a cottage on his estate. Feigning coyness, Dora manages to hold off the King until she can come to him under the dark of night. Complications ensue.

If you haven’t realized yet, there is sex in these fairy tales. There are also flashes of violence that are shocking in the moment, but not at all gratuitous. Be that as it may, it is easy to see why the archetypal source material has been largely passed over by animators and children’s publishers. Tale of Tales still seems likely an unlikely direction for an ultra-realist like Garrone, but he reportedly claims all his films have a kinship with fairy tales. You can sort of see that in a morality tale like Reality, but it is less apparent in the thinly fictionalized social expose, Gomorrah.

Regardless, there is a lot of cool stuff in Tale, including Toby Jones talking to a giant flea and Salma Hayek eating a dragon’s heart. There are also tightrope walkers, damsels in distress, damsels causing distress, shapeshifters, and Shakespearean confusion with twins. Garrone and editor Marco Spoletini shrewdly time the shifts between narrative strands, maintaining a nice up-tempo pace. Alexandre Desplat also contributes a very Desplat-sounding score (classy, but not particularly distinctive). However, production designer Dimitri Capuani and the battery of art directors creates a richly detailed fantasy world that is both lovely and sinister.

Tale of Tales could be considered The Princess Bride’s evil twin, making it exactly the sort of fairy tale movie we have needed. It is much more fun than Catherine Breillart’s fairy tale films and more subversive than Snow White and the Huntsman. Recommended for fans of dark fantasy, Tale of Tales screens this Saturday (12/12) as part of the AFI’s EU Film Showcase.

Garrone’s Reality

As a fishmonger, reality is about as real as it gets for the hardworking Luciano.  Unfortunately, he is seduced by the lure of hyper-unreal reality shows’ fifteen minutes of fame in Matteo Garrone’s Reality (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in New York.

Initially, it is not even his idea.  Attending a big extravagant Long Island style wedding, Luciano encounters Enzo, a former Italian Big Brother champion making a paid appearance.  An offhand invitation to the show’s Naples try-outs leads to a formal invitation to audition in Rome (at the celebrated Cinecitta Studio, no less).  Convinced he nailed it, Luciano returns home like a conquering hero.  His neighbors start treating him like a celebrity, anticipating his impending television notoriety.  However, as the start of the show’s new season approaches with no word coming from the producers, Luciano becomes increasingly erratic, paranoid, and depressed.

Although not explicitly about reality television, Matteo’s film makes the Italian version of Big Brother look particularly gross.  Of course, nearly any program would be just as seductive.  Still, it is hard to believe a loving husband and father could get so far ahead of himself and fall apart so profoundly for so dubious prize.  Whether we believe it or not, it is still cringy to watch.

While radically different in tone from Garrone’s previous, Gomorrah, he has not strayed far in terms of geography or culture.  Hardly Armani’s Italy, this is a place where yellow tank tops with garish racing stripes do not look out of place.  Nonetheless, cinematographer Marco Onorato frames some striking visuals, often evoking the great Italian cinema masterworks of decades past.

Aniella Arena has a bit of that clown-who-can-make-you-cry thing going on as Luciano.  He certainly makes the audience feel uncomfortable.  Nando Paone is also memorably understated and humane as Luciano’s pious partner, Michele, a notably sympathetic Catholic character.  However, most of his family members are rather shticky stock figures that would fit right into any film with the words “My Big Fat” in the title.

While it is disconcerting to watch Luciano unravel, Reality never approaches the level of a Twenty-First Century Network or A Face in the Crowd.  Co-written by Garrone, Maurizio Bruacci, Ugo Chiti, and Massimo Gaudioso, Reality breaks no new ground with its familiar brand of media criticism.  We all get it, only too well.  Nicely crafted but not nearly as deep as it presumes to be, Reality opens tomorrow (3/15) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

Italian Holiday: Mid-August Lunch

In Matteo Garrone’s Gommorah, co-writers Gianni Di Gregorio and Garrone dramatized the reign of terror of the Camorra, Italy’s clannish criminal organization considered more ruthless than the Mafia. In their new collaboration, they bring us four hungry old ladies who expect to be waited on hand-and-foot. I’d rather tangle with the Camorra. Unfortunately, the down-on-his-luck Gianni is stuck with his 93-year old mother and three elderly guests in Mid-August Lunch (trailer here), Di Gregorio’s directorial debut produced by Garrone, which opens in New York on Wednesday.

Writer-director Di Gregorio also stars as his debt-ridden namesake, who happily still has credit at his local wine emporium. He might not have a lot of prospects, but at least he enjoys good food and drink. Most of his days are spent quietly caring for his mother, who might be difficult but appreciates his cooking. In arrears to Luigi, the landlord, he agrees to take care of his mother during Pranzo di Ferragosto, Italy’s summer holiday weekend.

Much to Gianni’s surprise, Luigi shows up with an extra old lady, his aunt. When the family doctor also asks a similar favor, Gianni finds himself looking after his mother as well. Hit on and put upon by the strange old ladies, Gianni suddenly has to whip up a traditional Ferragosto lunch for four demanding palettes.

While Lunch steadily builds to its titular meal, it really is not a food movie in the Babette’s Feast and Eat Drink Man Woman tradition, because it never truly luxuriates in the scenes of food preparation and presentation. Gianni just puts it on the table and they eat it. Still, even though Lunch is set during the off season, scenes of Gianni and his drinking buddy Viking scootering in and around Rome, nicely evoke the Dolce Vita vibe. Indeed, Gian Enrico Bianchi’s elegant lensing gives the city a warm, inviting look.

While there is not much dramatic heavy lifting for any of Lunch’s cast, Di Gregorio is an appealing protagonist to spend time with. Bearing a certain resemblance to Jerry Orbach, his face is appropriately lined with character. He is a convincing nice guy, who makes the brief Lunch a pleasant if slight cinematic experience.

If spending time with four gabby old ladies is your idea of the good life, Lunch is the film for you. Ultimately, it is more of a light snack than a rich feast, but it has its discrete charms. It opens this Wednesday (3/17) at Film Forum.