Cannes. Il Caimano.

"[Nanni] Moretti's [Il Caimano] adopts a daring mix of satire, light comedy and family drama to ease the passage of his serious political purpose, which is to lampoon Berlusconi personally and politically and, more subtly, to convey something of the crisis of the little man when faced with a corrupt governmental power such as Berlusconi," writes Time Out's Dave Calhoun. "What emerges from all this is a satire on both the film industry and filmmakers such as Moretti himself who wish to deal with politics but first have to overcome their own and other people's prejudices towards such a pursuit."

Updated through 5/26.

The Hollywood Reporter's Duane Byrge finds it "overly ambitious" and "strongest when it is least on its political soap box."

Cineuropa's Camillo de Marco caught Moretti's press conference. Earlier: Cineuropa's "film focus"

Vanja Luksic talks with Moretti in L'Express (and in French); site.

Earlier: Il Caimano.

Updates, 5/23: Mike D'Angelo for Nerve: "To the extent that The Caiman concerns Berlusconi and the impotence of left-leaning filmmakers, it's fairly sharp and nimble; Moretti utterly fails to integrate the personal and the political, however, and the divorce-related scenes, while not ineffective per se (though Moretti alter ego Silvio Orlando, an able clown, lacks the chops for real pathos), seem to belong to a different movie altogether."

AO Scott in the New York Times: "Mr Moretti's movie, an expression of outrage, is equally a study in frustration. (It is also, rather remarkably given its charged subject, a gentle and bittersweet comedy.) How, it asks, can you use film to expose a leader about whom everyone seems to know the worst, and whose opponents sometimes seem to lack any program other than loathing him?"

"In years to come The Caiman could be seen as the film that lost Silvio Berlusconi the election," suggests Xan Brooks, quickly adding that "the director refused to take credit for the result: 'Cinema, politics and the election campaign are all very different things.'" Still, Peter Bradshaw finds it "tricksy and politically feeble while telling us nothing very interesting or insightful about the people supposedly making the film.... With postmodern half-heartedness, Moretti has dug himself into a hole with this film."

The Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu: "It tries to fuse the personal and the political, although the shift in gear, from the more humorous early scenes to Bruno's near meltdown in the second half, is so great that some viewers complained that it had turned into another film. Even if that were so, we get two great pictures for the price of one."

"The Caiman suffers from an uneven tone and, buckling under the weight of its ambition, eventually fails to achieve a coherent form," writes Matt Riviera. "What remains are some fantastic scenes where Moretti's generous characters interact with a great deal of humanity, portrayed as they are by some tremendously gifted actors."

Update, 5/26: Sheila Johnston in the Independent: "Crackling with ideas, it's full of brusque changes of tone, yet it is robust enough to intrigue even after its ostensible target has been zapped at the Italian elections."

Posted by dwhudson at May 22, 2006 1:49 PM