Open Roads. Dispatch 4.

On some level I am flummoxed by Dark Sea, an odd little movie directed and co-written (with Massimo D'Anolfi) by Roberta Torre. I understand, as will you, I expect, that this is a kind of thriller/police procedural that tracks the investigation of a young woman's death. Yet all that is merely an excuse to explore the growing sexual melt-down of the lead character - a cop, acted with his usual presence and intensity (albeit with a bit more machismo than I've noticed before) by Luigi Lo Cascio of The Best of Youth, Good Morning Night, Light of My Eyes and The Hundred Steps. The cop has a Spanish girlfriend who's a realtor, played by the gorgeous Anna Mouglalis, who moves in with him as the story begins. His investigation takes him into exceptionally transgressive sexual areas, which he begins to enjoy, while we, who very possibly have seen rather a lot of this sort of thing by now, may find it a tad tiring - mostly because the movie deals with almost nothing else.

We never learn enough about the lead characters to care more than cursorily what happens to them (or anyone we meet here). In the end, I believe (though I would not stake my life on it) that we are asked to decide if some of the sex we've seen is real or fantasy. It's the film's final line of dialog that calls this into question - and also provoked a good laugh both times I have seen the movie. (During my first viewing, the "screener" was obviously faulty, and since I don't think it's fair to judge any moviemaker's hard-won efforts on the basis of a badly transferred DVD, I returned for a second viewing in the theater.)

I suspect Dark Sea was made on a very low budget, yet it looks quite good and shows an interesting capacity for off-key, engaging visuals on the part of the director and her cinematographer Daniele Cipri. The original music by Shigeru Umebayashi is a huge plus, too, and the performances are as good as the slight material allows. The film begins with the dredging up from the sea a remarkable figurative icon, partially destroyed, which makes an appearance later in a remembered dream and yet again in one of the sex scenes. This is a strange and splendid piece of "art," and I would not be surprised to learn that, in some way, it inspired the movie in which it appears. Dark Sea made its American debut this past Friday and will be shown again on Thursday, June 14.

Another film with odd and arresting visuals is Paolo Sorrentino's The Family Friend, which makes its debut this Saturday night and will be shown again on Sunday afternoon, following the final Caravaggio screening. Sorrentino made the award-winning The Consequences of Love a few years back, which I could kick myself for not seeing when I had the opportunity. His new one tells the story of a neighborhood loan shark, Geremia de Geremei, the bed-ridden mother he cares for, and the group of diverse people who use him as their "bank." I've now seen this unusual film twice, and the second viewing proved even more interesting than the first - during which I was caught up visually but not so much in the characters or story.

Sorrentino certainly has a way of visually capturing the most interesting - and varied - objects. He has a knack for combining subject, composition, angle and spatial relations into something special. (The opening credits alone make the movie a must-see.) In his leading actor, Giacomo Rizzo (who played Rigoletto in Bertolucci's 1900), he has someone who creates an indelible combination of avarice, loneliness and desire. Rizzo gives an almost rodent-like performance, scurrying from place to place in an odd and memorable manner. This strange combination of drama/thriller with comedic overtones will unsettle you, while the terrific cinematography and musical score should keep you on a high. And the interesting mix of qualities possessed by all the characters, ranging from commendable to not-so, make them intensely human (and the film, to my eyes, quite Italian).

While there is a Fellini-like quality (exaggerated, dreamy) to many of the people and events, Sorrentino never takes things to the sometimes far-overstated level that Federico managed. The "western" trappings of his character Gino, well played by Fabrizio Bentivoglio (Remember Me, My Love), may seem a bit much at times, but the writer/director gives this such funny, charming visual twists that you'll probably chuckle, shrug and follow along. As I say, The Family Friend hooked me visually from the start, but it took a second viewing to move me - and even then, in some rather bizarre ways.

Posted by dwhudson at June 9, 2007 12:21 PM