They are two surnames of their own weight, two regulars at Cannes, but who have never achieved the recognition of their respective juries that they deserve. The Texan Wes Anderson and the Italian Marco Bellocchio coincided the day of the competition, but with two works –City of Asteroids and a cast with Scarlett JohanssonTom Hanks, Adrien Brody and dozens of stars, e quickie-.
Two films which, for different reasons, ended up closer to disappointment than acceptance. The films of both couldn’t be more different. Well, Wes Anderson’s world is unique, unrepeatable and distinguishable, as we said yesterday, like that of Aki Kaurismaki -another one that is a fixed number in Cannes, and that didn’t even win the Palme d’Or-.
City of Asteroids takes place in the 1950s – again, like Kaurismäki’s cinema, much of its iconography and set design seems steeped in that decade – instead of the title. A meteorite fell there years ago and several families with their genius children travel there to participate in a science contest, right at the place where the US government spends its time conducting atomic tests.
And, nestled in the middle of nowhere in the Texas desert, the place will have another visitor: an alien.
The scenic tricks – everything was shot on a set, in Spain – and the color palette have always been Anderson’s driving force, but here the substance is missing. Everything is very elaborate, but what is missing is not the cohesion between many characters, but captivating content.
To those already mentioned add Bryan CranstonJason Schwartzman (with Johansson they have more room to show off), Steve Carell, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Maya Hawke, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Hope Davis (succession), Matt Dillon, Margot Robbie, Rupert Friend and if I’m missing anyone, blame the space.
Looker and a kidnapped
Almost 30 years older than the 54 Anderson accuses Marco Bellocchio. Eighth occasion in which the director of Winner, the devil in the body AND jump into the void enters the main competition, the veteran filmmaker returns to delve into the past, and with a real event, known as the Mortara case, which at the time was one of the critics who received the beatification of Pius IX by John Paul II.
In 1858 the civil authorities of the Papal States revoked parental authority from the parents of a 6-year-old boy, Edgardo Mortara, who were Jewish. They said the child had been baptized as a Christian and admitted him to a Catholic educational institution. Just in case, they baptized him again.
With the passing of the years and the possibility of reuniting with his family -these were times when the Papal State was about to fall, and the entry of the Piedmontese army would put an end to the sovereignty of the Popes in Rome-, the young Edgardo refuses him and is ordained a priest.
Bellocchio has always been someone who filmed and told with thick strokes, whether it was a story of sex, a political or religious drama. But he used to provide hard-hitting stories. Here the Pope (Paolo Pierobon, who can play both Silvio Berlusconi and Gabriele D’Annunzio) is sweating all the time, with a certain amount of perspiration trickling down his face. He gets angry and blushes, and the whole movie follows a predictable path.
stylistically inside quickie (Kidnapped) the Italian uses overloaded and loud music to highlight what was no longer needed, when he doesn’t appeal to a certain magical realism in which the Pope has nightmares, or Edgardo rips the nails out of Christ, and sets him free.
Widely revered – some cheered when his name appeared in the opening credits, like actors are greeted in plays when they take the stage at the first opportunity – it is difficult for this film which is routine at times and which deprives its author of waking enthusiasm beyond fanaticism for the director.
Source: Clarin
