Blondi wakes up in bed with her postteen son Mirko (Toto Rovito) after a party and dodges the guests still sleeping in the house to go to work as a pollster. TO Dolores Fonzi That close-up of his career as a filmmaker is enough for him to accurately outline those more or less nuanced roles between mother and son in blonde.
The film is centered on the character of the same name, played by the director herself, a mother who had a son at the age of 15, but that birth does not seem to have forced her to mature ahead of time, on the contrary. The maturity that this 15-year-old mother has managed to avoid for years will only now be tested thanks to Mirko’s need to grow up.
Blondi is interrogated after another family home party by the mother of a friend of her son, who literally lets her down, after asking if no adults live with them.
Dolores Fonzi’s feature debut is a deceptively light-hearted comedy punctuated by the occasional drama, one of which takes mother and son through road movie terrain, but ultimately turns into a “two-handed” coming-of-age film, both for Mirko and for Blondi.
This mother, who prefers her son not to call her mother and call her by name, will have to finish taking charge of her role without this implying a change of personality but rather resigning herself to the daily round-trip travel companion with Mirko. The steamy little feat of scaling the O’Higgins Monument functions as an allegory for Blondi’s story of outdoing himself without laying down his arms.
Carla Peterson, Rita Cortese and Sbaraglia
The dynamics of the leading family (Fonzi and Toto Rovito join Rita Cortese like grandma Pepa, Carla Peterson in the skin of aunt Martina, married to the character of Leo Sbaraglia) suddenly appears established in a birthday, which generates a certain discomfort when in just one scene it is pointed out that the mother is hanged, the son is responsible, the grandmother is vehement , the aunt is unhappy and her husband, a boon. After that wide-ranging presentation, Fonzi gives each of them different emotional nuances, while never losing sight of the investigation into the different types of motherhood.
Blondi’s complicity, severely tested by the film’s conflict when her son hides a secret from her, contrasts with Pepa’s overprotectiveness and, at the opposite extreme, with Martina’s indifference.
There’s even room for a little cinephile nod to the most toxic of those relationships thanks to the creepy motel employee who blames his mother, who never appears on screen, for a possible kitten stew. Other family ties are even more complicated with absent parents, a granny with few fleas, and competitive sisters.
Fonzi resorts to rock to illustrate his character, whether in a full rock T-shirt look or in standalone plays, with The Minor Leagues on screen, or the allegorical finale with a car ride while blaring blasts. Marythe hit with which an already mature Debbie Harry managed to revive Blondie’s career.
Up until then there was a disc stuck in the car stereo that justified half listening Velvet Underground, one of the best debuts in the history of art, which fits perfectly with the film. And that’s more than you can expect from any first film.
“blonde”
Comedy. Argentina, 2023, 87′. SAM 13. From: Dolores Fonzi. With: Dolores Fonzi, Totò Rovito, Rita Cortese, Carla Peterson and Leo Sbaraglia. Rooms: Hoyts Abasto, Cinemark Palermo, Showcase Belgrano and Haedo.
Source: Clarin
