Archivi tag: Sci-Fi

“IPERSONNIA” BY ALBERTO MASCIA

Article by: Marco di Pasquale

Translated by: Arianna Deiro

The dystopian narrative, which became popular in 20th century literature and cinema, has always been an effective tool to analyse and discuss contemporary society’s problems and changes. Alberto Mascia, with his movie Ipersonnia, takes the topics which in the past years have generated intense debates in Italy and puts them in a near future. The high crime rate and the severe overcrowding in Italian prisons have pushed politicians towards an extreme solution: turning prison sentences into years of forced sleep.

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David Damiani (Stefano Accorsi) is a psychologist whose job consists in periodically waking up inmates to monitor their mental health. The forced sleep takes a toll especially on the convicts’ brain, as they find it hard to distinguish dream from reality. Ipersonnia is based on such dichotomy and the movie’s atmosphere draws inspiration from films such as eXistenz (Cronenberg – 1999) or Memento (Nolan – 2000). The dreamlike element directly correlates to psychoanalysis and its immoral use combined with technology. Due to a brainwave inhibitor, the inmate is vulnerable while the psychologist can insert all kind of ideas in his mind, even potentially convincing him of being guilty of crimes he did not commit. Therefore, Ipersonnia presents a new and interesting interpretation of the “transplants” of ideas carried out by the protagonists of Inception (Nolan – 2010). While in Nolan’s movie the manipulation only took place in the dreamlike worlds created by people’s minds, in Ipersonnia the process happens while they are awake, through psychanalysis. Technological advance, combined with psychotherapy, allows for the destruction of all the barriers of the unconscious and sleep simply becomes a moment of stasis and imprisonment. Despite all the thematical and narrative suggestions, the style of the director remains inert, in function of a simpler understanding of the events of the film.

Prison overcrowding, justice and its problematic implementation are important issues of our society that are hinted at by the film, but are relegated to the background. The narrative turns mostly to conspiracy theories and to the deterioration of the power which is trying to take control of the citizen’s minds. Ipersonnia is part of the recent attempt by Italian productions to make the public interested in genre film once again. Such attempt is perhaps lacklustre in its comparison with dystopia, which would require a critical and in-depth analysis of such current and relevant issues, both in its content and in its form.

“IPERSONNIA” DI ALBERTO MASCIA

La narrazione distopica, affermatasi nella letteratura e nel cinema del Novecento, è da sempre un efficace strumento di analisi e discussione dei problemi e dei cambiamenti della società contemporanea. Alberto Mascia con il suo film Ipersonnia, sposta in un futuro prossimo argomenti che negli ultimi anni hanno generato intensi dibattiti nel nostro Paese. L’alto tasso di criminalità e il grave sovraffollamento delle carceri italiane hanno spinto la classe politica verso una soluzione estrema: trasformare la pena detentiva in anni di sonno forzato.

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David Damiani (Stefano Accorsi), è uno psicologo che si occupa del risveglio periodico dei detenuti per monitorarne la salute mentale. I condannati subiscono gli effetti del sonno artificiale principalmente a livello cerebrale, facendo fatica a distinguere il sogno dalla realtà. Su questa dicotomia si basa Ipersonnia, con atmosfere debitrici di film come eXistenz (Cronenberg – 1999) o Memento (Nolan – 2000). L’elemento onirico si lega direttamente alla psicanalisi e al suo uso immorale unito con la tecnologia. Attraverso un inibitore di onde cerebrali il detenuto rimane vulnerabile mentre lo psicoterapeuta può immettere nella sua mente ogni tipo di idea fino a convincerlo della colpevolezza di crimini non commessi. Ipersonnia propone quindi un’interessante rivisitazione degli “innesti” di idee effettuati dai protagonisti di Inception (Nolan – 2010). Se in quest’ultimo film la manipolazione si compiva interamente nei mondi onirici creati dalla mente, in Ipersonnia tutto questo avviene da svegli, attraverso la psicanalisi. Il progresso tecnologico combinato con la psicoterapia distrugge ogni barriera dell’inconscio e il sonno diventa un mero momento di stasi e di prigionia. Di fronte a queste suggestioni tematiche e narrative lo stile registico rimane tuttavia inerte, in funzione della semplice comprensione degli eventi del film.

Il sovraffollamento delle carceri, la giustizia e la sua problematica applicazione sono questioni importanti della nostra società che la pellicola accenna sommariamente, relegandole sullo sfondo. La narrazione vira piuttosto sul complottismo e sulla degenerazione del potere che cerca di prendere il controllo delle menti dei cittadini. Ipersonnia si inserisce nel recente tentativo della produzione italiana di riavvicinare il pubblico al cinema di genere, tentativo che risulta forse mancato proprio nel confronto con la distopia, che richiederebbe una visione critica e approfondita di questioni attuali così rilevanti, sia nella forma che nel contenuto filmico.

“AZ ÚR HANGJA/HIS MASTER’S VOICE” DI GYÖRGY PÁLFI

Con His Master’s Voice l’ungherese György Pálfi, distintosi grazie al visionario Taxidermia, conferma la libera sperimentazione come imprescindibile approccio al mezzo cinematografico.

Il film, ispirato al romanzo La Voce del Padrone di Stanislaw Lem, racconta del viaggio intrapreso da Péter dall’Ungheria agli Stati Uniti alla ricerca del proprio padre, scienziato fuggito dall’Est Europa comunista abbandonando la famiglia negli anni della Guerra Fredda.

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Strange Days by Kathryn Bigelow

Article by: Matteo Merlano                                                                                       Translation by: Lorenzo Matarazzo

  • Los Angeles, December 31 1999, at the dawn of the new millennium tensions and chaos rule a militarized city, slave to a new drug which is powerful and unstoppable: Deck, i.e. other persons’ experiences recorded on mini-disc and directly wired to the brain of the user. Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is the biggest “experiences’” dealer around, but when he receives a clip containing a Deck fix showing the truth about the homicide of rapper Jeriko One, leader of the rising afroamerican rebellion, his life takes a dangerous turn.

    Set only four years after the moment of shooting, Strange Days predicted the future in a rather disturbing way. Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman director who cleared the Action genre through the customs of male-only directions (masterpieces such as Point Break and Near Dark are works of hers) and gives us the image of a Los Angeles which is nocturnal, violent and full of tensions and contradictions (a big part of the credit goes to the script from James Cameron, Bigelow’s ex-husband) where the characters wander like ghosts searching for Life, not theirs, but other people’s, the one which is “transferred” in the brain like a file from a Usb drive. No one is safe in this world and to escape sadness everyone is willing to do anything. A movie filled with a 90s’ atmosphere, from the aesthetic choices (fast montage and a photography reminiscent of the one used in videoclips) to the Hip Hop, Techno and Post-Punk countercultures, up to the human side, where in a society which lacks direction the only salvation is true love, when it is absolute and romantic. Great soundtrack: Tricky, Deep Forest, Peter Gabriel and Skunk Anansie, to name a few.
    Perfect cast with Fiennes, at ease and troubled at the same time in this scenario, a Juliette Lewis who is more beautiful and reckless than ever and Angela Basset, who carries on the role of tough women so dear to Cameron (Sigourney Weaver in Aliens and Linda Hamilton in Terminator), as well as a disturbing Vincent D’Onofrio, playing a corrupted and psychopathic policeman.

    It is unbelievable how much of the vision from Bigelow and Cameron came true. At the time of production racial tensions had reached their peak because of the police killing of Rodney King in 1992. Today they have emerged again for the same reason in many places around the United States. A militarized L.A. sadly reminds of the big European cities of these weeks. After the 13 November tragedy in Paris and after other similar events, Strange Days appears extremely contemporary. A must see which helps to understand the dark, crazy and “strange” days that we are living in now, year of the Lord 2015.