Tutti gli articoli di Francesca Gazzaniga

“Bleed for This” by Ben Younger

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Bianca Beonio Brocchieri

Translation by: Elisa Grattarola, Elena Salama

Bleed for This shows its protagonist in an unusual way: wrapped with layers of cellophane, while pedaling furiously on a stationary bicycle and sweating like a broken sink[1]. Soon after, he is weighed in front of a crowd of reporters: he falls into the lightweights’ category by a whisker, so that he can attend the big match for the world title. This is the beginning of the new film by Ben Younger – back to the screen after more than ten years since his last one, Prime – a biographical drama based on the life of Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza, a boxer who actually existed, skillfully performed by the rising star Miles Teller, (Whiplash, The Spectacular Now).

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“Free Fire” by Ben Wheatley

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Bianca Beonio Brocchieri

Translation by: Francesca Gazzaniga

After High Rise, cryptic adaptation of James G. Ballard’s novel shown at the 33rd TFF, Ben Wheatley is back in town with Free Fire, a show-off, Tarantino-style movie that shamelessly tries to captivate the audience with alluring tricks. We are in 1970; the plot takes place in a single night, inside an abandoned factory in Massachusetts, where an odd bunch of awkward characters gathers to finalize a weapon deal. The ten traffickers are split into two opposing sides, even though it is not difficult to guess that each one hides their own private interest, thus making the already fragile alliances unpredictable. After a preamble right outside the factory, as soon as the cases full of rifles are delivered, the tension increases to the maximum. A tiny spark is enough to start an endless fire, the armed conflict being the scope of the movie. The outstanding cast (Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Michael Smiley, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley) must crawl, roll, scream, get punched and shot to the bitter end, burn, bleed, without ever abandoning the slight comic patina made of edgy jokes, which are thrown and returned exactly like gunshots. The many characters are literally die-hard: as in cartoons, their bodies can stand any kind of violence without giving up fighting and trash talking.

But Free Fire aims too high. After a promising, high-tension beginning, from the first gunshot onwards the movie implodes in a buildup of stereotypes and repetitive actions. The comic quality and wit of the jokes, some of which are in fact memorable, is flooded by a heavy rain shower of stray bullets and fickle characters who cannot decide where to stand. In action movies, especially in the shooter subgenre, drawing a well-defined geography of the battlefield is paramount, even more so if the plot is set entirely inside a warehouse. The characters themselves are confused about the overall placement of enemies and allies in the factory (several times the wrong targets are hit – insults and apologies follow) but this fact does not justify the degree of confusion the director induces in the viewer. Representing a chaotic guerrilla does not necessarily mean to put the spectator in the same condition of the protagonists. After a generous mayhem shooting, which lasts more than an hour, the result is that moviegoers give up guessing who’s shooting and who’s being shot, as there aren’t enough clues to even try doing it.

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Despite the movie winking at Tarantino, Peckinpah and Scorsese (who is executive producer), unfortunately, Free Fire never takes off. It remains stuck in the same factory where the whole action takes place and never manages to gain the cult-movie effect that other action films were able to obtain without so much effort.

“Maquinaria Panamericana” by Joaquín del Paso

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Mattia Capone

Translation by: Giulia Epiro, Chiara Mutti

“This is the first day of the rest of your life” says a voice on the speakers. We find ourselves in an old construction machinery factory in Mexico City: all the employees work in harmony, the mood is easygoing, informal. Everything is idyllic – at least in the first ten minutes. An upsetting occurrence breaks the routine, as the beloved chief, Don Alejandro, is found lifeless in the back of the storage.

As it turns out, the company has been on the brink of bankruptcy for years, also because of the crisis in Mexican manufacturing sector, and everyone’s salary has been paid directly by Don Alejandro. At this point, workers feel very discouraged and start ruling chaos in the factory.

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“Les derniers parisiens” by Bourokba and Labitey

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Marco Bellani

Translation by: Riccardo Abba, Barbara Lisè

There is a city in this world that reflects the times we live in; there is a place in this city that is its metaphor. The city of Paris and its clubs: people from every walk of life, students, jailbirds, kids, transvestites, aspiring actresses, pushers and common people intertwine and meet. Everybody is looking for something, everyone hopes to get in in spite of prejudice.

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“Safe Neighborhood” by Chris Peckover – Press conference

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Valentina Di Noi

Translation by: Francesco Chiocci

Nobody would expect that something frightening could happen in a safe place but that’s what happens in this film, an anti-horror.

The director Chris Peckover prefers bright lights and colours, unlike the classic horror movie. His aim is to create an atmosphere that wouldn’t anticipate any scary event.

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“Fixeur” (“The Fixer”) by Adrian Sitaru

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Matteo Ambrosino

Translation by: Silvia Cometti, Miriam Todesco

Fixeur is a film about a moral issue: how far can a journalist investigate? And how much information can the press show?

“Fixeur” is a journalist who, when dealing with a big shot, prefers not to write an article personally, and instead he becomes an intermediary for another, more famous, foreign journalist, in order to increase his profit and prestige. That’s what Radu (Tudor Istodor) does; he’s a wannabe journalist who, in order to establish himself, is willing to trample on ethical principles, looking for a girl who has been victim of child prostitution trade, who has been repatriated from Paris where she worked as a prostitute and now she has denounced who had kidnapped and exploited her.

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“The Love Witch” by Anna Biller

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Elena Golzio

Translation by: Elisa Grattarola, Elena Salama

Anna Biller is a director who can also be called “artisan” in every way: she takes care of the direction, the screenplay, costumes, photography, editing and production. For the first time, in this movie she does not appear as actress, choosing as the main character the beautiful Samantha Robinson, who is able to combine sensuality and empathy, which are required to bring to life the figure of a mermaid-witch (a pair that nowadays, as stated by the director, is difficult to portray).

The director, a fan of Pasolini’s cinema, explains her choice for the artisanal dimension with economical justifications and with her will to work along with some traditional and accurate women’s job like weaving and embroidery.

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“Mercenaire” by Sacha Wolff

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Carlo Montrucchio

Translation by: Giulia Epiro, Chiara Mutti

The Wallis Islands community, in New Caledonia, is crying for young Soane’s departure towards an apparently thriving and promising future, which will certainly be better than his perspectives as a Maori community member. Though he is leaving, his back will always wear the scars of his father’s beatings, who is a tough pig farmer.

The journey of young and talented rugby player Soane will turn out to be the price to pay for the freedom he has always searched inside his heart. France, apparently civil and modern, is just the other face of Wallis. If the latter is a wild and insidious land, the new country, rich in comforts and services, is just not the right place for the naïve protagonist.

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“Intolerance” by David Wark Griffith

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Giorgia Lodato

Translation by: Silvia Restelli, Chiara Tomasetta

Emanuela Martini has introduced the screening of the restored version of Intolerance by David Wark Griffith saying she was a bit jealous of the spectators who would have the possibility to watch such an important film on the big screen, after ten years from its first showing. The turnout – as she said – was impressive, taking into account the duration of the movie.

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“Wir sind die Flut” (“We Are the Tide”) by Sebastian Hilger

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Alessia Durante

Translation by: Federica Betti, Ilaria Loiacono

“Imagination is able to transform an idea coming from a theoretical lesson into an upsetting emotional experience. For that reason, we’ve decided to tell We Are The Tide as a modern sci-fi feature film”. Those are Sebastian Higle’s words, the director of Wir sind die Flut, running for the 34° edition of the Torino Film Festival.

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“Suntan” by Argyris Papadimitropoulos

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Silvia Villani

Translation by: Andreea Catana, Francesca Sala

Antiparos Island, at the height of tourist season, is a small oasis made just for youth. The beaches are crowded of young people who live in the moment and enjoy the summer spree. Toned, tanned and naked bodies. Just like Anna’s. The amount of work in town has increased for retailers and for Kostis, the general practitioner, as well. He’s in his fortys, he’s pale and a little overweight. Anna accidentally fell from her moped and as she floods the clinic with her intense sensuality, Kostis falls for her and can’t get her out of his head.

Continua la lettura di “Suntan” by Argyris Papadimitropoulos

“Slam – Tutto per una ragazza” by Andrea Molaioli

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Sofia Nadalini

Translation by: Riccardo Abba, Barbara Lisè

The term slam can have different meanings: it can refer to the abrupt onomatopoeic sound of a door being shut, or of a slap on the face; but it is also a specific slang term used by skaters. For this reason, it is also very similar to the protagonist’s nickname in the latest film by Andrea Molaioli (La ragazza del lago, Il gioiellino), a very accurate cinematographic adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel Slam.

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“Demon Seed” by Donald Cammell

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Valentina Di Noi

Translation by: Silvia Cometti, Miriam Todesco

Demon Seed is a 1977 movie directed by Donald Cammell, based on a sci-fi novel by Dean R. Koontz.

Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) is a scientist who creates a super-computer, Proteus, with its own intelligence, and its task is to find a way to extract metals from the bottom of the sea. But Proteus hasn’t the slightest interest in doing that, so it makes clear to his creator that its interest is a research on the humankind. The scientist, worried, declines this proposal, denying the existence of a free server.

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“Marie et les naufragés” by Sébastien Betbeder

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Giorgia Bertino

Translation by: Elisa Grattarola, Elena Salama

A funny comedy with a bittersweet aftertaste that tells the story of a Wes Anderson-like love triangle, with extravagant implications, but also with the typical French light-comedy. This is the exquisite recipe proposed by Sébastien Betbeder in Marie et les naufragés: a film deliciously unconventional, starting from the comedy to become something more complex. There is a lot of laughing, that is for sure, but the comedy of each situation leads always to a deeper consideration about life and human relationships.

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“Last Night” by Don McKellar

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Camilla Lasiu

Translation by: Silvia Restelli, Chiara Tomasetta

1998 is the year of a couple of apocalyptic films: Armageddon and Deep Impact. In the same year, however, Last Night, Don McKellar’s first full-length film was presented at Cannes and has been introduced in this year’s edition of the Torino Film Festival in the Things to come section.

The countdown to the end of the world has just started and everybody is striving to realise their last wishes or to organise a Christmas dinner with their loved ones. Patrick Wheeler (played by McKellar himself) just wants to be left alone, waiting for the world to end. All is ready and time is running out fast when on Patrick’s last day Sandra arrives (played by Sandra Oh). Love has never been so close and it will not leave him until the end. Sandra and Patrick are wandering in the desperate look for a car, ignoring the truth: instead of being almost over, as they seem to believe, their time has actually just started. None of them has ever been so close to somebody else’s soul. They both feel the need to be together, with their guns loaded but looking straight into each other’s eyes.

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“Vetar” (“Wind”) by Tamara Drakulić

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Annagiulia Zoccarato

Translation by: Giulia Epiro, Chiara Mutti

The river Bojana and its natural reserve lie on the border between Albania and Montenegro. Here 16-year-old Mina, motherless, is forced to spend the holidays with her father Andrej. Every day the same story is repeated, the young girl lies on the beach or studies, until she meets Saša, an older kite-surfer whose girlfriend, Sonja, is a hippie nudist.

Continua la lettura di “Vetar” (“Wind”) by Tamara Drakulić

“Wexford Plaza” by Joyce Wong

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Elena Golzio

Translation by: Federica Betti, Ilaria Loiacono

Sadness and loneliness are the denominators in common of Betty and Danny, the two main characters of the movie.

Betty is an overweight girl that works in a permanently empty mall of the ‘60s as night security guard.

Continua la lettura di “Wexford Plaza” by Joyce Wong

“Hele sa hiwagang hapis” (“A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery”) by Lav Diaz

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Andrea Bagnasco

Translation by: Silvia Cometti, Miriam Todesco

When watching an eight-hour movie, the story starts vanishing in one’s mind, what one remembers of the past gets blurred, preventing him from linking all the points, what one may think about the future becomes little by little unsure and one finds himself lost, tightly attached to the present and to this monumental film by Lav Diaz.

Continua la lettura di “Hele sa hiwagang hapis” (“A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery”) by Lav Diaz

“Ilegitim” by Adrian Sitaru

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Matteo Ambrosino

Translation by: Riccardo Abba, Barbara Lisè

 

Ilegitim is a film directed by the Romanian filmmaker Adrian Sitaru, it was presented at Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Duke at Odessa Film Festival. The film portrays with great sensitivity the subject of incest between twin brother and sister.

The movie, a collective and domestic drama, revolves around Victor, a widowed doctor with a lumbering past as an antiabortionist whistle-blower during the dictatorship. A severe guilt that breaks the family apart when, during a dinner, the truth emerges: Victor allegedly impeded many abortions in order to uphold both the law and personal ethical beliefs.

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“La loi de la jungle” by Antonin Peretjatko

Versione inglese a cura del Master in Traduzione per il Cinema, la Televisione e l’Editoria Multimediale

Article by: Sofia Nadalini

Translation by: Silvia Restelli, Chiara Tomasetta

In my experience as spectator, in general, French films are either really serious or not serious at all (in both cases in a positive way, according to my point of view). La loi de la jungle belongs to the second category, not only because it is a really funny screwball comedy (and more), but also because it becomes really parodistic and satiric to a world, the one of the political and economic European laws, that is extremely bureaucratic, absurd and crazy, without any touch with reality.

Continua la lettura di “La loi de la jungle” by Antonin Peretjatko