Bad Tales

Co-directed by brothers Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo "Bad Tales" is a dark, downbeat and really rather unpleasant film seriously lacking in the 'feelgood' factor. It's also rather good in a horrible, queasy kind of way; a film to admire for the obvious skill the filmmakers demonstrate but certainly not a film to like. Set during one summer in a suburb ouside Rome it looks, somewhat forensically, at a couple of very dysfunctional families much in the style of Yorgos Lanthimos. The brothers never quite reach the heights that Lanthimos does but we are definitely in the same perverse ballpark.

Both adults and children are treated with the same off-hand cruelty while their actions are never really explained. There's something almost surreal going on here and not in a good way but then the film is called "Bad Tales" so don't say you weren't warned. I doubt if I'll be returning to it anytime soon but while the brothers may not be the Coens I will certainly be interested to see what they do in the future.

This movie stages action in a domestic and familiar environment, where violence never explodes, because violence is not a disturbance of that social order, but a pillar: it's behind every gesture, every word, every thought, it's something sinister always lurking inside the grownups (in a minor but important scene, during a birthday party the adults say horrible words towards a mother - but in whispers, like if they were haunted).

Parents shows and expose their kids as trophies, not caring for them but for themselves: in another scene a young father is pleased by the driving skills of his own son and proudly screams "You are like me!" - something that the kid is obviously not willing to be. Generations basically ignore each other's feeling: and ignorance is the trigger of silence, silence is the trigger of despair, and despair the trigger of violence.

Thanks to silence, conflict is invisible, and for this reason it becomes eventually inescapable: and the surprising epilogue is the only moment when peace is restored in the families, as the parents for the first time looks like they are actually caring for their children. We hear from the narrator at the beginning that everything in this story is at the same time true and false: and eventually we understand that this mix creates a scaring thing, called reality. This movie is good cinema and great advice, you should see it.

Seen at Berlinale 2020, it is a film that looks at the relationships between parents and children. There is a lot going on in this little Italian suburb, but one thing is for sure, the parents make much more noise than the children. It is a story about growing up or never managing to do so. Worth seeing.

It's a good movie. Plot is well worked but they didn't really make the best of it. Dialogues are solid. All together it's a good movie but not as good as it could've been.

My personal favorite of the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival and winner of the Berlinale Bear for best script. The film introduces itself as: A true story inspired by a false story. The false story is not very inspired. Sounds mysterious? It better be, for this is a film enjoyed more the less you know. Okay, I'll give you this much: a dark look at life in the subjrbs outside Rome, where people's aspiration clash with reality. The story of a summer broken down into a sequence of immersive scenes, each containing its own drama and driven by an atmosphere of suspense. All is mostly viewed through the eyes of the kids. Highly recommended! On a side note: this is the second film of the D'Innocenzo Brothers that I've seen, and it is astonishing to observe how much they've matured as film makers and story tellers. Their first film - La Terra de'l abbastanza - had all the pieces but lacked a forceful plot to tie them together. Favolacce deliverd this force, in a unique way.