Stimmen in Der Zeit

So the guy just went there and starting shooting people on film and they were fine with that. Ok... It does go through the seasons and generations, starting with small children running around and playing simple games and then preteens, teens, young adults, newlyweds, mature couples and old people. It also shows some very private moments so I'm wondering how observational it could have been. The faces we see and we mostly see faces in close-up are very beautiful and expressive. It also serves as a time capsule. I doubt they live like this anymore, even in Castellano.

The mating ritual around the fountain is very basic and silly and you could gossip on the couch with your best friend looking at the awkwardness. Also, I'd personally be terrified of so many bikes running circles around me. Italian men are extra. Very beautiful backdrops.

I wonder if these people, the children being now adults, the young probably middle-aged have a copy of this to remember this year in their life. Or remember their lost grandparents or even parents.

"Voci nel tempo" is obviously a little-seen film since I am the first person to write a commentary here. And despite the fact that the film met critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in 1996.

As in many of director Franco Piavolis films, the cycle of life and nature plays a crucial role: We are brought by the camera in to the small, beautiful world of a little Italian víllage in the Lombardy. Step by step, life stage by life stage, we meet the people who are living there. The generations live side by side and sometimes meet with each other, but there is always one generation in the focus. We see a few older people watching the endearments of the teenagers and the games of the children, which some of them now seem to be blocked from due to the unstoppable forces of age and immobility. Yet, there are also many moments of fulfillment and happiness for all generations in the film.

I have seen the film in Italian and I don't speak that language, but the film works anyway: There are only a few dialouges and they appear rather irrelevant to me: To create a powerful vision, Piavoli mostly works with visuals, with faces, with music, with sound. "Voci nel tempo" not only works on a philosophical level, but also feels like a little relaxing holiday trip to an idyllic version of Italy. It's bittersweet in it's melancholy but also finds beauty in the fact that everything changes and moments of happiness and despair are fleeting.