L'industriale

Every once in a while you come across these kinds of films.. dark.. brooding.. not a upbeat moment to be found. It's not they're poorly done.. there's just not lots of 'enjoyment' factor involved. If that's what you're looking for, than this is a 9 or 10.. otherwise, you get what most have given it, a solid 6. Cast is pretty solid.. and Carolina Crescentini is just gorgeous.. and a bonafide box office star. But even with her presence, sitting in near total darkness for an hour and a half does not make for the positive viewing experience. The story is weak, and that sets the tone for the overall production. Had they worked harder on the plot, with the cast they had chosen, it could have been much more an offering.

It's been a long time since Montaldo's imposing SACCO & VANZETTI or indeed his flamboyant MACHINE GUN MC CAIN, and later work suggested that they represented a growth spurt in his skills, which wasn't going to be matched.

The ENTREPRENEUR looks more like the dramas of Lattuarda or early Antonioni than those, a kind of solidly crafted, character dominated, top of the bill entertainment that kills time well without registering as particularly notable. For most of it's length, the new film does impress, with it's industry crisis suspense plot and a setting in foggy, paint peeling, druggie populated Turin that isn't all that far from the one in the films of Davide Ferrario, the city's most persistent movie diarist. The cast are excellent and we get striking, desaturated images, favouring warm tones for the body of the film, which gives the Romanian garage worker's red gift jacket the only colour in it's black and white frame, and a shift to a green tinge in the finale.

For a a while there, it looks like the old master is on the come back trail.

Pity a feeble ending, which fails to bring into focus the industrial unrest we glimpse round the edges, and an anti climax plot switch negate these.

Interesting to find Morricone's son working with Montaldo, who had some of his dad's best work.