L'étrange monsieur Peppino

A story of haunted people from haunted places that doesn't end well. Loosely based on a true story, this is movie is a more of a grim fairytale in which the characters are marginalised people who live in squalor. Definitely not a feel-good movie but worth watching.

It's a noir, no doubt... you even have the dark lady. Take three excellent actors, a well-chosen setting, a young and talented director, and you have L'imbalsamatore. Once again, when an Italian director is really good, like Sergio Leone, he can take an American film genre, turn it upside down and make a great Italian movie. However, Garrone proved how good he is not just by filming this, but by making another masterpiece, that is, Gomorra. If you like this one, try also the other movie. Basically one of the plots of Gomorra is set in the same places where L'imbalsamatore is set.

Another important element of the film is the landscape. When Italian directors are at their best, they can render landscape like no one. Garrone can do this with the wastelands of Northern Campania.

Hats off, then, to Ernesto Mahieux, who delivers an impressive performance that you won't forget easily...

The writing team of Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, and Ugo Chiti won a David (Italian Oscar) for their screenplay, just as they would this year for the multi-award winning film Gomorra.

Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux) is an aging, somewhat creep, short person, who finds Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo) and is instantly attracted to him. He offers him a job in his taxidermy shop.

When Valerio meets Deborah (Elisabetta Rocchetti), complications develop. Peppino has been bringing home a string of prostitutes to keep Viterio happy until he manages to land him.

There becomes a duel between Peppino and Deborah for the body of Valerio. Rocchetti (Do You Like Hitchcock?) is sensuous, and determined - perfect for the role. Peppino is the star, however, and dominates every scene he is in.

You are always wondering who will win, and the odds have to go to Peppino because of his mob connections.

The film takes place at a lot of resort areas and is captivating.

From beginning to end, the artful use of cinematography is exact. The director conveys the emotion through the use of scenery, "natural" lighting, or lack thereof, and the soundtrack.

The production team and cast did a great job of taking words on paper and creating an original, thought evoking film that has no real category. A sort of twisted love story with a rather unexpected ending, where you are compelled to see what happens next by a feeling of expectation and suspense, not knowing when some major event will happen and actually being surprised when they do.

The actors do a great job of conveying the emotions, thoughts, and tensions in every scene, especially Ernesto Mahieux and Valerio Foglia Manzillo.

Unlike many subtitled films, whoever performed the English translation seems to have converted the Italian flawlessly- bravo to them.

A film that is not likely to see wide distribution, and comes across as not trying to do so. More emphasis seems to be on the personal connection with each viewer, who then takes an interest in the storyline and anxiously awaits the rest of the story.

Possibly a gateway film for those interested in Film Noire or who simply want to take a break from the usual with a bit "darker" film- worth the viewing charge.

Definitely not a movie for everyone. I looked for this movie immediately after seeing the most recent Garrone feature, Primo Amore (First Love) currently in the Festival circuit.

The structure of the movies is non surprisingly very similar: a love story that transcends understanding and plays with common notions of relationship and sexuality, eventually trespassing into obsession. Again Garrone starts from a true story, but tries to make something universal, abstracting it from time (no modern technology) and space. The geography of the action is clear (well, at least to Italian) but the beautiful photography transforms the landscape into chiaroscuro paintings of foggy uncertainty. Ernesto Mahieux is the perfect choice for the central character-- a strong although somewhat physically stunted, madly in love protagonist.

This is one movie that is difficult to classify: it's not a thriller, and very few will consider this a love story, although it borrows elements from both genres to construct something unique that gets under the skin of the spectator. Think Fellini and Lynch, but without the gratuitous weirdness. A little gem, for the few who will get it.