Il buco

I think Il Buco is one of those films that you either connect with or you don't, and I most definitely did. There's no dialogue but instead the viewer kind of 'overhears' that conversations are taking place amongst the characters bet are yet completely indiscernible. We can notice by the sounds of laughter if it's a happy or playful conversation, or within the context of the visuals what might be communicated. It kind of makes you realize that the specific words aren't really important, just the end, final message and what was the consequential action that resulted from it. There's two stories, one of the speleologists exploring this as yet unknown cave in Italy and an older shepherd who observes the proceedings. Visually it's quite beautiful. The 'story' or message being told harder to articulate, trickier to detail, but like the treatment of the dialogue itself, my lack of being able to communicate those specifics doesn't matter, all I can say is that I was moved by Il Buco and enjoyed every moment of it.

"The cave is majestically captured by state-of-the-art digital camera in its visually and aurally pristine condition, its claustrophobic, running-out-of-oxygen setting is constantly countervailed by a paralleled subplot about an aging shepherd, whose cattle grazes nearby the site, the close-ups on his wizened and soon moribund visage are the closest ones of Frammartino's subjective projection. Yet, what is the correlation between the spelunking and the shepherd's bucket-kicking process? THE HOLE is coyly noncommittal."

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I don't know who thinks watching other people do stuff out in nature is spiritual, but as someone who has actually hiked and camped and been down in a cave, this movie is boring as hell.

Il Buco is likely intended for an audience of basement dwellers who rarely touch grass, to point out to them that nature is awesome.

As for me, I will actually go out in nature and touch grass. Despite being a movie fanatic I simply do not need this film to get in touch with the great outdoors.

Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see other landscapes beyond my own real life experience, but about 45 minutes of that is enough.

Beautiful shots, very atmospheric. If that's your thing.

The film itself is very boring however. It doesn't have almost any dialogue which adds to the magical and idyllic atmosphere of the movie but also makes it drag on.

"Il buco" is a film on its own terms and rights. The pace is mostly slow and without the fast frame-cutting we all know from modern action movies. And thankfully so, 'cause this film is not an action movie with a traditional plot. It's also daring in not spending time on traditional dialogue, which in its place naturally asks for something else. And this is where "Il buco" shows its strengths. The film is made like a time-travel back to 1961 where the camera is our eyes to just show us what may have happened when an expedition was sent out to discover new territory. The story-telling pace may seem extremely slow - at least when comparing to traditional modern films, but again: this is no such thing! You need to adjust your attention to things along the way. The challenges the expedition meet are described via the pace and the natural physical conditions, not unlike the first moon landing - and that pace is precisely balanced with the untouched soil they are about to uncover, so you also understand it's a story about the meeting of cultures and the meeting of a then modern world and an ancient timeless world. Unware of their imposing presence, the expedition changes an unknown locality for all time to come and this is shown in a parrallel story-line in a gentle and sophisticated way that goes hand in hand with the main story about the cave.

This is a film for people who enjoy other ways of expression and the force of story-telling that is an inherent part of images alone.

Do yourself a favour not to expect "Spiderman XXII", "Wrath in the Hole", or "Trump Goes Berserk, part 24" [...] - it's not that type of film. Instead, expect "Il buco", a film about existentialism, human curiosity, a drive to discover the unknown planet Earth in a subtle, poetic and realistic way.

A truly recommended experience.