Siccità

"Siccità" is a drama about a 3 years complete drought that hits Rome.

While the disgraceful italian filmography of the last 20 years (with very few exceptions) might in itself represent the inexorable decadence of a country and of its intellectual vitality, it's much more rewarding and thought provoking to witness such aridity with the aid of a good production.

Virzì, who was always capable of interpreting the gaze of youth and naivety, in this last decade focused on different subjects without - IMHO - being able to produce anything on par with its best older movies.

With "Siccità" instead he seems finally ready to write-direct (co-write) an incredibly complex and mature story with dozens of actors, drama and comedy, young and old people, social commentary and poetry in scene.

A little slow (I have watched it at 1,5x and didn't even notice) and while not a masterpiece for the genre - indeed it lacks that surrealist touch which seems so dear to nowadays top creators and audiences dealing with dystopia - it totally deserves an 8.

Siccità is a dystopic choral film narrating life in the Italian capital city, plagued by years of drought. Directed by Paolo Virzì it stars important names in the Italian cinematic industry such as Valerio Mastandrea, Claudia Pandolfi, Silvio Orlando and Tommaso Ragno.

The beauty of this film lies in the fact that in spite of its catastrophic events, Rome keeps its charm, which is transformed into a sort of dry gothic allure. The colours are particularly vivid and intense, in the same way as the various pictures portrayed and the special effects.

A multitude of characters flow through the various scenes, apparently strangers but all interconnected. Each one of them has to face the devastation surrounding them, but also the devastation within, in a long search for their lost souls. I especially loved Claudia Pandolfi and Valerio Mastandrea, a chameleon capable of transforming himself into any character in such an intense way.

Even though I enjoyed this film very much I found some flaws: Monica Bellucci is just a fascinating statue, a sort of goddess of fertility, but as soon as she starts talking her lack of acting skills are unveiled. Her performance really clashed in this story. Then I felt really skeptical about this environmental crisis hitting just Rome and not the rest of the country, it does not make much sense...

Apart from this I highly suggest it!

The makers of this film seem to have started off with a check-list: Drought caused by climate change? Check. Diseases caused by climate change? Check. Social stress caused by climate change? Check, etc. Then, they created characters and situations to exemplify each item on the list. Unfortunately, 'make a good film' wasn't on the list. The actors are all acting their hearts out, but it's difficult to believe in, much less care about, the characters they're playing. The actors, sets, and photography seem to glow with a preternatural sheen showing that that not even a years-long drought can begin to affect bella figura.

All together when you calm down your feelings you will find this movie as an smart approach to the growing problems nowadays. As I know some of the names in its cast, I could say it has, as someone else said, a high-calibre cast. How that multiple story of growing process of disease, poverty, destitution goes, your conclusion will be that all comes and goes very fast, leaving us being powerless, what actually happens in mostly cases in life. I would see it also as some kind of criticism of the political elite and to those who have capital and rule to the situation, overshadowing the voice of the majority, which is in despair.

A disaster.

Francesca Archibugi, Paolo Giordano and Francesco Piccolo with their silly, predictable and politically correct screenplays, where everything is forced and ridiculously leftist, are destroying the credibility of the best Italian director, the only heir to true Italian comedy. The actors try to believe in the series of platitudes proposed by the script but then give in.

I hope that Virzì will leave this group and return to the arms of Francesco Bruni with whom he has made his best films.

Virzì achieves greatness when he mixes comedy and drama by recounting his Livorno and Tuscany. She should dare to go back to the small but significant. A very good one to Claudia Pandolfi.