email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

ROME FILM FESTIVAL Italy

Germano gets violent in Vicari’s censored film

by 

After Francesco Patierno’s Il mattino ha l'oro in bocca [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile
]
, the new star of Italian cinema, Elio Germano, once again plays a gambler, in The Past is a Foreign Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Daniele Vicari (David di Donatello winner for Best Debut Film in 2003 with Maximum Velocity [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
). The film is in competition at the Rome International Film Festival in the Cinema 2008 section.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Based on the Gianrico Carofiglio novel, the film depicts the descent into hell of Giorgio (Germano), a model student and aspiring judge, dragged down by the "proletariat" Francesco (Michele Riondino, in his first starring film role) in a spiral of scams, drugs and rape, among the night-time streets and alleyways of Bari, continuously alternating between posh and seedy locations.

Germano is no longer a promising talent but an established one. His performance is solid and Rondino’s also convincing. Playing characters who appear different yet have the same thirst for omnipotence, they form a credible pair.

"I chose to adapt Carofiglio’s novel because it’s modern, it pays attention to the chiaroscuro of society but it also conveys something ancient, and because it also recalls 19th century novels, with main characters suspended between two historical eras,” said the director, surrounded by the entire cast as well as Carofiglio.

Stylistically, Vicari chooses to sink Giorgio into his secret past mostly through pov shots, with images that are often out of focus, fleeting and brusque, just like suddenly recalled memories. "I wanted to deconstruct more than construct this part,” said Germano, “until through Giorgio I myself was surprised by what was happening".

The more violent sequences have caused the film to be banned to minors under 14. Vicari is polemical: "Censorship is a throwback to the hypocritical and fallacious Middle Ages. The entire system should be overhauled".

Produced by R&C Produzioni and Fandango in collaboration with RAI Cinema, The Past is a Foreign Land will be released on October 31 on 150 screens by 01 Distribution.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy