Tag: Wonder

The Wonder

Posted on by victorfraga

The year is 1862. Ireland is still recovering from the Great Famine, which claimed more than two million lives and left the country’s morale devastated. A young girl named Anna (Kíla Lord) has inexplicably stopped eating, and somehow remains mysteriously alive four months later. English nurse Lib Wright (Florence Pugh) is recruited by the local authorities in order to guard her, ensuring that she is indeed not taking any food. They wish to establish whether her parents are committing fraud, or if a miracle of some sort is indeed taking place. Some people suspect Anna is feeding on magnetic waves or some unknown particles. The girl claims that she’s eating “manna from heaven”.

In the beginning of this 103-minute, Anna is strong and standing on her feet. Three quarters of the movie later, she can barely talk. And barely anything happens at all, in a tediously flat narrative arc and melatonin-inducing plot. Lib sets out to convince locals that the mother has been secretly mouth-feeding her daughter “like a bird” when she kisses her good-morning and goodbye. Having lost a child herself, the English “Nightingale” cannot bear the thought of allowing Anna to die. She is determined to save the young girl’s life. They create an awkward bond, with Anna calling her “Nan”, which is fact short for “Nancy” (a nickname she has pulled out of nowhere, as with most of the narrative devices in this movie). They exchange philosophical platitudes, with the film purporting to establish some dialogue between faith and reason, or perhaps some comment on the consequences of the Famine, or the relationship between England Ireland. I have no idea of the director’s real intention

The parents play an ambiguous role. It is never entirely clear whether they are trying to profit from the commotion generated by their child’s ordeal (a cunning writer from the Daily Telegraph is on standby, attempting to score a journalistic scoop) or if they genuinely think that their daughter has become some sort of saint (in Catholic faith, sacrifice is always the route to sainthood). At one point, Anna says that she won’t allow her late brother “to burn in the flames of hell”. She is referring to a younger sibling who tragically passed away year earlier. Yet another loose end that doesn’t seem to tie with anything else in the story.

Anna is painful to watch. And not because her malnutrition, which worsens by the day. But instead because of her insufferable devotion. Her lines are cliched, her delivery is repetitive and dull. The final twist isn’t entirely predictable, yet it’s hardly original. Plus Lelio starts and ends the film in the actual studio setting, trying to make some statement about the subjectivity of characters and the active role of audiences. As with much of the film, this denouement has very little to say. The outcome is a profoundly pretentious and downright boring movie. You are welcome to try and milk some deep philosophical meaning, yet you may might end up succumbing to filmic malnutrition.

The photography of rural Ireland with its consistently gloomy climate is largely effective, complementing the sullen atmosphere of the drama. But this isn’t enough to save an otherwise mediocre production. Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde famously wrote in Cahiers du Cinema in the year of 1948: “cinematography of the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative filmmaker”. He was absolutely right!

I ask myself why a talented and audacious filmmaker such as Lelio left his native Chile, where he authored masterpieces such as Gloria (2014) and A Fantastic Woman (2017), and crossed the Atlantic in order to create such an empty and redundant film. Not to mention the tragic Hollywood remake of his very own 2014 drama. Sometimes you just wish people would stay closer to their roots.

The Wonder showed in the Official Competition of the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival/ Donostia Zinemaldia, when this piece was originally written. It is out in the UK in October, as part of the BFI London Film Festival. In cinemas on Friday, November 4th. On Netflix on Thursday, December 15th

The Hole (Il Buco)

Posted on by Redmond Bacon

Scriptwriting instructors love the cliché: “Show, but don’t tell.” They say it’s better to convey information visually as opposed to leading the viewer by the hand. Il Buco takes this to the nth degree, creating a film which is all glorious show, while telling us very little. Audiences left my screening frustrated, debating what it’s all about. My simple answer: does it actually matter when when what’s on screen just looks so awesome?

I learned a new word from this film: speleology. Simply put, it refers to the art of descending caves and figuring out their depth. Clambering through tiny cracks and wading through stagnant pools with only a searchlight for company, The Hole is freely inspired by a true story of speleologists who reached the bottom of the third deepest cave in the world in 1961, located in southern Italy.

For anyone who has been to southern Italy, it’s a place where time seems to move just that little slower. Director Michelangelo Frammartino captures the beauty of the area in great depth before taking us into the cave: rugged roofs that cats scamper across; people huddled together watching the only television in the village; trains appearing occasionally in the mist; vast mountains and vaster valleys; luscious greenery and a fine sense of mystery. It seems like the natural place for a massive cave.

Eschewing almost any dialogue whatsoever in favour of a documentary-like approach, featuring no music, and actually recreating real cave-diving sequences (probably with a higher level of health and safety than in the 60s), this is a film that demands a cinematic viewing. Particularly impressive is the immersive sound design — water perennially dripping and huge echoing sounds — and the use of light, men often seeming to descend into almost complete darkness. It looks absolutely terrifying. Like fighting in the army or going into space; it’s definitely the kind of job I’m glad someone else is doing. I’ll stick to writing film reviews in the sunshine.

Meanwhile, an old man sits on the side of the hill. He makes strange sounds to call his flock; sheep, cows, horses; all freely grazing. As the men descend the cave, his health deteriorates. He’s a symbol of the old-world, filled with an acceptance of mystery, the likes of which the others want to eliminate. It’s up to you whether or not this is just the mere passing of time, or a critique of man’s need for exploration.

And if there is any direct commentary, it comes from a short documentary we see on TV. Two men are climbing the highest building in Milan on a lift, commenting (in the only sequence that was subtitled) on all the people at their office jobs. They quote a window cleaner, who is enjoying the voyeurism so much, he forgets that he’s working at all (perhaps he’s Daniel Day-Lewis from The Unbearable Lightness of Being! (Philip Kaufman, 1988)). Perhaps the descending, silent men are the same; simply loving the joy of discovery, even if the bottom of the cave is just yet another dirty pool of water. If we don’t know why or what it’s all for, does it actually matter? This is a film that expands our sense of wonder, even if final meaning is elusively out of our grasp.

The Hole plays in the Supernova section of the Transylvania International Film Festival, running from 17th-26th June.