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Reviews
Le proprietà dei metalli (2023)
An Interesting Italian art film
I saw this a part of the Italian Film festival here in Australia. I found this to be a gem of a film, which was well acted and beautifully portrayed film of a rural family in what I assume is the south of Italy in the late 70s or early 80s (no dates are given). It's the story of a university professor who is studying the phenomenon of paranormal talents such as spoon bending, and he finds a 12 year old boy living with his younger brother and widower father in near-poverty on a farm mainly making a living selling firewood. Their only conveyance is a truck, which was bought on credit from a local, ageing Mafioso, who causes problems for the family. The film is about struggle and hope; perhaps the professor can formally display the young lad's abilities, which might win them fame, as well as some well-needed lira.
The movie is well-crafted, well framed, with rich sound and beautifully scored, with a high level of cinematic craftsmanship. Worth a look for the art movie fan.
Gold (2022)
These pretzels are making me thirsty!
This is a film in the true Australian style, set in a scorching, desolate, run down wasteland. The film has been colour graded to give a faded glare throughout.
The plot is pretty simple. In a post-apocalypic near future that implies that there was a massive die off or social collapse in the cities, from where the scar-faced Efron character must be a refugee from. He's paired up with another man, a driver who is to take Efron to go to a remote station called 'the Compound' a place 1,000 or more kilometres from civilisation where he can apparently earn some money doing god knows what. The film is not clearly set in Australia (even though the car is RHD) as road signs, debris and items of clothing contain Arabic, Korean as well as English letters.
On the way, they stop for a piss and Efron finds a massive gold nugget embedded in the ground. It's too large to move, so they decide to drive back to hire an excavator. They decide that one has to stay and guard the yellow stuff and the trip is to take 4 days. Efron is the one that volunteers to stay, but the driver expresses doubt if he will survive (mentally and physically) alone in the heat with limited supplies. He stands resolute, and is left in the treeless wasteland with some water, 3 cans of food, a portable satellite phone and a tarpolen sheet.
What ensues is a fairly predictable tale of survival, paranoia and heat exhaustion. The film is presented well to show that with its visuals and sound effects and kept this individual film lover engaged for its reasonably concise 90 minutes. The film has basically only 3 characters in it apart from maybe 2 or 3 glorified extras, which adds to the feeling of isolation. The make-up department must have had a field day on Efron's face as he looks increasingly crusty throughout the film. All the while his eyes pierce through.
While the film doesn't doesn't contain too many obvious tropes, it does feel like it's treading old ground. Films like Fury Road come to mind, as well as the more recent 'The Lighthouse' regarding its feeling of isolation. Zac Efron does a good acting job and so does director Anthony Hayes as the driver.
Worth a look for film buffs, desert hermits and post-apocaypic survival story fans, but not everyone will be impressed. 7 out of 10.