Antonio Ligabue holds an unusual place in the annals of mid-20th-century Italian art, championed by those who feel his boldly-colored, largely naive paintings are the product of a self-taught artis…
” more a record of a performance than a satisfying cinema experience. The filmmakers, cast included, certainly studied the documentary footage that’s out there, and on that level they’ve done a remarkable job. It’s unlikely however this will translate into any notable box office success at home, while international sales could be hampered by a 2018 copyright date on top of everything else.
It’s less maddening a portrait than Julian Schnabel’s self-indulgent “At Eternity’s Gate” about Vincent Van Gogh, an artist to whom Ligabue has occasionally been superficially likened, though it’s an extremely facile comparison given that the Italian’s developmental disabilities are worlds apart from Van Gogh’s mental instability.
Just when or where he began drawing and painting is unclear — he’s already doing it in the asylum — but an encounter with sculptor Renato Marino Mazzacurati proves fundamental when he and his saintly mother give Ligabue a place to live and the means to pursue his art. World War II temporarily interrupts the idyll, but sometime after the war he starts selling his work, which ultimately reaches the hands of art world cognoscenti, who arrange a gallery exhibition in Rome.
The script legitimately has its share of invention — credits say it was loosely inspired by Ligabue’s life — yet precisely because of this, the narrative scenes in the second half need to act as more than just stand-ins designed to bring audiences through a messy life.
The flat Po valley in Emilia-Romagna, beloved by Diritti as well as a host of major Italian directors from Visconti to Olmi and beyond, is evocatively shot with its regularly-spaced copses and brick country houses inhabited by good-hearted people of the earth. A number of scenes are shot with what appears to be a modified fish-eye lens that puts the edges of the screen out of focus, but it’s difficult to discern why the director uses it some times and not at others.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
When Democrats Vote, Trump Is Never Far AwayLAS VEGAS -- President Donald Trump is not exactly a fan of life on the road.He agreed to a four-day Western trip this week on the condition that he spend every night at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. And that location had another attraction: It placed him at the current center of the 2020
Read more »
Rihanna Is Giving Away Free B-Day HighlighterHappy birthday to us! Rihanna FentyOfficial
Read more »
Tennis is Sailing Away to Paul Simon, Angel Olsen, and the VerveIn honor of their new album 'Swimmer,' the royal couple of shag rug bedroom pop nixes a road trip playlist and gives us songs to sail to.
Read more »
Viral “Shallow” Subway Singer Blows Us Away Again With More CoversViral “Shallow” subway singer Charlotte Awbery is wowing fans yet again with more covers. See her rendition of Ariana Grande and Whitney Houston favorites.
Read more »
Dr. Pimple Popper Just Squeezed A Solid Rock Of A Blackhead And It Rolled AwayIt came out of nowhere.
Read more »