• A Biblical parable—a film of two halves that reminded me of the work of Ermanno Olmi, Bertolucci, Walt Disney, Bresson, Being There and Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  • Shot on 16mm
  • Rural first half—grounded in neo-realism with hardships, unprofessional extras and real babies crying. This could be the Olmi film—there’s the peasants vs the patrons which could be Bertolucci’s 1900
  • Lazzaro (not an accidental name with the surprise death and resurrection) is a simpleton, a saint, he has a uniform, he’s genuine—reminded me of Bresson’s Donkey in Au Hasard Balthazar or Bess in Breaking the Waves in ways
  • The Marquis as pure evil drops this into fantasy as sort of a transition for the big break—it’s also where the Disney element comes it—wicked sister, evil matriarch
  • Some fantastic shots with architecture like character like Ozu, Antonioni
  • The first half has the dry rural landscapes—transition of the wolf myth and death at the halfway point recall Weerasethakul’s work—specifically Syndromes and a Century and Blissfully Yours with the ugly urban vs rural/wild dichotomy- Syndromes specifically breaks half way just like this but this film is not on that level
  • The voice-over (female) drops in half way
  • Allegorical, eerie—Twilight Zone—
  • The villagers are now scavengers in the big city
  • Recommend