Latest news with #MichelangeloFrammartino
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Il Dono' Review: Slow Living
In the opening scene of Michelangelo Frammartino's documentary-drama 'Il Dono,' the electric chime of a cellphone ring feels like a freak intrusion from another realm. At first, we watch from a fixed distance as an old farmer does yard work with a couple of young men, their actions unfolding in what feels like real time. Then there's the ring, which would seem innocuous enough were we not already so immersed in the man's rural existence: the birdsong, the trill of insects. When he picks up the device left behind by one of his young helpers, he treats it like an alien object. It's the first time he's ever seen such a gadget. 'Il Dono' premiered in Europe in 2003, but its recent restoration has occasioned its long-delayed arrival to New York. Serendipitously so, as the film's slow, meditative rhythms offer a reprieve from citygoers daily grinds — should they be willing to stash away that screen and lock into a much more languorous, almost mystical wavelength. Like Frammartino's other films, 'Le Quattro Volte' and 'Il Buco,' 'Il Dono' is set around his family's hometown in the mountainous Italian region of Calabria. The almost wordless film follows the quotidian lives of two people: the old man, played by the director's grandfather, Angelo Frammartino; and an unstable young woman who reluctantly exchanges sex for car rides around town. Despite the region's visual magnificence — its winding cobblestone roads and rolling hills — there's a melancholic emptiness to each of Frammartino's striking compositions, accented by the deliberate, solitary movements of its few (mostly aging) inhabitants. The young woman's story tells us that survival means escape, but otherwise 'Il Dono' manages to strike a balance between damnation and idolatry of its medieval setting. We're sucked in, enraptured, even as we feel its lives fading away. Il DonoNot rated. In Italian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes. In theaters.
Korea Herald
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
KOFA presents nature-focused film series for Earth Day
Program features documentary, art films that examine humanity's relationship with natural world The Korean Film Archive, a state-run institution dedicated to preserving and researching film heritage, will present "Perspectives on Nature," a lineup of documentary and experimental films focused on the natural world, from April 22 to May 8 at its Mapo-gu, Seoul headquarters. Timed for Earth Day, the program features works by contemporary filmmakers who explore landscapes and environments through distinctive artistic approaches. Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino contributes two films to the program. "Le quattro volte" (English: "The Four Times," 2010) unfolds in a Calabrian mountain town and moves through four phases -- human, animal, plant and mineral -- drawing on Pythagorean ideas. "Il buco" (English: "The Hole," 2021) documents the 1961 exploration of the nearly 700-meter-deep Bifurto Abyss in southern Italy. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2021. Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter's "Homo Sapiens" (2016) captures abandoned human spaces through static shots. Filmed at over 100 locations worldwide, the work lets the vacant structures speak for themselves, with no narration or people in sight. Sharon Lockhart's "Double Tide" documents a clam digger working in Maine's coastal mudflats using two 45-minute stationary shots. The program also features two works by Lucien Castaing-Taylor, director of Harvard University's Sensory Ethnography Lab. "Sweetgrass" (2009) follows Norwegian-American shepherds leading sheep through Montana's mountains. "Leviathan," (2012) co-directed with Verena Paravel, immerses viewers in the North American fishing industry, using GoPro cameras during the fishing crews' 20-hour shifts. Scott Barley's "Sleep Has Her House," (2017) shot entirely using an iPhone, blends long takes, still photography and hand-drawn images to portray a world emptied of human beings where supernatural forces emerge. Making its Korean premiere through the event is Digna Sinke's "Weemoed & Wildernis" (English: "Wistful Wilderness," 2010). The documentary tracks the island of Tiengemeten in the Netherlands as it shifts from farmland to wilderness over 13 years, woven together with the director's reflections. Castaing-Taylor will participate in Q&A sessions after his film screenings on May 2 and 3. All showings are free of charge. Full schedule details are available on the Korean Film Archive website.
