Monday 3 September 2012

2012 08 25 - SFS Talkies - Le Quattro Volte(PG) - note SFS screenings at Cineleisure are now at Hall 6 Level 6

Le Quattro VolteDirector: Michelangelo Frammartino
2010

Le Quattro Volte is an eloquent, well-crafted feature that allows us to reflect on life – on man, matter and the moment. Set in a remote mountain village (Caulonia) in Calabria, southern Italy, this remarkable second feature from architect-turned-artist Michelangelo Frammartino, successively chronicles the earthly transit and material transmutation of an old man, a young goat, a tree and a batch of charcoal.

Without dialogue, relying primarily on natural sounds – a dog’s bark, bleating goats and their clanging bells, subtle wind rustling branches of a gigantic pine – and exquisitely framed cinematography, the feature, in 88 engrossing minutes, gently juxtaposes the idea of eternal transience against man’s persistent, perhaps fallible, existential quest.

The title, Le Quattro Volte, comes from Pythagoras, who lived in Calabria in the 6th century BC and apparently spoke of each of us having four lives within us – the mineral, the vegetable, the animal and the human – "thus we must know ourselves four times". What is perhaps most remarkable about “Le Quattro Volte” is that it is at once completely accessible and endlessly mysterious.
Awards:
Won:
2010 C.I.C.A.E. Grand Prix Annecy Italian Cinema Festival
2010 Grand Prix Bratislava International Film Festival
2010 Label Europa Cinemas Cannes Film Festival
2010 Special Silver Ribbon Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
2011 Best Foreign Language Film Award San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
Nominated:
2012 Silver Condor Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards

2011 Nominated David di Donatello Awards, Best Director, Best Producer, Best Sound
2012 ALFS Award Foreign Language Film of the Year London Critics Circle Film Awards