Le Quattro Volte (2010)
"Le quattro volte" (original title)

An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have ... See full summary »

Director:

Michelangelo Frammartino

Writer:

Michelangelo Frammartino

Stars:

Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno Timpano

6 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Giuseppe Fuda
Bruno Timpano
Nazareno Timpano

Storyline

An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day.

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Plot Keywords:

goat | tree | old man | birth | shepherd | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Italy Germany Switzerland

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

28 May 2010 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Le Quattro Volte

Filming Locations:

Alessandria del Carretto, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£36,205 (UK) (27 May 2011)

Gross:

$152,530 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Invisibile Film, Ventura Film, Vivo Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is comprised of long takes. One of them lasts an astounding 8 minutes.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits also include a silver fir, the goats of Caulonia and the coal of Calabria among the cast members.

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Connections

Referenced in Estrenos Críticos: Sexo y Cars 2 (2011)

User Reviews

Doesn't work for me

As charming and visually captivating as this film may be, it lacks content which at times seems to be filled with shots that are too long or that do not provide relevant elements to the film (besides offering the already mentioned captivating visuals) and that after a while become exhausting. The problem with this film is that it's too long for it's content but if it had been done as a short it would have probably lacked atmosphere.

This extensive use of long lasting shots and static moments at some point stop creating reflection moments and instead create reasons for the audience to grow bored which, to some extent, takes the effectiveness off the ending. Slow paced movies have to work in a particular way so that the audience may remain focused on the plot, to do this, things have to happen within the story presented; that rarely happens here.

So as other reviews mentioned, if the viewer has the desire to have a closer look at the rural Italian life, yeah, they'll find a sort of... well, slow view of what that is. If you're looking for an art-house kind of thing, this doesn't really work either. The real problem is that it doesn't either show enough rural life in terms of a documentary, nor is it deep enough to be a successful fiction film. Cute, but really wasn't able to engage the story.