Small Body

This is the best movie I have seen in the cinema so far this year, together with 'Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom'.

One is sucked in with the story of the desperate young mother. It's a timeless movie. The two main characters do an excellent job and seem to come from another world, a fairytale world that seems real. The beautiful music and the splendid scenery are two big assets, that complete the dream world. In the small hall of the small cinema everyone sat full of admiration till the last letters of the final credits were gone.

An Italian language film - we've not had one of them so far this year! I have heard of this and the rumours are it's good, but weird. And there's nothing in the description above to counter those rumours, is there?

So, we start with a very pregnant woman on a beach with a sheet over her head. Obviously. And then she gives birth - and as you may guess from the above, it doesn't end well. And then she goes outside and it seems like they all live in wigwams on a massive beach. And they're holding the babies funeral in the sea. Oh - it's not the babies funeral, because the baby's not allowed a funeral. In fact, she's not even allowed a name because she was stillborn - but then a woman hiding in the sea-grass tells her to go to Ignac. Well, it's all making perfect sense so far...

It turns out Ignac is the village wise man/idiot (who knows?) and tells her that if she takes her baby to "a church in the mountains" (thanks for the directions, Ignac!), then they can bring her back to take one breath which means she can be baptised, have a funeral and get into Heaven. So she does what anyone would do - she digs her baby up, straps the coffin to her back and heads off to find the church. And, as a result, things happen...

Most of which, it will not surprise you to hear, make not the slightest bit of sense. However, somewhat surprisingly, I found I really didn't mind. I was intrigued enough to watch till the end to find out what was going happen, there is some gorgeous scenery along the way (the lake in the mountains is particularly beautiful), there's some intriguing rowing (there really is!) and the film was only 87 minutes long so it was forgiven its few moments of indulgence (although the singing around the camp fire was particularly unnecessary).

It does attempt one twist which is obvious from a mile off, but I didn't see the ending coming and I liked it - it worked well and looked beautiful. Although, if I'm being entirely honest, I didn't totally understand it - but who really cares about such things?!?

Celeste Cescutti as Agata has quite the journey and you go with her all the way and, on that journey, she meets Ondina Quadri as Lynx, about whom the less you know the better - and the pair of them do the heavy lifting in this film and they do it well, making a good connection.

But - is it well filmed? It is in theory, but some of the practice isn't quite up to scratch - it's mostly filmed on a handheld camera (don't ask me for any more technical details) and it works well at times, but it does also get a bit distractingly jiggly in places. Having said all that, some of the scenes are filmed underwater (or at least fake underwater) and they're absolutely still, very beautiful and look top notch. Also, whilst I rarely mention the score of these films - this one has a particularly beautiful one, using traditional (I assume Italian) folk songs to good effect, heightening the sense of magic.

This film is 100% Euro indie arthouse nonsense - but it's very beautiful Euro indie arthouse nonsense. Given the potentially grim subject matter, it's surprisingly soothing at times - no, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny but such things really don't matter because you can just sit back and soak up the scenery. Having said that, it also held my attention because I was intrigued as to how it was going to end, which very much surprised me.

It won't be for everyone, but if you like a good looking bit of arthouse nonsense then this is most definitely a good looking bit of arthouse nonsense. At time of writing, it's available to watch in the all the usual locations - if you fancy it, then there are certainly worse things you could be watching.

At the start of the 20th century, the young "Agata" (Celeste Cescutti) has a difficult pregnancy that results in the birth of a child that doesn't survive long enough to be baptised. She'd distraught. Not just that she has lost her daughter, but that her child has lost it's chance of eternal peace in Heaven. Then she hears of a remote church far to the north where it is rumoured that they can resurrect the dead for just long enough to perform the ceremony. With her baby in a box and the clothes on her back, she sets off alone and ill provisioned for the trek. Along the way she encounters "Lynx" (Ondina Quadri) who offers to guide her but who is really just part of a lawless band of bandits who decide she'd be useful as a wet nurse! Luckily, they too are set upon and both are freed to continue their journey as the winter closes in and conditions become physically and psychologically desperate. Needless to say, there's not a great deal of trust between these two women but to survive they need to co-operate and maybe there's a chance of salvation for everyone. This is quite a touching story of superstition, certainly, but it also demonstrates the lengths to which a mother will go for her child - even when it lives no more. Cescutti works well delivering that determined and vulnerable role and both her and Quadri take this simple story from auteur Laura Samani and imbue it with quite powerful characterisations. There's not a great deal of dialogue but what there is, partnered with Fredrika Stahl's score, offers us a quest of near biblical proportions that is well worth a watch.

While the movie could have calmed down on the shaky cam, it is still a competently crafted film with beautiful scenery, solid acting and good story.

The film also does an excellent job with lightning and sound design, and succeeded attempting to create a realistic and subtle feel.