It's a autobiographical film about the experience of the director himself, as a debut feature, I'm glad to watch it while the director was visiting Shanghai and had a screen at Tongji University. The film won CONTROCAMPO ITALIANO prize in the Venice festival this year.
The film combines comedic element with all the tragic incident during the war of Iraq. The close-ups of smoking cigarette is hovering round the film and renders proficiently sober impact on the audience, meanwhile, highlights the motif, a farce full of ridicule, sarcasm which a war could bring forth.
The DV-styled photography carries deep turbulence on viewer's organs of senses, mainly optically though, it bizarrely diffuses persuasively into a self-tortured experience after the bloody bomb and shooting scene, then our protagonist's gory appearance could be daringly disturbing; on the other hand, one can sense the ambition of the director to face the true grit and mockery and the same time.
The acting in the film is compelling with a humorous undertone, Vinicio Marchioni gives the protagonist a libertine quality and easily could appeal to the audience.
So, 20 Cigarettes is a comparatively mature debut for novice director Aureliano Amadei, who has a potential to swing swiftly between drama and comedy, I'm eager to wait to see his next move and hope his skills will be honed to a higher level.
