Sicilian Ghost Story, 2017.
Directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.
Starring Julia Jedlikowska, Gaetano Fernandez, Corinne Musallari, Federico Finocchirao, and Andrea Falzone.
SYNOPSIS:
Against a heavy cloak of secrecy, a 12-year-old girl, smitten with her handsome classmate, ventures deeper and deeper into the enchanted Sicilian forests to find him, unaware of just how thick the mystery behind his strange disappearance really is.
Sicilian Ghost Story is a film about a young girl Luna (Julia Jedlikowska) who goes in search of her classmate and crush Giuseppe (Gaetano Fernandez) after he is kidnapped. Though the film markets itself as a Drama/Fantasy, it shares little in common with what may appear on the surface to be similar movies, such as Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Fantasy does not manifest itself in the film as a literal element, but more as a metaphorical one. There are no strange creatures lurking in the forest, but there is a forest, and it allows for Luna’s dream to meld with reality. In other words, we are not shown a fantastical world, we are shown the real world through the eyes of a hardy yet young woman who imprints her juvenile creativity upon it.
This impression of mind upon matter is best highlighted in the film cinematography, which is consistently brilliant throughout the movie. There are some stunning shots that bring forth the quasi-dream-like nature of the movie – keep an eye out for an early shot that shows Luna watching Giuseppe riding his horse, not that you’re likely to miss it – and the constant use of wide-angles provides a good visual metaphor for Luna’s lack of impact on a world that dwarfs her in every sense.
The acting from the two leads is also phenomenal. Both actors, who I believe are making their film debut, are undeniably convincing as a couple in the throes of young romance. Jedlikowska especially is given plenty of time to show off her range. She is rebellious and steadfast, yet still very much a child. This doesn’t change throughout the film either. Despite the fact that you would expect the tragedies of the real world to dampen her fantastical impression of it, they actually strengthen it to the point where her fantasies become pure delusions. The use of fantasy-heavy imagery in this incidence brilliantly portrays Luna’s declining mental health – the increased presence of fantasy signifies her exploration of chaos, and when the illusion breaks, the weight of that exploration and improper orientation comes crashing down upon her.
If there’s one thing the film doesn’t do well, it’s plotting. As is the case with a lot of recent European films – at least the one’s I’ve seen – Sicilian Ghost Story sets up an interesting premise in act one, only to spend the next act meandering around, portraying the lead character’s life at an overly realistic pace and with an overly realistic eye (fantasy elements aside). Spending this amount of time observing a character is a good way of developing them into a very rounded and realistic person, but it isn’t an elegant way, nor is it an entertaining one. There are little, if any, new conflicts created during the second act, and this leaves the audience longing for a resolution without much payoff in the meantime. When act three rolls around and the resolution comes, it is no doubt powerful, not to mention unbelievably harrowing, but the journey taken to get there feels overly long, and not something you necessarily want to sit through again.
Sicilian Ghost Story is a film that gets better upon critical inspection, and is undeniably well crafted, which makes the slow burning plot quite manageable. It won’t have you running back to the cinema to watch it again, but it will force you to seriously think about it on both an artistic and an emotional level.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
James Turner is a writer and musician based in Sheffield. You can follow him on Twitter @JTAuthor
