Director: Matteo Garrone
Talent: Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Claudia Gerini
Release Date: March 22nd 2013
Garrone’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning Reality is a tragi-comedy that is primarily a platform for Arena’s remarkable talent. Arena, who is currently serving a life sentence for murder as a mafia hit man, plays Luciano Ciotola, a sympathetic fishmonger-cum-petty criminal who grows increasingly obsessed with joining the reality game show, Big Brother. It is a film built on contrasts. Dark satire is balanced by comical fantasy. The promise of glitzy Rome is set against the rustic poverty of old Naples. The long, lingering shots of the opening sequence contrast with intimate close ups as Luciano’s paranoia spirals into delusion. Reality successfully depicts a generation’s fascination with celebrity, easy money, and appearance but it dawdles and drags this point out. More importantly, it illustrates how warped our conception of the good life has become. The film concludes, as anticipated, that the senseless pursuit of the superficial can only lead to illusory happiness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6efdTUrM_o
Words: Sophia Hersi-Smith
