Review of Tale of Tales

Garrone's film is a feast for the eyes and mind. It draws liberally from the tradition of ancient fairy Basile and proposes a translation blazing, made solemn landscapes and disturbing, kings and courts who are living with the misery of the people, crenellated castles that stand out on the slopes oblivious of the course of time and a set of -draghi mythological creatures, orcs, witches, fleas Giants- that look like the materialization of instincts and fears of human -desideri possession, power, maternity, fear of old age, death, solitudine-. Environments that host three events -a queen sterile willing to do anything to have a child, a king obsessed with sex that falls in love with a crone of which only listens to the voice, a ruler who organizes a contest whose winner will marry his daughter- are extraordinary and so evocative that, while watching the film, I thought they were digital effects products to the computer. Instead, the film was shot between the Alcantara Gorges (a Sicilian river flowing between high walls smoothed by water), the Castle of Donnafugata in the province of Ragusa, the forest Sasseto in northern Lazio, Castel del Monte and Gioia del Colle in Puglia. In the film Garrone, beyond the grandeur of the exterior, there is nothing ethereal and metaphysical: the stories - along with the facility of the fairy tale anticachectic are carnal, raw, essential in expressing drives that dominate humans, life and death chase, touch, is with / merge, there rises to a privileged condition suddenly or lose everything. There is no sign of intent to moralizzatore- Fortuna-, but even willingness exposing the vices of the weak and the powerful. The introduction of elements of "fantasy" seems well integrated in the work of the director Roman. The opening sequence of the king who plunges nell'acque torrent armor diving in search of the sea dragon appears not only credible, but also engaging and beautiful. As well as several other passages of the film that I will not spoil. The merit of "The Tale of Tales" consists in integrated visually stunning work (with a pictorial taste and exquisite frame) with a narrative that recovers the allegorical dimension of the work of Basile and proposes an excavation on the archetypal dimensions of human nature. Daring operation, similar to that of a tightrope walker who crosses a precipice walking on a rope. An operation, in my opinion, that makes success Matteo Garrone one of the most talented Italian authors in the current landscape.