Magnifica Presenza

I have been enjoying Ferzan Ozpetek movies since I discovered great Saturno Contro (Saturn in Opposition) and decided that I have to see everything done by him. But seems that now I have to be more careful as I can do a very brief review about his latest film: I did not like it at all and not even Elio Germano saves it. In this movie he really changed his style favoring something more commercial, mainstream which I do not enjoy.

Film tells about Pietro, a gay man, coming to Rome to pursue an acting career after his father death. In Rome rents an apartment in an old house and works as a croissant baker at night. He's a lonely guy that is obsessed with a guy he met just once three years ago (when he sees him, scene is quite good) but the twist in this movie is that he has to share the apartment with some ghosts that are a theatre company from the 1940's that still don't realize they're dead. So what started as a good plot up to the moment he meets the guy he's obsessed with turns into a silly, mainstream bittersweet dramedy similar to many really cheesy films that populate Italian cinema.

As film became quite a box office success in Italy we have to imagine that Ozpetek will be prone to do more movies like this one, which is truly regrettable as he used to do extraordinary movies that explored human relationships in his very particular and outstanding way.

Can't recommend this movie and if you enjoyed Ozpetek movies in the past I suggest in the future to learn about movie before watching, which I highly dislike but will have to do if wish to continue watching his films.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @MOC