albamerlot Reviews

The Etruscan Smile (2018)

Warm and real

[8/10 · 8 February 2019]

Saw this at the Reel Canadian Film Festival in Fernie, BC in January 2019. (The screenplay is by Canadian director, Michael McGowan). The audience loved it.

The cinematography and set direction are superb, the acting is lovely and the pacing is great. The character development is complex and layered; the relationships really develop over time.

Suspend your disbelief a little of the why anyone from Scotland would travel to the US for medical treatment without a referral or a real diagnosis. The book that the story is based on is set in Italy, and has the protagonist move from rural Italy to Milan, which makes a lot more sense. To have had Rory move from Lewis to Glasgow or even London, or from rural USA to San Francisco, would have been an easier sell, but then there wouldn't have been the transatlatic appeal or all the wonderful notes from the Highlands of Scotland.

There's a few other plot holes you'll need to get over too, but this isn't meant to be a a serious study. It's a lovely warm romantic comedy-drama gem that will make you leave the theatre smiling and wanting to spend more time with the people you love.

Tulipani: Liefde, eer en een fiets (2017)

A fantastic foray into life, love and what drives us all around the world

[10/10 · 15 January 2018]

Gauke, a farmer from Holland, dreams of a better life. Following a timewarped bike ride across Europe, he literally lands in a tiny village that has the one trait he desires - no chance of flooding. A series of triumphs and tragedies follow in the most beautiful of settings and ultimately we discover that life is what we make it - raw, real, romantic and not always how we planned.

I am a little bit in love with this film, it is all the things I look for in a movie. An intriguing story, interestingly told. Gorgeous settings shown in their natural state. Characters that are just odd enough to inhabit your own memories of friends and relatives past, but fleshed-out enough to be believable. A lovely score, authentic costumes and splashes of colour. A wonderful, down-to-earth sense of humour that is sublime without being ridiculous and just a touch of whimsy and fantasy.

I am not a seeker of subtitled films, but I don't shy away from them either. The multiple perspectives serve to explain the story well, and the subtitles never become confusing or repetitive. This would be a great film to rid yourself of a fear of subtitles. Reminds me a lot of the 1991 film Mediterraneo.