Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno Timpano, some snails, a sheepdog and a herd of anarchic goats
Produced by Philippe Bober, Marta Donzelli, Elda Guidinetti, Gabriella Manfré, Susanne Marian & Gregorio Paonessa
Certification TBC
Runtime 88 minutes
Written and directed by Michelangelo Frammartino
Michelangelo Frammartino does not consider himself to be a traditional filmmaker and on the evidence of Le Quattro Volte he is, if nothing else, a good judge of what is traditional. For this is a film devoid of dialogue or even a protagonist – Frammartino’s intention was to make a film that didn’t focus on people or indeed any one thing in particular. In this he has succeeded so the question only remains as to whether it succeeds as a spectacle, as entertainment.
The answer to that, perhaps surprisingly, is yes. At the start of the film, the focus is mainly on a human being, in this case an old goatherd. His idiosyncratic ways are matched by those of his goats and their life spent together in a small village in Calabria, Italy, is largely uneventful. From the goats – via a very funny sequence involving the man’s sheep/goat dog – the action moves onto some sort of local tradition concerning a tree and from there to the creation of charcoal, loosely providing the four parts, or times of the year, of the film’s title.
Although not a fly on the wall documentary by any means – certain scenes are obviously carefully planned, set up and staged – there is a realism about the film which is hard to dispute and easy to be drawn in by. The lack of human focus means this is very much an observational piece, a feeling enhanced by the numerous lengthy static camera shots in which people and animals wander in and out of frame, with the goats particularly entertaining. Interestingly, the complete lack of explanatory dialogue or even voice over means that ordinarily mundane activities become strangely fascinating as the viewer is forced to fill in the blanks.
The non-linear structure – if anything the film is circular – of Le Quattro Volte, along with the lack of plot, conventional story arc, dialogue or characters, as well as the slow pace, means that this will never be a hit at the box office. But as a piece of arthouse cinema it works well and for the more adventurous film fans this is quiet but effective stuff.