It's hard to watch "Respiro," until you slow down with it and allow it to wash over you like warm sun. As with many of its Italian brethren, this film is "ravishingly gorgeous to watch," in the words of Bob Mondello.
Mondello, the National Public Radio movie critic, came to Salt Lake City this week to give "Respiro" its national premiere at Brewvies Cinema Pub, as a fund-raiser for KUER-FM 90. The film, directed by Emanuele Crialese and starring Valeria Golino, will be released next month.
As a prelude, he showed clips from an array of other Italian classics, from Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" (1960) to Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso" (1988). Even after nearly 20 years as a film critic who sees about 200 movies a year, Mondello is still deeply in love with cinema. Just listening to him refreshes your interest in movies.
During the KUER event, Mondello sang the praises of other Italian directors, from Franco Zeffirelli to Gianni Amelio, the latter being a lesser-known filmmaker whose works "Open Doors" and "Stolen Children" are on Mondello's must-rent list.
He said little about "Respiro," since he wanted the audience to see it with their eyes, minds and hearts wide open. That's only doing justice to a movie set on the island of Lampedusa, west of Sicily. It's an intoxicating place where the water is so deep blue-green that it makes your throat catch.
The movie's metaphors are as wide and luscious as the Mediterranean, so you needn't labor over the subtitles. If you couldn't read the English or comprehend the Italian, you'd understand the story. It's a portrayal of Grazia, the quintessential fish-out-of-water in her village. Grazia feels free when she's floating in the shimmering sea; on land, almost everyone tries to get her to behave in a socially acceptable fashion. Her emotions are too big for the town, however. The only family member who seems capable of returning her unconditional love is her teenage son, Pasquale.
"She's a misfit, and the town is trying to make the misfit fit," Mondello said. When she runs off, neighbors go out to the edges of mossy cliffs to look for her, but, of course, they can't quite reach her. She throws a fishnet over herself, bridal veil- and trainlike, in one attempt to play with her fisherman husband. Later, her need for liberation from village rules floods the screen as a stream of dogs that have been confined in a cellar.
Mondello did muse a little bit about the way "Respiro" differs from your run-of-the-mill American flick. He said he'd just watched a good one, "Antwone Fisher," on the plane flying out here from Washington, D.C. "It was all close-ups," he said. "It could have been on TV."
"Respiro," by contrast, "steps back," giving you perspective on the community surrounding Grazia: her house full of husband and three children, the village streets full of gossips, and the beach, the cliffs and the ocean far below. We see the woman both as part of the community and apart from it. Pasquale, too, moves as a member of his family and one of the boys who run wild on the beach. In one sequence, you see him walking past a row of villagers on the sand, utterly alone.
The movie unfolds slowly, with long shots and wide angles giving you time to slide into the story. There are no fast cuts to beat you about the head and shoulders. It's daily life in a Mediterranean island town.
That's not necessarily easy for those of us who've grown used to movies at "Chicago" speed. The thing to do throughout this film is follow the meaning of the title, "Respiro": breathe.
E-MAIL: durbani@desnews.com