91% The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte)

3.5 Stars out of 4 Every shot in Le Quattro Volte is so pure, natural, and picturesque that it deserves its own little museum in Calabria, Italy - the location of Le Quattro Volte. It's a film without dialogue, is slow-moving, and - from a mainstream perspective - is totally absurd. But it doesn't overstay its welcome, gliding gracefully along at barely 88 minutes. It's a piece that "watches", conveying power and feeling through its images and minute sounds, which would only be a caveat for a person first in line to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon next week. Expect lots of goats, elderly shepherds, and lush countrysides and not of course in that order. The film was directed by Milan-born Michelangelo Frammartino, who tells Le Quattro Volte through a series of images that are not self-indulgent because this director wants to involve its audience in the action, which are small details moving gently in the background. It is erroneous to compare or dismiss Le Quattro Volte as a "silent film." Silent cinema was without dialogue, yes, but it had music and eventually sound effects that were added in the studio. Here the sound emanates from in-the-scene (what film geeks call "diegetic") in attempt to characterize its surroundings as they are. No music is inserted to artificially persuade our emotions, and Le Quattro Volte is a naturalistic exercise at uncovering sensations that could only be reached through the cry of a goat or the crack of wood from an ax. Is there a point of view? Well, it could be a) hypothetically outtakes or raw footage for a documentary or b) the eye of an omniscient tourist. My father, who watched this movie with me, explained how the long shots displayed the contemplative eye of himself, when he was in Italy with my mother. You could agree with him. The film is very observant, examining situations in a village that are simply situations, and are not always eventful. The point is the movement, the relation of things to others and the sounds they make. But I think the most suitable argument is that there is no point of view. Frammartino has captured an aimless existence, one that goes about its day and falls asleep when day turns night. His camera is mostly static (a la Michael Haneke, glacial yet beautiful) and switches from shot to shot with dynamic not spontaneity. Particular shots are repeated later, but different action occurs on screen, creating something not monotonous but a statement that it is not the camera that evokes, but the minute changes within the image - the moving background. Le Quattro Volte is shot in natural light, and the shots Frammartino discovers are at least worth half-a-star. It comes to no surprise he studied architecture at Milan Polytechnic School because the imagery is truly unbelievable. Some shots are dressed in faint shadows that drape over goats, a fantastic perspective long shot of a tree standing in the middle of a town as it seems to dangle even higher than the mountains in the far background, an amazing pan shot capturing the oscillating movements of a dog to and from the village, or a subtly genius closeup of a dying shepherd whose face - in its decay - is bothered by a fly. Indeed there is a death in Le Quattro Volte, but no pathos is delivered. Immediately following a goat gives birth rejuvenating the circle of life. That moment was beautiful, and I quickly remembered when I visited a farm when I was younger. It was a new, uplifting experience as I bonded with the horses, fed them everyday, and had the privilege of witnessing the birth of a foal. It was suspenseful but beautiful, as that birth was the beginning of a new, important life. Those were one of my many fond reactions to Le Quattro Volte. One reservation: to the extent Frammartino achieves a foreground to this movie is debatable. Great artists find ways to have beauty in the background, yes, but have a foreground that produces a deeper meaning. I believe Le Quattro Volte is about nothing, but it rarely foregrounds that nothingness. My reasoning here is so hard to explain I do not have the space to describe it. But to put it tersely the film is not as profound as it could have been. Now this is the part of my review where you probably want to ask me: Parker, you've explained the film but what is the point of it? First of all, this is a silly question because every week we get sequels and hackneyed romantic comedies that are usually made more for the cheques than the heart. But I'll answer this question because I feel there is an importance in doing so. The reason is pretty simple, reader. Le Quattro Volte is a film - one of a kind - that describes the powerful and strange relationship between the sight and sound of film. It embodies the purity, untouched form of cinema and how this art can evoke reactions from even the tiniest of movements. Yes there is no manufactured "emotion" but there is such a scene when a poor baby goat loses its way from the herd. For every frame my heart went out to it.

June 26, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_four_times/

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