Director Andrea Segre is it.
He’s the new wave, the future of Italian cinema and he represents what can and will be done with the Italian film industry with his new film La Prima Neve, starring Giuseppe Battiston, Anita Caprioli, Roberto Citran, Jean-Christophe Folly, Matteo Marchel, Peter Mitterrutzner, and Paolo Pierobon.
It’s a story about a refugee, Dani, played by Jean-Chrisophe Folly, but Segre’s not on any soap box with this immigration story. Something tragic has happened to Dani, but we aren’t sure at first what it is. And when he goes to work for a woman played by Caprioli, and her family at their remote Alpine home we know that something bad has happened to them, too.
Through the telling of a story, the progression of compelling, emotional, and authentically told events,(Was that so hard? Try it, screenwriters, you might like it.) we find out the sad things in their lives. Too many of the older Italian directors don’t trust the audience enough; they seem to feel that we won’t get the point unless we are manipulated or hit over the head with the point they want to make.
Tragic and yet hopeful, this immigrant’s story is even better than Segre’s last one, the award winning Io Sono Li, about Chinese indentured servant Li. It’s a very human story, and shows us how alike we all our, no matter where we came from, and how we can help each other through difficult circumstances.
The cast is very strong, all of them, and the kid, Michele, played by Matteo Marchel is amazing. The anger he feels and the depression he’s obviously going through is neither over-acted nor over-played. Where did this child get such a delicate touch for acting?
Segre is a filmmaker that would and should be appreciated world-wide. This is a very exportable film.
I Love Italian Everything 