Word: samperi
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Dates: during 1969-1969
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GRAZIE ZIA is a flashy first film by young (25) Italian Film Maker Salyatore Samperi. His theme is moral and spiritual decadence, and his style is already accomplished, but the film is too repetitious and vague to be entirely satisfying...
GRAZIE ZIA is a flashy first film by young (25) Italian Film Maker Salvatore Samperi. His theme is moral and spiritual decadence and his style is already accomplished, but the film is too repetitious and vague to be entirely satisfying...
Charge on Wheels. Samperi's protagonist is a lunatic adolescent named Alvise (Lou Castel), who spends most of his time scooting about in a motorized wheelchair. Alvise, the doctors tell his father, shows no positive physical symptoms. Still, his parents airily dismiss the suggestion that the paralysis could be psychosomatic and leave on a business trip, entrusting Alvise to the care of his Aunt Lea (Lisa Gastoni). Zia Lea, a lithe beauty with raven hair and a creamy complexion, is vaguely dissatisfied with her lover of 15 years (Gabriele Ferzetti) and begins to take a more than consanguine interest...
Feeling for Movement. Like most young directors, Samperi owes much to others. Alvise's energetic forays in his wheelchair are photographed in a manner heavily reminiscent of Robert Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Like Roman Polanski, Samperi likes to use objects as characters (a necktie, a rifle, a vase), and his consuming interest in role playing and destruction through domination is almost pure Pinter. Unlike Pinter, however, Samperi fails to draw his characters in full proportion. Even if the viewer can accept Alvise's sadistic madness, he can never be sure just what...
First films hold a special fascination, however, and Grazie is a handsome accomplishment as an augury of things to come from Samperi. Although he dwells too long on Signora Gastoni's admirable legs and thighs, Samperi generally demonstrates a knowledge and feeling for camera movement that is far beyond his years. Even more important, he has attacked his subject with energy and wit-qualities that, throughout most of Grazie Zia, the viewer can easily appreciate...