By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Antonio Piazza | Fabio Grassadonia
Starring: Giuditta Perriera | Jacopo Menicagli | Luigi Lo Cascio | Mario Pupella | Redouane Behache | Saleh Bakr | Sara Serraiocco
Country: france, italy
Year: 2014
Running time: 110
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1971514/combined
Kyle says: “SALVO is a rather remarkable feature film debut by writers and directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (although they have a substantial chronology together as writers and script consultants) — a Mafia thriller that is both mainstream and innovative, simultaneously playing with audience expectations while satisfying them in unexpected ways. Dour Mafioso bodyguard and hit man Salvo (drop-dead gorgeous Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri) foils an assassination attempt, killing virtually everyone involved, hunting down the man who planned the hit, and becoming the caretaker of that man’s surviving blind sister Rita (Sara Serraiocco). As the police search for him, he must go into hiding while keeping Rita prisoner in an abandoned mine. Despite their initial enmity, a bond gradually forms between them, and he refuses his boss’s order to kill her, leading to a violent climax and lyrical aftermath.
“There are many felicitous and stylish aspects to the writing and direction of this film. We hear but do not see the life-and-death struggle resulting in Salvo’s killing of Rita’s brother. A surprise confrontation at the deserted mine between Salvo and his boss, who wants Rita dead, is a virtual homage to Sergio Leone and the spaghetti westerns, with dust blowing in all directions and the boss photographed looking for all the world like a villainous Klaus Kinski. The gun battle between Salvo and the hired killers is also unseen, registered solely by Rita’s reactions, as she gradually recovers partial sight, probably through shock. The badly wounded Salvo attempts to engineer Rita’s escape on a freighter, but she refuses and becomes his protector. The final scene plays out over an extended period of time, as the two sit side-by-side listening to the water and watching the changing lighting. SALVO is much more about seeing and hearing than killing, with gorgeous cinematography by Daniele Cipri and vivid sound by Guillaume Sciama.
“Directors Grassadonia and Piazza state that growing up in Sicily, they felt surrounded by people who pretended not to see and hear, because they would then have to take responsibility. SALVO posits moral blindness almost from the beginning: after the initial noisy traditional gun battle, the story and the film’s rhythms change. Salvo is essentially a silent samurai, who sees only after he must deal with the blind Rita. It is not accidental that the film reminds us of Jean-Pierre Melville and LE SAMOURAÏ (1967). Its dramatic tension issues from the idea of various notions of imprisonment and differing kinds of freedom. The major successful casting choice was to engage a non-Italian professional to play Salvo, and an Italian non-professional to play Rita. The 26th of 27 ND/NF screenings, SALVO was one of the closing day highlights, and one of the festival’s best. 4 cats
Seen Sunday, March 30, 2014, New Directors/New Films at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York”