2008 Woodie Awards
Movie Review: 'La Febbre'
'The Fever' fizzles, not sizzles
By: Erin Duley
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: Reviews
- Page 1 of 1
3 out of 5 stars
According to "La Febbre (The Fever)," life in Italy moves slowly. Men in their 30s live leisurely in their mothers' homes. People are hired for jobs four years after they apply for them and any project involving the Italian bureaucracy moves along at a snail's pace. Amore, however, is the exception to the rule.
Mario Bettini's (Fabio Volo) goal in the beginning of "La Febbre" is to open a dance club with his best buddies. When the city government offers him a job his dead father wanted him to have, Mario figures his new position will help him secure the permits and funding for the club. However, working for the Man starts to work Mario's patience once his boss literally puts him on the graveyard shift.
Going door-to-door asking for money from people who have relatives buried in the city's cemetery, Mario hates being yelled at all day, but feels too guilty to leave the job his father envisioned for him. However, in the midst of his anguish, he meets and falls for a lovely literature student/go-go dancer named Linda (Valeria Solarino) who helps him reshuffle his priorities before she leaves to study in America.
The dreamy cinematography of "La Febbre" in its depiction of the idyllic Italian town of Cremona is the film's strongest point. Although occasionally throwing in some needless computer animation, director Alessandro D'Alatri has served his dreamlike film well with beautifully shot sequences.
On the other hand, the storyline isn't so compelling from start to finish. Mario struggles with his own integrity and desires in the face of a dishonest governmental system - that much communicates. However, the means by which he comes to his final decision in the film are garbled in montage and cryptic, analogy-ridden conversations (which are confusing either by nature or just by translation). By the end, the temperature of "La Febbre" cools considerably, but the film as a whole offers an inviting warmth.
This film was part of the 2007 Italian Film Festival of St. Louis.
According to "La Febbre (The Fever)," life in Italy moves slowly. Men in their 30s live leisurely in their mothers' homes. People are hired for jobs four years after they apply for them and any project involving the Italian bureaucracy moves along at a snail's pace. Amore, however, is the exception to the rule.
Mario Bettini's (Fabio Volo) goal in the beginning of "La Febbre" is to open a dance club with his best buddies. When the city government offers him a job his dead father wanted him to have, Mario figures his new position will help him secure the permits and funding for the club. However, working for the Man starts to work Mario's patience once his boss literally puts him on the graveyard shift.
Going door-to-door asking for money from people who have relatives buried in the city's cemetery, Mario hates being yelled at all day, but feels too guilty to leave the job his father envisioned for him. However, in the midst of his anguish, he meets and falls for a lovely literature student/go-go dancer named Linda (Valeria Solarino) who helps him reshuffle his priorities before she leaves to study in America.
The dreamy cinematography of "La Febbre" in its depiction of the idyllic Italian town of Cremona is the film's strongest point. Although occasionally throwing in some needless computer animation, director Alessandro D'Alatri has served his dreamlike film well with beautifully shot sequences.
On the other hand, the storyline isn't so compelling from start to finish. Mario struggles with his own integrity and desires in the face of a dishonest governmental system - that much communicates. However, the means by which he comes to his final decision in the film are garbled in montage and cryptic, analogy-ridden conversations (which are confusing either by nature or just by translation). By the end, the temperature of "La Febbre" cools considerably, but the film as a whole offers an inviting warmth.
This film was part of the 2007 Italian Film Festival of St. Louis.
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