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The Girl in the Fog

I went to the Paradiso in Northbridge with Merv to see La Ragazza nella Nebbia (or The Girl in the Fog), which is part of the Italian Film Festival. This was the first time I'd been to the Paradiso in about 12 years and I reckon it's still the best looking cinema in Perth. It appears to have been taken over by the Palace Cinema chain (as opposed to its old umbrella, Luna Palace cinemas) and joins the new Raine Square complex as the two Perth branches. One possibly ominous note - lots of wine glasses, not so many choc bombs. Mmmm, I'll have a glass of gentrification, thanks.

Anyway, the film. This is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Donato Carrisi. This geezer also went and wrote the screenplay AND directed the film. While this might work on the odd occasion - e.g. Tom Stoppard adapting and directing Rosencrantz and Guildenstren are Dead - it's usually a sleeveless errand. Carrisi may be a good thriller author but he needs to polish his directorial skills a tad. There were pacing issues and some odd decisions regarding mood and tension-building ('fog' is in the title but he makes precious little out of the actual stuff, save for a nice shot of the detective entering an old hotel). To give him his dues, it is only his first crack at directing. He'll likely improve.

More surprisingly though, considering Carrisi wrote the source text, he seems to have some narrative errors on his hands. The teacher (Alessio Boni) shows up at class not long after his wife mentions him losing his job. A quiet street issue turns out to be irrelevant when a flashback contradicts the point detective Vogel (Tony Servillo) tries to make. And are we to believe a police officer caught with dodgy evidence proves the same officer planted other evidence, thus totally exonerating the prime suspect? Long bows are drawn in this film. And we haven't even got to the face-slapping final 'reveal', which isn't only nailed on from the start but also as unsatisfying as the film overall.

While I thought the angle of using the media as a way to manipulate the public and the police hierarchy was neat, this wasn't enough to save the film. One of the major flaws is the lack of a sympathetic character to identify with. Everyone is some sort of twat, whether they're pro- or an-tagonists. The women are written as religious nutters, useless cops or victims; and the flashbacks of the crime are on the leering side of tastelessness.

All in all, a vanity project that didn't work. Fancy that, eh.

See also:

David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014) for a much better expose of the rubber-necking of the great unwashed and Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah (2008), a top-notch Italian film adaptation of a novel NOT directed by its author (but starring Toni Servillo).

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