LE OTTO MONTAGNE

The true standout of the picture is the poetic mood that director of photography Ruben Impens manages to give the images. They transcend easy sentimentalism or natural beauty.

I've never been a huge fan of Felix Van Groeningen's movies, that for my taste never find the right balance between realism and sentimentality. With Le Otto Montagne, which Van Groeningen co-directed with his wife Charlotte Vandermeersch, the balance luckily is a lot better, resulting in a film that - despite a few considerable flaws - is a quite enjoyable experience.

The story itself isn't the picture's forte, as the decade-spanning friendship between two Italians offers too little character evolution to sustain a nearly 2.5-hour movie. The directors fare better in individual scenes throughout Le Otto Montagne that often wordlessly reveal a deep bond between the two leads, even if they drift further apart as the years go by.

But the true standout of the picture is the poetic mood that director of photography Ruben Impens manages to give the images. They transcend easy sentimentalism or natural beauty and get to the core of Le Otto Montagne's theme: the fickle nature of man's bond to both their environment and to other human beings.

release: 2022

director: Felix Van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch

starring: Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Lupo Barbiero, Cristiano Sassella