A Street in Palermo (2013)
Shut inside their cars, two women face off in a silent duel that is fought out in the intimate violence of their stares. A wholly female duel punctuated by the refusal to drink, eat and sleep; more obstinate than the sun of Palermo and more stubborn than the ferocity of the men who surround them. For, as in every duel, it is a question of life or death... It’s a Sunday afternoon. The sirocco is blowing pitilessly in Palermo when Rosa and Clara lose their way in the streets of the city and end up in a sort of alley: Via Castellana Bandiera. At the same moment, another car driven by Samira, crammed with members of the Calafiore family, arrives from the opposite direction and enters the same street.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Good concept, poorly executed.
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
I didn't find comedic aspects in it, just the tragedy of lack of communication, even if the two leading ladies (or I should say driving) find a connection in their stubbornness and solitude. The old lady only speaks to her teenage grandson, and only in Albanian. Her only smiles are towards him, the only person showing a human side. The choir of local women, getting inside the other woman's car to give her advice, remind of Greek tragedies ' choir, while the two women facing each other look like a Sergio Leone western. Emma Dante, who is even the director, resembles Mary Louise Parker, and I liked her more than Elena Cotta, who never left the car not even during the pauses in filming to become closer to her character. One of the most interesting things is they enlarged the street little by little during the movie.
From BIFF once again. Long time since I watched an Italian movie, so I thought I'd do it today. And boy was it a treat! A p!ssing contest, literally....An allegory of sorts about taking a stand, it depicts how 2 different individuals decide to dig in their heels and not yield or budge for the other. Some may think that this is also a function of how the other characters enable them both (?) while having their own agenda for how it all plays out, with almost each individual/group thinking they're in control and making their respective plays whenever things slip just a little, right until the very end. IMO, it was also a function of where in life each character was at the time each couldn't/wouldn't back down. A curious fact - one of the supporting characters in this one looked like a yesteryear baddie from 2 of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns - For a few dollars more and A fistful of dollars, and I confess it was nice to see that, and note the resemblance, and make my own assumptions about how that character's arc was gonna play out. A side note, but unique for me, and I hope, for a few others as well.And the end. Debate on who you think yielded. Or didn't. :-).The one thing that may have been slightly off-putting or confusing to some (not the very end, which I've tried to address later) but not to me, is a little presumptive (?) supernatural or pseudo- supernatural goings-on that color everything else differently when viewed in that context. Almost used, IMO, like the proverbial red herring. Also, there's a segment right at the end that sharply divided audiences but I perceived it as an allegory (there's that word again) for our experience of the entire flick, on onlookers, plus of our tendency as human beings to always want to rubber neck when there's something that afflicts someone else. Sharp comment, that! All in all, a damn good time at the movies.