Flamingos (2012)
Set during the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Flamingos tells the story of Alice, a nine year old girl who spends one last day in the park with her father. The story develops around the delicate and uneasy relationship between a lost father and a daughter on the verge of understanding the difficult dynamics of her family. Flamingos is a story about the loss of innocence and the moment when we realize we are fundamentally alone on our journey through life.
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Sadly Over-hyped
How sad is this?
Great Film overall
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
December 1989 and Paolo takes his daughter to the local park . Paolo's daughter sees some flamingos in an enclosure and asks why they stand on one leg This is an Italian short but somewhat unsatisfying . Francesca Coppola has shot a very beautiful for sure but you can't help feeling the stunning look to Italian cinema from the grandmasters like Visconti is a little bit too much of an influence . The pace is a little bit too languid and laid back for my liking . I suppose this is done to let the audience read the facial expressions on the characters faces and guess what's going on inside their minds . Another aspect is that the television in the background gives details of the fall of the Berlin wall but this historical event had me thinking it would tie in with the story but just leads to a dead end .Not to be entirely negative the Italians are well known for their family bonds When asked about flamingos standing on one leg Paolo explains with a guilty look on his face . it's a defence mechanism so when they're attacked by predators they can escape because standing on one leg is advantageous to a flamingos blood flow and while learning this trivial fact it also sets up the ending and Paolo's obvious guilt sets up the subtext of the title . There's two ways this could go and thankfully it isn't the predator part that ties in with the end of the movie but it's a no less sad ending for all those involved
I saw this film as I Fenicotteri, which I guess is its original title rather than the one listed here but either way this title comes from the birds that the father and his daughter go to see as part of their day out together. The birds in particular stand on one leg, we are told, to keep the muscles tight and prepared for instant flight as a protection method; later the father appears distracted, flirts a little in front of other women and speaks with his daughter of going to London together. Meanwhile at home a new baby is on the way but the mood doesn't feel right.Although this short film is a little obvious, it is still pleasing in how it stays with the daughter and thus keeps the viewer there. We feel her dawning understanding of something not being right with her father and her worry that the norm will come to an end. This sense is nicely delivered because it occurs within a nostalgic piece that is well shot but yet shot through with this feeling. It is a shame that the film does have to be quite so obvious with it at times (particularly the discussion of the flamingos leg) but it is not too bad and mostly it is pleasing that the little signs are there.Worth seeing because it is delicate and sensitive, even if in the cold light of day some of it is not as smart as it wants to be.