An old-fashioned arthouse film that will summon memories of Antonioni, Tarkovsky, and Leviathan, Banat is the feature debut of Milanese writer-director Adriano Valerio. In the Italian seaside city of Bari, young agronomist Ivo is packing his belongings in reluctant anticipation of his impending move to Romania; unable to find work in Italy, he’s agreed to manage a remote farm there. When new tenant Clara arrives early, the two discover an immediate bond that carries over to the farm when she joins him after being fired from her job. Dwarfed in the frozen Eastern European landscape, the unlikely homesteaders must endure economic and emotional challenges.
Banat is a provocative character sketch that unfolds with a firm internal rhythm, intractable logic, and a dreamlike inevitability reminiscent of the European old masters. An unlikely high point is Clara’s climactic lip-synching of Rosanna Fratello’s 1982 Italian pop hit “Se T’Amo T’Amo.”—Eddie Cockrell
Directed by: Adriano Valerio
Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, 2015
85 minutes – film with English subtitles
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LOCATION
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
555 11th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004