Vermiglio (2024)
As I am currently doing WW2 films apparently, this sounded interesting with a setting that isn’t directly involved in the war, but happens on the fringe of it as the war is about to end and how it influences events in a small mountain village in Italy.
This film has been praised for how the beautiful nature is an integral part of the film and that is hard to deny, and that element works to the films advantage. It is slow and poetic which sets a melancholic mood. However, I was more or less waiting the entire film for it to show what it wanted to do with that. I never really found something to latch onto. Which is a narrative form that can work, as the various rather tragic events of failed marriages and child deaths serves to portray this family well. I just thought it lacked some emotional weight for me to be properly invested. I did find the character of Cesare, the patriarch of the family and the stern teacher in town, to be interesting. He was a bit of a mystery with what internal struggles he had, what his ambitions for the family was and how he dealt with the aftermath of the war. These elements just never elevated enough in my opinion, with too many blanks to fill in.
Rating: 2.5