Alessandro D'Alatri is one of the most interesting Italian directors around. He comes from the world of publicity but that is not enough to explain his lavish visual dexterity. His talent is as real as the subjects he touches. I fell in love with "Senza Pelle" (Without Skin) a D'Altri film of a few years ago. In that one he had the workings of an impossible triangle in the hands of three superb actors, Anna Galiena, Kim Rossi Stuart and Massimo Ghini, the rhythms and the revelations were fast and furious, lyrical and true, most of anything that, true. You felt it with every fiber of your body. In "La Febbre" his hand is still the hand of a passionate master but the story revolves mainly around one character, played by Fabio Volo. He is certainly effective, with a lovely, childish face and a melancholic smile, he has been wonderfully directed but doesn't have the depth or the range of a Rossi Stuart. His scenes are beautifully played but they work individually, not as a whole. The character through the actor seems to have forgotten what it came before. It doesn't grow and develop during the length and breath of the film, but in short or semi short scenes. I like the actor very much but the film with a great actor could have become, transcendental. The young Sordi, even a foreigner like Edward Norton could have given the part what clearly were D'Alatri's intentions. I don't want to bring this marvelous film down. It is one of the best Italian films I've seen in a long time. There's something here that we've never seen before, truly new. There is also something borrowed, the "once Italian, always Italian" syndrome and as a consequence something blue. A melancholic look backwards with the sights set, hopefully, forward.
