Re Granchio

A group of elderly Italian men sit round a table and recount an old tale of a man named Luciano a century ago. Luciano resembles a young unshaved Donald Sutherland, who stumbles around a village permanently drunk. He's an anti-hero in this tale that is more of an urban myth than a conventional story.

The landscape and buildings are stunningly captured by cinematographer Simone D'Arcangelo, and it's possibly the most beautifully shot film of the year.

The film has echoes of Lucrecia Martel's 'Zama, Herzog's 'Aguirre' and even Leone's masterworks. Slow in places, but never anything short of captivating in terms of frame composition, it meanders into a lovely dreamlike climax. Italian cinema at it's finest.

8.3/10.