Title: Last Summer

Director: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli

Starring: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick Van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Sofia Bach, Daniel Brady, Ken Brady.

The Rome Film Festival – which has had a precipitous downfall over the years – opens with a mediocre film.

‘Last Summer’ directed by Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli has a very simple and nerve-wracking plot: A Japanese mother is obliged to spend a few final days with her 4-year-old son, who’s been whisked away in a custody battle, though we never know why. The boy is initially aloof – also because he’s overprotected by the staff on board of the yacht – but eventually will open up to his mother.

The movie explores the tricky subject matter of motherhood. The images are beautifully shot, but the fact that the film’s entire plot is based on unexplained events never manages to fully engage the viewer. It’s a shame that the bestselling Japanese author – Banana Yoshimoto – was troubled to co-write a screenplay, that is drenched with calmness, and that after a while stirs annoyance.

Seràgnoli has directed a few well-received shorts, and he showcases a certain eye for beauty, capturing the vivid seascapes in crisply lit widescreen compositions. But he seems to neglect, or completely ignore, human behaviour and dramaturgy.

The actress that shone in ‘Pacific Rim’ and ‘Babel’ – Oscar-nominated Rinko Kikuchi – tries her best to give life to her underworked character, side by side with the cute debutante, Ken Brady.

‘Last Summer’ is a huge clash betwixt its beauteous imagery and its  disastrous narrative pace, along with the inexistent character analysis. The atmosphere created by the motion of the waves and the glaring sun is stupendously embraced by the gelid luxurious cage-yacht. But the complete lack of theatrical action makes this majestic cinematic ship sink.

Technical: B+

Acting: B

Story: C

Overall: B-

Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

lse

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, is a film critic, culture and foreign affairs reporter, screenwriter, film-maker and visual artist. She studied in a British school in Milan, graduated in Political Sciences, got her Masters in screenwriting and film production and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Chiara’s “Material Puns” use wordplay to weld the title of the painting with the materials placed on canvas, through an ironic reinterpretation of Pop-Art, Dadaism and Ready Made. She exhibited her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, London, Oxford, Paris and Manhattan. Chiara works as a reporter for online, print, radio and television and also as a film festival PR/publicist. As a bi-lingual journalist (English and Italian), who is also fluent in French and Spanish, she is a member of the Foreign Press Association in New York, the Women Film Critics Circle in New York, the Italian Association of Journalists in Milan and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean. Chiara is also a Professor of Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at IED University in Milan.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *