Auteur Michele Sordillo's second feature, Da qualche parte in città (Somewhere in the City), arrived in Venice in 1994 without a domestic or foreign distributor. But after an appearance in the Italian Panorama section, television web RAI picked up the film. Now Sordillo is back, and once again he comes without a distributor.
Acquario could be described as 'Milan Stories'. A small-scale triptych set in the city that tourists skip, it stars Da qualche parte in città's Ivano Marescotti and Carlina Torta, plus Maria Consagra (Il grande cocomer) and Lucia Vasini, whose impressive credits include Mazzacurati's Il toro and Ferreri's La casa del sorris.
In one story, Vasini plays Francesca, the wife of Marescotti's Luca. With their marriage apparently on the rocks due to incessant bickering, Luca looks set to take up an offer that a mysterious female admirer has left on his office answer machine. Another story stars Consagra as Caterina, a middle-aged woman who mysteriously leaves her job and becomes an assistant in a book shop. There she meets the owner's mother, a frail old lady who Caterina looks after.
Lastly, Carlina Torta plays Anna, a woman who lives alone and is obsessed with the minutiae of keeping her house, clothes and work in order. This is all thrown awry when she lets a friend of her brother stay at her apartment for a few days. Played by Paola Iovinella (I buchi neri, Libera), Simona makes Cujo look house-trained.
Like Sordillo's previous films, Acquario was produced by the director's own company, Arcadia. Shot in Milan last winter, this US$130,000 production was funded solely by the director/producer/writer himself. As Sordillo's publicity officer Moira Miele puts it: He is a very brave man.
Adam Minns
Prod co: Arcadia
Prod/dir/scr: Michele Sordillo
Ph: Luciano Baresi
Prod des: Elisabetta Gabbioneta
Costume: Donatella Cianchetti
Mus: Ludovico Einaudi
Ed: Gianni Lari
Cast: Ivano Marescotti, Carlina Torta, Maria Consagra, Lucia Vasini, Paola Iovinella
Running time: 75 mins
International sales: Arcadia
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