herjoch Review of After Midnight

After Midnight (2004)

Real life has to take place in reality,but movies can help!

[9/10 · 13 May 2007]

Very seldom Italian movies find their way on to German screens,so I was delighted to find this little gem,moreover in the original Italian,which gives it a special flavor."In the past films were more about places than about characters"- so tells the narrator near the films beginning.According to that, one of the main constituents is "La Mole" in Turine,at one time the highest building in Europe and now housing the film-museum of Italy.It's a magnificent building with spiral stairways and convoluted corridors and provides an adequate place for a story between reality and the world of cinema.The story is about a love-triangle reminiscent of the french "Nouvelle Vague"-there are parallels to "Jules et Jim" and to"A bout de soufflé" concerning the female lead.It is told in a feathery way and in its love for the old-school poetic film-making reminded me of "The science of sleep".It is a tragicomical reflection about the necessity of storytelling and the immortality of cinema.Almost everyone left the well crowded cinema with a smile on his face.So if you enjoy a poetic,fairytale-like movie take the opportunity and watch it.