I'm familiar with the work of Abel Ferrara, I watched most of his movies, even the infamous 'Driller Killer'. And I consider it a privélège I was able to see Tommaso, not on a fancy artsy fartsy bourgeois filmfestival like Cannes but during a screening on the Brussels International Film Festival.
Tommaso fits perfectly in Ferrara's ongoing struggle for redemption in a tumultuous and savage society. Although one could argue the work of any author, even when labeled as fictitious is always embedded in reality, Tommaso takes it to a near autobiographical level or at least this is the suggestion because of the main character and the setting. Willem Dafoe is Tommaso, a man living in Italy (like Ferrara), with a gorgeous younger wife (like Ferrara at the time), struggling with addiction (like Ferrara) and with a temper (like Ferrara).
Tommaso explores the anxiety of the main character: the fear to be abandoned, the craving to be loved, becoming of age and seeking the elixir of youth by hooking up with much younger women who at the same time he accuses to lack maturity. The main character is in constant turmoil struggling to accept that he himself is the source of his agony. The underlying theme thoughout the movie is the link to the way Buddhism analyses the human condition: the main character is suffering, not so much because of the actions of others, but the way he distorts reality and clamps on to illusion.
This is a complex, very personal and multilayered movie and requires an intelligent audience. The pace is slow building to a devastating finale. I would personally rank it amongst Ferrara's best work next to the 'The Bad Lieutenant' which I would easily rank in the top 50 best movies ever made.
Tommaso fits perfectly in Ferrara's ongoing struggle for redemption in a tumultuous and savage society. Although one could argue the work of any author, even when labeled as fictitious is always embedded in reality, Tommaso takes it to a near autobiographical level or at least this is the suggestion because of the main character and the setting. Willem Dafoe is Tommaso, a man living in Italy (like Ferrara), with a gorgeous younger wife (like Ferrara at the time), struggling with addiction (like Ferrara) and with a temper (like Ferrara).
Tommaso explores the anxiety of the main character: the fear to be abandoned, the craving to be loved, becoming of age and seeking the elixir of youth by hooking up with much younger women who at the same time he accuses to lack maturity. The main character is in constant turmoil struggling to accept that he himself is the source of his agony. The underlying theme thoughout the movie is the link to the way Buddhism analyses the human condition: the main character is suffering, not so much because of the actions of others, but the way he distorts reality and clamps on to illusion.
This is a complex, very personal and multilayered movie and requires an intelligent audience. The pace is slow building to a devastating finale. I would personally rank it amongst Ferrara's best work next to the 'The Bad Lieutenant' which I would easily rank in the top 50 best movies ever made.