Treviso on the big screen. Stories of cities and landscapes

Instead, Antonio Padovan chooses to deviate, to shift his perspective, and with the affection for a city that can only be felt by those who have left far away only to return and decide to make their cinema by living there, he portrays it—even in its most famous and evocative corners—as a collection of places that are beautiful because they are lived in, from the intimacy of the home to the public spaces of Buranelli or Restera, to the instantly recognizable Edera cinema (for many, a second home!), with its accompanying (and wonderful) cameo by Lilli and Sandro. A mosaic of places that reinvents the real urban geometry to become not only the perfect setting for a beautiful contemporary story, but a key and indispensable element that accompanies the characters’ adventures and helps define their personalities (Come fratelli).

Treviso’s vocation for hosting film productions, utilizing magnificent views as well as lesser-known locations, inspired the filmmakers of the short film that accompanies the film (Cosa succede in città). Not just a backstage look, but a small gem of cinephilia, a tribute to a city capable of transforming itself into an open-air set and nourishing the gaze of the best Italian cinema of the last half century, from the Vincenzoni-Germi duo to Padovan, and even Paolo Sorrentino, who shot one of his greatest films (Le conseguene dell’amore) in Treviso twenty years ago.

The work of Belluno-born director Francesco Sossai is based on the harmony between places and states of mind. With his second feature film—his first, however, to enjoy adequate production and distribution—he depicts, in an original, realistic, and yet nonjudgmental way, the Veneto plain we know so well, a land of disorientation due to the standardization of the landscape and the resulting loss of all reference points, where the protagonists spend their nights and their friendship constantly moving for that one drink that is never truly their last. The irresistible and unlikely trio, consisting of the penniless couple Doriano and Carlobianchi, joined by the shy and unconvinced Giulio, wander aimlessly through the worn landscapes and ruins of the mythical northeast, in a land that has failed to keep its promises and has relegated nonconformist characters to the margins. Little happens, but Sossai’s gaze on places and people, a gaze described by “Le Figaro” as “tender and exhilarating,” is masterful in evoking, through a minimal story, which at times is even surreal, an entire imaginary of faces, landscapes, words, music, houses, bars… that anyone who lives in, or even just frequents, this region, sooner or later, has certainly encountered (Le città di pianura).(SZ)