A patient, formally daring work — the cinematography lingers on empty rooms longer than most audiences will tolerate, but those who stay are rewarded with the most haunting final act of the year.
Non c'è nessuna Dark Side (atto uno 2007-2019)
The maker writes of Non c'è nessuna Dark Side: "I could never say it's a film of mine (maybe not even a film); it's a space of chaos torn from the duration, from our being here to our fear of oblivion." Erik Negro's project started in 2007 as a kind of machine to stop time. What the machine has produced are unstable fragments as the interim phase of a historical and personal process of solidification. Out of the chaos of existence, this UFO has emerged, twelve years later. During this period, cinema and music offered some footholds for a boy from the Italian provinces who had just finished secondary school and was open to life (which among other things regularly brought him to the Rotterdam and Berlin film festivals). The footage was shot (and edited) a long time ago now, back when the film still had a form fixed in advance – over the years, this has been lost.
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Critics & Reviews
3 featuredI walked in expecting another genre exercise and walked out feeling like I'd been eavesdropping on a confession. The lead performance is genuinely singular — a career-defining turn.
A few too many scenes feel borrowed from a better film, but the soundtrack and the production design carry the rest. Solid recommendation for fans of slow-burn European thrillers.