Three films screening at the
Venice Film Festival on Friday spanned the globe and the range
of human experience.
From southern Italy with Black Souls, a story about the
Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia, to Florida and the subprime
mortgage crisis in 99 Homes, to northern Europe with In the
Basement, a documentary about Austrians and the way they use
their basements.
In Black Souls, director Francesco Munzi tells the story of
three brothers born into a Calabrian mafia family. Youngest
sibling Luigi represents the pop-culture image of a mafioso as a
hard-charging international drug trafficker.
The middle brother, Rocco, reflects the interplay between
southern and northern Italy, for he moves in Milan, where he
goes into business, acquires a socialite wife and preserves his
mob ties.
The oldest of the three, Luciano, has opted to stay behind
and tend to the family goats. The contrast between him and his
20-year-old son Leo, who sees his father as a weakling, is a
microcosm of the family and regional tensions that exist within
the 'Ndrangheta itself.
Black Souls is one of only three Italian films vying for
Venice's Golden Lion, among 20 total contenders for the top
prize.
Also on Friday, 99 Homes by director Ramin Bahrani brings
the subprime mortgage crisis to the screen with the stories of
families who are given two minutes to vacate their homes when
faced with forced evictions for not having kept up with their
mortgage payments.
In the Basement (Im Keller) by Austrian director Ulrich
Seidl seeks to render what the director calls "the passion that
Austrians have for their basements".
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