Reviews

Pilar Fogliati is a brilliant actress and is able to show many of her facets in this fun yet thought provoking film about 4 types of women from different areas of Rome.

Yes these are 4 stereotypes but as it is often the case each of these stereotypes do bring with them ample amounts of truth.

The film is split in 4 parts where Pilar interprets the main character showcasing a vast range and is able to depict even subtle nuances which differentiate each character.

Hiding behind the comedic aspects social issues are tackled discretely but quite poignantly at the same time. It's a layered film that cannot but remind us of Carlo Verdone's earlier work, which is a great way to start a hopefully equally long and fruitful career for Pilar.

Beautiful setting of the Sicilian Island of Salina, interesting cast of actors from all over Europe. Classic story (could be Shakespearean or even from Ancient Greece). What could go wrong then? Well the dialogues and the random reactions and actions that the characters undertake during the whole film.

Perhaps the writer/director is trying to tackle with too many intertwining stories and ends up being unclear in all of them. Or perhaps a few key narrative pieces were lost during the editing and that's why lots of character arches don't make sense. Events that are totally new to us are suddenly a given, and our suspension of disbelief starts to fade away until we are just able to predict everything so clearly, and yet the film still remains unclear.

I really wanted to like this movie and it has a lot going for it on paper, but the final product is below par.

I was intrigued after watching the first instalment which was managed to convey the frenzied nightlife of New York albeit without a coherent story. Unfortunately Bizarre Again has an even less coherent story. The actors can only do what they can when the story (and the dialogues) jump from pillar to post and things happen for apparently no reason. The writer also wants to tackle two important and delicate themes but these remain out of focus and that is a shame. Pierre Prieur and Raquel Nave give the only convincing performances but I honestly think most actors would have found it difficult to give decent performances when hardly any of the events make sense. There are some beautiful shots of the landscape. Perhaps the photography and editing could have been used to better effect to tell the story, and less focus should have been placed in the incoherent dialogue. At least then this could have been classed as an "art movie" but the lack of dramaturgic structure is too sever for the movie to make any sense.

I heard they had stated a crowdfunding campaign to create this film and promised that fan could be involved, if this was the case then it would explain a lot. Although there is far less nudity than in the original Bizarre so I doubt fans would have voted for that.

My advice: if you have enjoyed Bizzarre, you may not enjoy this sequel.