Boy Actor:
Andrea RefutoA couple of reviews I found:
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The Impure Glance
Glance tries too hard for meaning
By LIZ BRAUN -- Toronto Sun
You know you're in pseud-land when the celluloid disintegrates at the end of a movie, and so it is with The Impure Glance, a first feature from Giuseppe Rocca.
Set in Naples in the early '50s, The Impure Glance is the story of a little boy and his relationship with his family's young maid. And the world around him, etc.
It is Christmas, 1954. Everything in the movie is told from the little boy's point of view. You can imagine how this figures in such images as live eels being cut up for the fish stew.
The child loves the maid, who treats him almost as an equal. Here, though, is the maid's loutish boyfriend. What will the child do about him? And when will the child's father come home? And who does mommy love most? Oh, dearie me.
What is beautiful about The Impure Glance is the way the film captures the world as a child would see it. What's less attractive is the psychological reference made visual, and all over the place.
By the third extreme close-up of the eyes of the little boy whose point of view informs the tale, it's impossible to ignore the more pretentious aspects of the picture. And that's too bad, because The Impure Glance has some interesting performances and several sequences -- most involving children and their teachers -- that are lovely.
For the most part, however, the pretty pictures don't fit together, and the pace of the goings-on is painfully slow.
How this movie comes to be called The Impure Glance remains a mystery to us. The Italian title is Lontano In Fondo Agli Occhi, which translates Pictures Deep In One's Eyes (more or less). How does that become An Impure Glance? Just wondering.
The Impure Glance, which has won awards at several film festivals, is in Italian with English subtitles.
(This film is rated AA)
THE IMPURE GLANCE
Starring Andrea Refuto, Mariagrazia Galasso. Written and directed by Giuseppe Rocca. (STC) 93 min. Opens May 17.
Any poor soul who bears the scars of a Catholic education will savour this pretentious but often delightfully deranged feature debut by Italian writer-director Giuseppe Rocca. Set at Christmas time, 1954 in Naples, The Impure Glance is the story of an unnamed boy (Andrea Refuto) who has a very vivid imagination. Since his father is away on business, the child's fantasies are fuelled by his interactions with the women of his world. Sister Agnella (Marina Confalone), his favourite nun at school, warns him of witches and of the Antichrist's imminent arrival on Earth, while the child's elderly aunt tells him not to look too deeply into mirrors because that is where the Devil hides.
Corporeal matters become as influential as spiritual ones when the child becomes obsessed with the family's maid, Rafilina (Mariagrazia Galasso), an impulsive girl who is carrying on an affair with Carmine Russo (Antonio Pennarella), a denizen of the local pool hall. Then there are his Oedipal curiosities about his pregnant mother (Giusi Saija), who often appears to him in dreams, as do a fretful angel and Christ himself. And, oh yeah, there's supposed to be the ghost of a child dressed as a monk in the attic, where Rafilina and Carmine have their assignations. Is it any wonder that the child is always bugging out like some hippie in a Roger Corman movie?
The film's original title, Lontano in fondo agli occhi (Pictures Deep in One's Eyes), gives a better indication of Rossa's penchant for poetic flights of fancy. While the director does poor work of aping the classics of Italian neo-realism, he excels with the more fevered and fantastic elements. Just because Rossa takes this overripe tale seriously doesn't mean you need to. JASON ANDERSON
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Impure Glance, The (2000) (Read 2,627 times)
