>>REVIEW
GOLDEN DOOR
STARRING Charlotte Gainsbourg and Vincenzo Amato
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Emanuele Crialese
Opens Friday, July 20
The Plaza Theatre
Whether through movies, music or simply mental fantasy, the power of escapism is undeniable. In director-writer Emanuele Crialese’s Golden Door, Italian immigrants on their way to America imagine a New World where carrots are the size of canoes and the rivers flow with milk. This may sound strange on paper, but much like Terry Gilliam’s classic Brazil or actress Charlotte Gainsbourg’s previous film The Science of Sleep, the surreal sequences add to a film that is both aesthetically and emotionally striking.
Filmed at unusual angles and with swashes of muted colours, the two-hour, subtitled film follows the Mancuso family – poor, widowed Salvatore, his stubborn mother Fortunata, and his two sons Angelo and the deaf-mute Pietro – as they travel by boat to the promised land. Conditions onboard are predictably terrible, as the immigrants are crammed cattle-style, side-by-side in small beds, and subjected to the violent turbulence of the waves. Nonetheless, this sea strife seems like small potatoes in comparison to the Mancusos’ life in Sicily: underprivileged, underfed and on the rocks in two out of three senses of that term.
During the voyage, Salvatore (a solemn Vincenzo Amato) meets a mysterious redhead named Lucy Reed (Gainsbourg). At first he is simply mystified by the English speaking, seemingly wealthy Brit, especially when rumours circulate that she will spend a night with any man for money. However, once he speaks to the pale-skinned chanteuse, he discovers the true purpose of her travelling with the poor Italians, and the two come to an agreement. From there, all they must do is pass the examinations that await them at Ellis Island – though this proves more difficult than anyone had originally imagined.
While every actor in the film puts forth at least a serviceable performance, a few stand out as especially moving. Amato is excellent as the steadfast father in a quest to find a better home for his family, and Aurora Quattrocchi’s Fortunata is equally unwavering – though with an opposite intention. It is chanteuse Gainsbourg who makes Golden Door truly worth seeing though, with an acting style as subtle and nuanced as her latest album, 5:55 — effortlessly delivered dialogue, flowing movements and vibrant facial expressions, all with hints of her father’s sense of humour.
Golden Door may seem slow moving for some, but it is meant to epitomize the immense hardships these Italians endured in their own Grapes Of Wrath, and on that level it succeeds. It is a stylish and arresting film, in both the fantasy sequences and stark realities of the ship, and will work as escapism for open-minded audiences as well. |
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