This morning, I woke up quite early as we had a “mountain of plastic waste in the house” issue. The boat collecting waste stops every single morning right in front of our appartement window. Which can be a plus as it allows you to run out still in your pyjamas, hand in your bin bags, and run right back to bed. The bad side of it is that our sidewalk is one permanent conversation as of 08:00 and that, on every second day, when glass is being collected, it is impossible not to notice it unless one uses proper earplugs.
This morning was “plastica” day, hence I had an early pyjamas run in order to free our home from that mountain of empty water bottles (damn, it’s been hot the whole past week).
Whilst doing so, I had this weird thought that Venice must be the only city in the world in which waste collectors make you feel as if you were worth less than the tiniest little piece of shit in the world. My “buongiorno” with a smile remained unanswered. My “dove metto la plastica?” (where do I put the plastic?) was answered by a silent finger (I’m apparently not even worth a look) pointing at a container. And my “buona giornata” was ignored with the most professional disdain ever.
Strangely, this put me in the greatest mood for the day as half an hour later I was still laughing at this whole situation and making my friend laugh at how Venice is the city where bin collectors became kings/queens and where we are considered as tiny little insignificant parasites. The context behind all this is, of course, not that laughable (let’s face it, mass tourism is slowly killing Venice) but this good morning laugh did us well.
Especially as the previous night screening ended up being way more challenging than expected. The synopsis of Almodovar’s movie was rather concise: something about two old friends (Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore) meeting again after some years and being brought closer because of a “tragedy” they face together.
Taking into consideration that the unspecified “tragedy” ends up (!!! spoiler alert for those who know me well) being exactly the one through which my family is currently going was not the most pleasant surprise for me. When the screening ended, I first started to mumble that a slightly more specific synopsis would have been appreciated. Then that maybe not, because I would have most probably chosen not to watch the movie. Then that actually that would have been a pitty as the movie was very good. Then I stopped talking and the tears just started pouring by themselves. Not exactly what I expected for myself in my little venitian paradise.
Fortunately the crisis only lasted for 3 minutes as, let’s put things straight, the movie is not overly dramatic and definitely not miserabilistic. It is above all about true friendship, it is (as always with Almodovar) beautifully staged with amazing colours, settings and everything around that you can think of, and it is supported by a fantastic cast of actresses. It is basically one of these little jewels that one is not given to see that often. Local news say that the standing ovation in the Sala Grande was 18mins long. My own prize barometer also sees it as a strong contender for one of the top lions.
The little Italian movie that followed (one of those, such as the previous one we saw, that would have never ended up in the official selection, was it not an Italian production) was pleasant to watch though absolutely not at the level of the masterpiece seen before.
Klara's cinema 