La Chimera – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 3, 2025: Team #MOTW’s Favorite MOTWs of 2024

December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 Jennifer Merin babes, betsy bozdech, Black Box Diaries, Cate Marquis, Frida, Ghostlight, jennifer merin, La Chimera, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, mointains, nell minow, Pam Grady, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, the Last Showgirl, the teachers's lounge, The Wasp, We Grown Now

Team #MOTW looks back at the films we featured during 2024 and highlights our favorites. There are many things about 2024 that we want to forget, but these femme-helmed/femme centric films that brought inspiration, understanding, compassion, and respite replete with laughter are not among them — and they must not slip into oblivion. Their themes, topics and genres are diverse, and each one of them is a gem. Add them to your must watch list. Share the titles with friends. To find out more about each of the selected films, click on the highlighted titles for links to the full #MOTW coverage that was published on AWFJ.org on the day of their release. Enjoy all of them!

Reviews

LA CHIMERA – Review by Diane Carson

April 15, 2024April 15, 2024 Diane Carson Alice Rohrwacher, isabella rossellini, josh o'connor, La Chimera, Melbourne IFF 2023, Yile Tara Vianello

Italian director Alice Rohrwacher avoids cinematic clichés, forging a unique blend of complex characters in unusual circumstances and settings. She’s true to form in her latest film, La Chimera, Rohrwacher’s critical assessment of a band of tombaroli, grave robbers in an eccentric 1980s Tuscan community. The foreigner Arthur and his Italian colleagues propel the narrative with unanticipated twists and turns. Pushing us out of a relaxed comfort zone, Rohrwacher includes characters’ direct-address to the camera, singers and dancers presenting alternative perspectives, and magical realism interwoven with Italy’s signature cinematic neo-realism.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 29, 2024: LA CHIMERA

March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 Jennifer Merin Alice Rohrwacher, betsy bozdech, carol duarte, Cate Marquis, Hélène Louvart, isabella rossellini, jennifer merin, josh o'connor, La Chimera, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, neon rated, nikki fowler, Pam Grady, sandie angulo chen, tombaroli

Love and contentment are as elusive as an undisturbed Etruscan tomb in Alice Rohrwacher’s piquant dramedy La Chimera. As it tells the story of a merry group of Italian grave robbers — known as tombaroli — and the inscrutable Englishman who leads them to the caches of objects they happily sell to the highest bidder, the film examines the allure of pursuing something that always seems just beyond your grasp.

Festivals Reviews

LA CHIMERA (TIFF 2023) – Review by Rachel West

September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 Rachel West Alice Rohrwacher, Hélène Louvart, isabella rossellini, josh o'connor, La Chimera, TIFF 2023

Move over, Indiana Jones, there’s a new tomb-raiding archaeologist in town in Alice Rohrwacher’s madcap Italian tragi-comedy, La Chimera. Rohrwacher imbues the film with her unique style that feels loose and luxurious. Like the mythical chimera composed of incongruous body parts, the film is a gorgeous blend of style and substance. The story clips along with fast-motion sequences and silent film techniques which paint a truly original picture. Director of Photography Hélène Louvart plays with visuals and aspect ratios using 35mm, 16mm and Super 16 while editor Nelly Quettier brings further oddball energy to the the screen with jump cuts against a soundtrack of infectious Italian rock, folk, and electro-pop.

Festivals Reviews

LA CHIMERA (Melbourne IFF 2023) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 14, 2023October 15, 2023 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Alice Rohrwacher, isabella rossellini, josh o'connor, La Chimera, Melbourne IFF 2023, Yile Tara Vianello

Alice Rohrwacher is back, and the filmmaker who brought us The Wonders (2014) and Happy as Lazzaro (2018) returns with the highly anticipated Palme d’Or nominated (and Palme Dog winning) La Chimera. A generic melange of sped-up slapstick, heist film and romantic fantasy, the film stars Josh O’Connor as Arthur, an archaeologist turned graverobber who returns to the rural Italian home of his lost love Beniamina (Yile Tara Vianello) where he reconnects with her eccentric mother Flora (Isabella Rossellini) and his old tombaroli crew who entice him back into the business of raiding tombs to pilfer Etruscan antiquities. Through Flora he meets the quirky Italia (Carol Duarte), with whom he develops an unexpected connection.