BAD TALES

Italy, 2020, 98 minutes, Colour.
Elio Germano, Barbara Chichiarelli, Gabriel Montesi, Max Malatesta, Lino Musella, Tommaso Di Cola.
Directed by Damiano D’Innocenzo?, Fabio D’Innocenzo?.

This is a story of ordinary people in an ordinary Italian town. It is also the story of the chaos in their lives – and it has no happy ending. Rather, it is the equivalent of “Enter the Void�. It may appeal to an Italian audience but audiences from other cultures may find it very trying even if there is some stimulation to reflection in some of the characters and situations.

The voice-over tells a story about a girl’s diary and in the voice-over man’s intention to finish it. He also tells us that he could have told an alternate story (and, perhaps, audiences might have preferred that). He says it is a mixture of truth and lies.

There is an odd range of characters which indicates the kind of daily chaos in which many people live – and some of the dire consequences. Two men are introduced, two brothers, having a meal with their families, one complaining that he is continually looking for work. Eventually we see that he has a daughter, rather morose, who swims in her uncle’s pool and develops head lice which means her hair has to be cut of and she wears wigs.

The other brother is ambitious, highly emotional, frequently angry at his children, a young boy and a young girl, who buys the pool for the backyard and makes it available to the citizens, he very proud of it. His brother goes for a swim, in a jealous rage, cuts the outside of the pool container and all the water gushes out.

There is also a single father, continually brash, with a son who generally does not say anything. However, they seem to have a good bond. The silent boy is attracted to the girl who has had her hair cut. Eventually, the father and son move to another town to stay with an uncle.

Other episodes include a teacher who gives classes on chemicals and their effectiveness which leads to the young boy building his own bomb at home, the school upset, the teacher fired, the parents angry. When there is any fuss, especially at the table when the young boy begins to choke, the little girl bursts into tears leading to the father weeping and then angrily abusing them.

In another episode, little boy is attracted to a girl in the neighbourhood, she having a look at the porn sites on her father’s phone, the two talking very frankly about sex, going off to have it in the countryside, the girl very complacent, the boy having all the talk but, after stripping, he runs away.

And, as if that were not enough, after the incident with the bomb, the parents discover that their young son and young daughter have killed themselves.

Enter the void.