Futura

Three directors paint a portrait of Italy today as seen through the eyes of its youth.

Quite unexpectedly, this new documentary from Italy draws directly on the example of a film made there in 1964. I know that only because Mubi recently celebrated the centenary of the birth of Pasolini by showing a group of his works including that very film, Love Meetings (Comizi d’amore). To create that social document Pasolini travelled around Italy talking to ordinary people of all ages about their lives and their attitudes to the society of the day. Seen in 2022, that film had become a fascinating time capsule whereas Futura, filmed between 2019 and 2021, can only function for now as a mirror to our own time. There is also the difference that those interviewed in Futura are all between the ages of fifteen and twenty. Even so, at one point Love Meetings is mentioned by name and it would appear that brief black-and-white clips incorporated are from social documentaries of the past made for television by the likes of Luigi Comencini and Mario Soldati.

Pasolini chose to travel as far north as Milan and as far south as Palermo and Futura does exactly the same. It is a collective work by three filmmakers, the best known being Alice Rohrwacher and her colleagues being Pietro Marcello known to us for Martin Eden (2019) and Francesco Munzi whose Black Souls achieved a limited UK release in 2015. However, the collaboration here is such that you would never know that more than one director was involved and, despite some voice-over comments, the screen is given over entirely to the interviewees.

How worthwhile you regard Futura as being will depend on two things: whether or not you find a series of views on life interesting enough to sustain a film lasting 108 minutes and whether or not you feel that the comments heard should have been better shaped in the editing. The latter would have happened if an attempt had been made to contrast attitudes in different parts of Italy (between, say, north and south or between rural and urban) or if different outlooks on a particular issue had been brought together in a meaningful way. Instead of doing that, however, Futura seems content to go with what can be thought of as a collection of impressions in which individuals are asked such questions as ‘What do you think of adults?’ or express their thoughts about what they are expecting from life given present-day conditions. Surprisingly, despite many of the youngsters coming over as serious-minded, the issue of climate change is hardly touched on although such matters as Italy's devotion to soccer and the country’s limited work opportunities feature prominently.

Late on there's a sequence inserted that breaks the mode by showing footage of violence against G8 protesters in Genoa in 2008. But for the most part this is a film in which the focus is on talking heads. The young people are ably photographed in colour by Ilyả Sapetia but the images have none of the indelible impact found in the black and white footage of faces in Love Meetings. Constantly on the move, it can be said of Futura that in all senses it covers a lot of ground, but had it concentrated on fewer individuals or handled themes in groups it would have added up to something more valuable. Nevertheless, in years to come the film may increasingly be seen as a meaningful social and historical document.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Featuring  inhabitants of Italy.

Dir Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi and Alice Rohrwacher, Screenplay Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi and Alice Rohrwacher, from an idea with Stefano Laffi, Ph Ilyà Sapetia, Ed Aline Hervé, Music Marco Messina and Sacha Ricci.

Avventurosa/Rai Cinema-Modern Films.
108 mins. Italy. 2021. UK Rel: 8 July 2022. Cert. 12A.