February 8th: TALE OF TALES (Matteo Garrone, 2015)

Director Matteo Garrone was born and raised in Rome, his first short film winning a national competition and led to his first feature in 1996. His international breakout came in 2008 with Gomorrah, a bleak look at organized crime in Southern Italy. It won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Film and Director at both the European Film Awards and Italy's David di Donatello Awards. His black comedy follow-up Reality repeated the same prize at Cannes.

Garrone decided to make a bold left turn with his next film, delving not only into the past but into the world of fantasy. He opted to adapt the dark fairy tales of 17th century Italian writer Giambattista Basile (credited with publishing the earliest versions of Cinderella and Rapunzel), an influence on the Brothers Grimm.

With three co-writers collaborating, Garrone and his team chose a handful of stories from Basile to adapt, eventually narrowing it down to three that had feminine protagonists. While not originally connected, they managed to interweave the stories as part of a large canvas. Garrone felt the recurring themes of vanity and obsession were timeless and still applicable today.

Used to working with amateurs or non-actors, Garrone sought out an international cast and chose to make this his first English-language film: Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, French actor Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), British actor Toby Jones (Infamous), Shirley Henderson and Jessie Cave (both from the Harry Potter series).

The film was shot on location all over Italy including Naples, Sicily, and the Tuscany region. No effort was made to approximate reality, with the production design going for a classic artifice with the real-life places. Behind the camera was veteran cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, known most for his work with director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers).

Stylistic influences came from figures as varied as Fellini, horror master Mario Bava, and painter Francisco Goya. Garrone makes an about-face from his usual handheld, vérité style for more baroque visuals and painterly compositions. The musical score was composed by Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel).

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and went on to win 8 Donatello awards including those for Direction, Cinematography, Costume and Production Design.

Running time is 2 hrs, 15 min.