VENICE 2020: Samp
VENICE 2020It is difficult to assess a film such as Flavia Mastrella and Antonio Rezza's Samp. A film clearly laboured with love and inventiveness, it took a nineteen-year journey from start to finish. Flamboyant and chaotic do not quite describe the approach of this remarkably unique feature through its simplistic and cheap design. Nevertheless, it is a feature that, in its inventiveness and allegorical mood of themes, feels not only hollow and uneventful but remarkably unengaging.
The passion is undeniably intoxicating, and Samp – just by its description – has a degree of exception to the rule regarding quintessential filmmaking. It would be inconceivable not to see the inventiveness and creative effort that both Mastrella and Rezza have put forward. The films aspect ratio, for one, at 2.35:1 is crafted with a cardboard cut out in front of the camera. Weapons are metal objects and sound is re-recorded in a similar vein to Spaghetti Westerns of Mark Jenkin's incredible cornish blast Bait.
The love and endearing nature to not only the technique of filmmaking but for the audience are clear as day. That said, putting the filmmaking prowess to one side, what is beneath that labour of love? The answer is not much. Clearly, the film has subtextual and on-the-nose discussions of fragile masculinity, Freudian theory and the hyper sexualisation of women. On paper, these themes sound incredible and, to a more considerable degree, work within Samp.
To the broader compelling extensive approach, the film ultimately falls a little flat. It is not that the themes are underwritten, per se, but due to the overarching performance of Antonio Rezza as the titular character, everything gets lost in his faux magnetism. Again, the inspiration from theatre is not only evident in the film but in Rezza's performance. It is bold, prominent and inescapable. Factors for theatre that may elevate the material but, in Samp, such factors overload and drown the experience.
Before long, it becomes a game of staying with Samp with warm regards due to its inventiveness or checking out due to the same pull. It will be a hit and miss experience for the majority of its viewers. The commendable technique of defying the run of the mill approach and imploring an organic strategy is one element; however, that will give Samp lengths and, due to that, deserves to be seen.
