Villetta con Ospiti (Guests in the Villa)
VILLETTA CON OSPITI (GUESTS IN THE VILLA) - ACADEMY TWO
Overwhelming critical praise and the commercial success of 2019 features like Parasite, Joker, and Knives Out has supported class disparity films’ newfound surge in popularity within the mainstream consciousness. What was once considered an overdone trope-filled genre, with hyper-emotional speeches and blatant unsubtle subtext, finally seems to have evolved. Its much-needed makeover has to supplant itself into public consciousness, no thanks with the help of real-life cases that reveal the little evolution, the society as a whole has achieved, in understanding their privileges. This makes films like these a necessary commodity to get messages of injustices across a wider mindset. However, this also makes this genre of filmmaking into a hot trend that everyone wants to profit from. If there is something vicious about such trends, it is that they slowly tend to collect more debris than diamonds. The first and – at the time of writing – most reeking piece is Ivano De Matteo's latest directorial venture Guest In The Villa.
To say that the film has no effort put into it would be harsh on this independent venture, because, if anything, the framing of certain shots is professionally executed, Massimiliano Gallo’s and Cristina Flutur’sacting does stand out as genuinely skillful, and newcomers like Monica Billiani and Ioan Tiberiu Dobricashow extreme potential for a fruitful career. If one is to be honest with the analysis and dissection of this film, however, in both creative and technical sectors, the respective efforts are sparsely effective in showing actual results.
The core fault lies in the writing, which fails to showcase its events as brutally realistic as it advocates; fate and irony play an important role here, and the showcase of differentiation is more fantastical than it needs to be. Such fantastical narrations of class disparity are acceptable in an Agatha Christie novel or even in a film like Knives Out, but for a story that tries to be a genuine social drama – showcasing the real cruelties that happen in the world on a daily basis – it is written in a more scandalous way than necessary. Instead of diving down into the core reasons and origins of such conflicts and prejudices, it revives old and hated tropes to create a product that induces more cringe than anger. When a film of this genre falls into such category it fails to successfully transfer its message through narration, and attract audience attention, which unfortunately makes any good element obsolete in a pile of bad decisions.
Someone who might want to detach a film's message, or its handling of messages, from a genuine experience of entertainment or artistic expression, would find the feature even less interesting than the audience who are intrigued by its social commentary. Moreover, the pacing of the film is slower than expected. The whole affair can be summarised in a 30-minute short film, and even then it would remain as disinteresting as ever, if only, half as boring. Anyone expecting the extra tacked-on hour is used to provide some depth to its characters, philosophy, or even technical efforts, they are hoping in vain. The characters are as paper-thin as they can get, and any element that might at first appear to add to their personality only goes on to further their one-dimensionality. The philosophy, as discussed before is all over the place, in theory, practice and observation, making the greenlit of the idea even more baffling in retrospect. While the technical stuff like cinematography and framing by Maurizio Calvesi do have their blemishes, they eventually fail to provide any style or substance to this product, and seem to stop giving care by the end.
As mentioned before, these criticisms are in no shape or form a denial of its cast and crew's efforts. It is clear, though, that such efforts were executed with no knowledge or clear direction. Finally, ever-changing philosophy has something coherent and relevant to Guest In The Villa; it admits that efforts with no direction are worse than no effort at all, and Ivano De Matteo's film becomes an unfortunate showcase of that.