Il capitale umano (2013) Reviews

• Well shot and well interpreted

  yris20022014-01-26

  I went to see this movie mainly because it was shot in surroundings I know very well (the surroundings of Varese, in the north of Italy)and was more curious than interested. In the end, I had to say I saw a good movie, with a good photography but also a convincing story, based on an American novel, but fit for a movie which lies between a thriller and a social portrait, showing some evils of contemporary Italy. The splitting of the story into four chapters, seen from the point of view of three characters, plus a final chapter, may not be that original but works effectively and keeps the viewer's attention alive for almost two hours. So, considering the mediocrity of Italian contemporary cinematography, it is a good product and I also appreciated the performances of the whole cast, with Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Fabrizio Gifuni at their best. In my country the movie was criticized for pointing the finger at the north of Italy as the source of contemporary decadence: on the whole, besides its ideological orientation, I found it more entertaining than socially committed or politically sided.

• Finding the truth behind a mistake.

  Reno-Rangan2014-09-11

  Lately I have been watching lots of movies from the book adaptation and here it comes another one. This time an English language novel transformed into an Italian movie. But what I heard is that a few changes were made to bring the Italian flavor. Well, what could I say more, if you know the director you will say he's the right person to make it happen and he did excellently. Recruited the best cast and extracted best out of them. The story of the two families narrated in the different streams when a cyclist got hit by a car on the Christmas eve. So the question has been asked, how did it happen? And who did it? The characters from two families begin to expose their role on that accident night revealing who did what. Dino, a realtor sees an opportunity to get into a big earning league so he decides to invest a large amount on it. Followed by the recession he has to face the reality of business that puts his life on a stake. Carla, the wife of a multimillionaire gives a financial support for the struggling company. Later she has to let it go when her husband's business begins to fall apart. Serena, the daughter of Dino and Massimiliano, son of Carla are the close friends. Their story follows where one of them finds their true love and another one get into sadness for some reason. When all these three episodes concludes the final chapter begins to unveil the truth with a twist. ''I know it does not look much like you, I tend to make things uglier.'' The story was told in layers which were divided into the four chapters. The story that happened between the particular timeline was repeated again and again with another character's perspective and with different camera angles till truth reveals in the final chapter. As it's still developing the opening was confusing which was the first chapter. Without holding-up in development, it straight goes with the main intention of the theme. If you pass that then the following segments interest you to make you guess the possibilities the suspense it hold. Kind of impossible to predict because of the introduction of the related characters to the particular incident consumed by the three quarters of the film. Which mean twist comes at the latter part which was really a good one. Each character that comes in the different episodes were incredible. Like, for a moment it was unhooked from the rest and centralizes that specific story stream, but the common event holds the story all together. I liked all the main characters, but the character Serena steals the final show. The role who played it was a new face and I kind see a great career ahead of her. (God, she's kind of attractive, hope its not me the only one to say that.) This was one of the recent best neo-noir. If somebody asks, I definitely recommend it.

• Great Movie

  skyluke20062014-01-20

  I have seen many movies in the last months, but this is very remarkable! I don't remember one that can be compared with. Amazing history, from Stephen Amidon's book, but located in Brianza, a very rich address(one of the richest in Europe), near Milan, Italy. Wonderful actors: Fabrizio Bentivoglio a 'stupid' house-agent (10/10), Fabrizio Gifuni the typical 'rich' Milanese, arrogant & heartless (10/10), Valeria Golino a very compassionate psychologist (10/10),Matilde Gioli a beautiful and 'alternative' girl(yes in Italy Gioli is pronounced like Angelina Jolie) 10/10, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (sister of the famous Carla Bruni Sarkozy) an empty minded woman in search of herself, but who pronounces the final sentence of the movie (10/10). Who killed the waiter in that foggy night? Wonderful photography by Jerome Almeras. In my heart I give one Oscar to this movie!

• Human vultures prey on weak and vulnerable

  maurice_yacowar2015-01-07

  The opening shots are high angle looking down first on post-festive detritus, then on the driveway of a lavish estate. Is this a bird's eye view or that of the gods? Paolo Virzi's drama is about a venal, godless society. Its opening perspective is the vulture's. The title phrase is explained in an end title. It's the compensation calculation an insurance company makes for a dead person's survivors, based on age, earning potential and emotional bonds. Until then it's an implicit metaphor for the reduction of people to commodities, to be bought and sold, invested with and abandoned. Across the social range the characters reveal a predatory humanity (if that were not a contradiction in terms). At the low end the impetuous young druggie Luca appears to have been exploited by his rough, seedy but ostensibly protective uncle. Luca took the rap on a drug possession charge. At the high end Giovanni Bernaschi lives opulently on his profits from a notoriously successful hedge fund. In the middle, a small real estate company owner and eternal patsy Dino wants a big score. Taking advantage of his daughter Serena's relationship with Giovanni's son Massimiliano, Dino coaxes him to let him invest 700,000 euros in the fund, all of which he borrows, reducing his business and risking his house as collateral. Once he has hooked his prey Giovanni's friendship with Dino oddly cools. Then two disasters strike. The first disaster — for the hedge fund that thrives by selling short, counting on companies' failures — is a surprisingly buoyant economy. Gino's holding shrinks to 70,000 and his public psychologist wife announces she's pregnant. Blessings can be afflictions. Then Massimiliano gets bombed at a party and his family's SUV causes a fatal collision with a bicyclist. The hedge fund is threatened with bankruptcy and Massi seems set for jail. His only alibi is Serena's insistence that she drove him home. A reduction in the Bernaschis' social circle looms. Dino finds the truth on his daughter's email. She's covering for Luca, who driving back the SUV hit the cyclist. As any responsible father and citizen would do, Dino threatens to destroy this evidence and let Massimiliano carry the can to the can unless Giovanni pays 980,000 euros (his investment plus 40% profit) into Dino's new Swiss account — and wife Carla Bernaschi gives Dino "a real kiss — on the mouth." So everyone gets a happy ending — especially when (oh joy) the economy collapses and the short-selling hedge fund triumphs. There is no mention of the ordinary folk whose lives are ruined when the economy collapses. Even Luca, whose arrest curtails his suicide attempt, serves out his manslaughter sentence and has Serena waiting for him. The victims are as clear as the vultures. Wife Carla is a complicitous victim bird in her gilded cage, subject to her husband's demands and exclusions. He promises to fund her resurrection of an old theatre, then sells it for condos instead. She's again victimized when the theatre professor she makes her artistic director exploits her vulnerability for a one-night stand, then vituperates her for refusing to have an affair. Then she has to kiss the repulsive Dino, who starts out a victim then gloriously grows into a vulture, profiting from others' tragedies. The only solid characters are Dino's partner and his daughter Serena. They by reflex and faithfully protect the victims they meet. Only they genuinely care for anyone but themselves.

• Stark Depiction of the Evils of Capitalism

  l_rawjalaurence2014-10-03

  I have always been struck by the sentence in F. Scott Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY (1925) used to describe Tom and Daisy Buchanan as "destructive" in the sense that they have a lot of money, but that renders then totally indifferent to human suffering, especially that of the eponymous hero. Through the ingenious of three interlinked stories, each depicting the same incident, Paolo Virzi's film achieved a similar effect. A man is knocked off his bicycle on Christmas Eve by someone driving an SUV; the action leading up to and including that incident over the previous six months is narrated from Dino Ossola's (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) perspective, from that of his daughter Serena (Matilde Gioli) and that of their rich acquaintance's wife Carla (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). The story is relatively straightforward, involving Carla's husband Giovanni (Fabrizio Gifuni), her son Massimiliano (Guglielmo Pinelli), and a young man wrongfully accused of drug possession who has received psychiatric counseling (Gigio Alberti). What we learn from the narrative is how Giovanni lives an affluent existence that renders him totally insensible to the sufferings of others. He believes that money can buy anything, even justice. We see him mostly in interior sequences, in a rich-looking house surrounded by guests. Carla believes there is more to life than simply money, but apparently cannot countermand her husband's will. Money produces servility. Massimiliano has the same indifference to others as his father; so long as he has the chance to sleep in his own bed and enjoy driving his new "beast" - the SUV involved in the accident - then his existence is fulfilled. Morally speaking. Dino's existence is not much better, as he invests €700,000 in one of Giovanni's schemes and loses virtually nine- tenths of his capital. In revenge he tries to blackmail Carla for €900,000 plus a kiss; the fact that this scene takes place in a theater underlines the theme of the film, that these people are merely performing in life, rather than trying to understand its vicissitudes. In plot-terms, HUMAN CAPITAL can be approached as a murder-mystery, as we are led down various blind alleys until we discover who actually killed the cyclist. In thematic terms, however, the film is far more preoccupied with showing the depths to which people can sink in their attempts to avoid confronting the truth about their existences and live instead in their financial bubbles, both mental as well as tangible.