The Protagonists (1999)

Individual scenes in this debut by Guadagnino sometimes work quite well, but the puzzle never fits together. This film is simultaneously a mockumentary, sometimes a documentary, and at times a literally rather theatrical and, at times, more experimental adaptation of the crime. The crime actually happened. The interviews with the widow and the officers involved are also real. The background of the "documentary," however, is not real. Furthermore, the film features many reenacted scenes, including the murder (three times, in fact). The film explores the relationship between real and fake in depictions of these types of events.

However, the film does not live up to that standard. Nor does it make me think, nor does it make the matter fascinating enough. I noticed that Guadagnino stopped writing altogether after his third film (which I find much better; the second is the only one of his films I still need to see). I think that is for the better. When watching this film, the direction of some individual scenes is the strong point, but the film is searching for a narrative thread that barely exists.

Translated from Dutch · View original