A view of Elegy of lost things scheduled at Portland Dance Film Festival 2022
Amy Leona Havin | OREGON ARTSWATCH
(...) Out of all 29 films, the highlight of this year’s PDFF is the Italian film Elegy of Lost Things, a stunning 48-minute art piece depicting life in a rural town. Inspired by Portuguese author Raul Brandão’s novel Os Pobres (The Poor), director Stefano Mazzotta delivers a portrait of morality, estrangement, sociopolitical consideration, and realism. The 48-minute-long film views like an arthaus flick and delivers stunning performances in both dance and acting from the cast. The choreography is as wonderfully subtle and asymetrical as the shot choices and the coloring, which adds a realistic sun-bleached haze over the quietly riveting story. Elegy of Lost Things is impeccable in its versatility, offering humour, tragedy, family drama, mundanity, camaraderie, joy, and melancholy all in one. With thematic nods to Pina Bausch’s The Nelken Line, it is a revelation of a dance film that should not be missed—the best since the works of Édouard Lock’s La La La Human Stepsand the beloved 1991 Reines d’un Jour (Queens for a Day) by Swiss director Pascal Magnin.