La Chimera

La chimaera Alice Rohrwacher.

My uncle came from Ireland. Earlier in the week, we got out the cine reel DVDs dating back to my mum and dad in the late 60’s to the mid 80’s. We had them transferred about 15 years ago. Looking worn and small frames or blown up absurdly.

It’s weird how it led me to the term ‘faux nostalgia,’ as these are memories I’ve been taught. It’s similar to watching La Chimaera, which shows a weirdly memorable, blown, and colour-rich past of smoking on the trains and bad communication.

But the films and frames, with their unique blend of mediums, work to pique curiosity at every point. As we follow the man in the white suit on his odyssey of film cliches, we delve into his underworld adventure, an exploration of a man different from the norm. The film takes us to his in-laws and the matriarchy, the aspirations of many to reclaim the culture, and those who wish to be reimbursed, all in a visually captivating manner.

It’s a fascinating film that journeys to moments of cinema’s past. The motley red-hand gang seems more like the lemon popsicle gang than the magnificent 7, but that tension between our British envoy and them falls through the soil so quickly. The touch of folkloric motifs even brings the stranger in white to land as if he is an inevitable Wickerman-like sacrifice. 

It reminded me of being young, having a suit like that, and being adrift in France in the late 1990s. The emotional turmoil was my middle name, and deprived of even the language skills of our lead, I was fascinated by everything around me.

It’s a film with some longueurs that outstay their welcome, but when looking at the subjects, the passion would be facile without some introspection. It’s a milieu that must be visited on a big screen, and the sound encapsulates it. 

Embark on a thrilling journey into the myths of the underworld with this film as soon as you can. Its exploration of different themes and settings will surely ignite a sense of adventure in you.