I'm not normally a person for artsy films as I am more of a thriller, action, or cheesy horror aficionado. However, I decided to watch this Italian film despite the fact that I am not really a fan of subtitles. Whatever, you forget you are reading them after a while.
As always I have tried to avoid spoilers unless specifying otherwise. If you are the type of person who prefers to enter a film completely blind just know I recommend this film for its artistic and not explicitly stated undertones, but not so much for people that need a story to move along quickly
As the name would indicate this film is about a boy who is born immune to gravity and will simply float up slowly as is shown right during his birth. This happens in the first few minutes of the film and was almost enough of a stupid beginning to make me turn the film off, especially since the CGI looked like a state-college project with very little budget to work with.
If it hadn't been for what happened in the next 5 minutes while I was peeling an orange (I'm slow at the process) I probably would have given up. The filmmakers didn't focus on the fact that "Oscar" (Pietro Pescara as a child and Elio Germano as an adult) is capable of flight (kinda) and more so focused on the human aspects of family and just general life. I'm not trying to speak for the director but I think he was focusing on common misconceptions that a lot of us have about life and certain things that perhaps some of us can relate to even though none of us are capable of flying away.
Having an overprotective mother that only has his best interests at heart, trying to find a way to fit in when you are an outsider, growing up, and eventually flying the coop to seek your own path in life are just a few of the things that I think most people can relate to due to their own life experiences and that is the story we are told. The fact that Oscar can fly is kind of a side issue.
Rather, the center of attention is that Oscar, like anyone, wants a better life so badly and when he uses his unique gifts to obtain precisely that, it isn't everything that he had hoped it would be. It is one of those "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" stories.
I've only ever known one person that went on to become wildly famous and rich and I also knew her before any of that. Once the spotlight was constantly on her, she was at first elated and loved it but soon after she had a team of handlers and was incapable of going to do normal things without a disguise. Many times if she attempted to do this she was intercepted by management who would encourage her not to.
When we had a meeting about 5 years ago she was so frustrated after all of her entourage finally left her alone, she immediately started to cry and said she "didn't want this anymore."
It is difficult for us mortals to really understand this because it seems like a dream come true to have so much money that you don't have to worry about it and people flock to you everywhere you go, doesn't it? Well, this is what I interpreted The Man Without Gravity's perhaps not-so-hidden message to be.
from the Netflix official channel
Although this isn't an edge-of-your-seat experience by any means, it is nice to see a little bit of variety in Netflix's lineup because lately I have started to feel that literally anything new on there is very genre-driven and we are forced this drivel without any concern to quality whatsoever.
Whatever you do, do not watch this with the English overdub track. I tried it for a little while and apparently they hired people who have never done any acting or voice-over work before.
Overall, i would say that if you are the type of person that appreciates a somewhat feel-good film with a message inside that isn't explicitly stated and the main point is open to interpetaion, this could be a pretty decent choice you. It isn't great, but it is different and that just happened to be exactly what I was looking for today.
My overall rating?
I was told by an Italian friend that the lead actor's first name "Elio" can actually be interpreted as "helium" in Italian, so I guess he had an advantage when auditioning for the role