Ritual - Una storia psicomagica

"Ritual" skilfully avoids all the typical thriller clichés to flesh out characters that are neither "good" nor "bad" but rather real humans with strengths and weaknesses, fears and proclivities. The story is multilayer and strong with scenes of seduction, love, levity, breakdown and suspension of belief woven into a fine fabric of fictitious fate.

There is a deep emotional and sexual tension that keeps the viewer alert and aroused. The acting is edgy, but believable, never letting you be comfortable for too long. The directing by the first feature film co-directing team is balanced and beautiful. It is edited to a perfectly-paced and impactful 90 minutes which leaves the viewer with almost all the elements to digest the complex undercurrents of the nifty narrative.

The film's content and title reference the theories (and arguably some surrealist artistry) of Chilean-French Alejandro Jodorowsky who introduced the concept of psychomagic. A pragmatic melange of modern psychotherapy and mysticism to help people in emotional distress by ritualistically performing symbolic acts which the unconscious mind may understand as facts.

Nothing is overtly overexplained, overdramatized or drawn out in the movie, leaving you with a satisfying sensibility and a pallet of possibilities. This subdued psychological exploration deserves a standing ovation.

Deeply impressed with the films high level of sophistication. The opening scene is operatic in that it sets the mood and outlines visually the key components and themes for the remainder of the film. The visuals are very tight and evocative of Pedro Almodovar. Desiree Giorgetti is unforgettable as Lia. And, the appearance of Alejandro Jodorowsky is a nice touch. The storyline has a great emotional arc. The soundtrack songs of Patrizia Laquidara are perfectly woven with the storyline. The casting and editing are pitch perfect. Extremely surprised and pleased with the directorial debut of Immesi and Brazzale. They are at the forefront of what looks to be a 'New Wave' of Italian cinema.

The original added line to the title is far more accurate than what the Germans made of it (calling it "Dangerous Obsession"). I also heard some people complaining that this isn't as sensual/erotic as they hoped/were promised this to be. There is nudity and there intercourse, don't get this wrong, but it's all very weirdly done. And while weird can be good, it doesn't quite have the spark here.

It's also one thing to concentrate on the woman (who clearly has issues, some of them will be revealed over the course of the movie) and not show any other side of the male counter part (though if you are into mind games you might have an "excuse" for that). Making her "mysterious" along that way is fine. But neither the performance, the story itself or any "special effect" creates a real memorable or "wow" moment. So while this is a nice psychological study (decent movie overall), it lacks in many things to be considered really great

He puts good and bad in scare quotes bu this doesn't make sense. I have never seen a single good argument as to how these don't exist. Considering he thinks Creating Christ is a great film (because it aligns with his conspiracy-addled worldview) I guess it's not a surprise that he'd have as bad a take as his review. If nothing is bad why does christian94 bash religion and if nothing is good why does he support conspiracy theories? If nothing is good there's no point to doing anything and if nothing is bad then nothing can be criticised, there's nothing to criticise. We see yet again how bad ideas spread on the internet and how the anitheists feel they HAVE TO peddle their vile worldview constantly.