One film many expected to named as part of the lineup when the Cannes Film Festival unveiled their slate last week, was Bernardo Bertolucci's "Io e Te." An acclaimed, revered filmmaker who has been In Competition twice before (in 1981 for "Tragedy Of A Ridiculous Man" and 1996 with "Stealing Beauty") and received a lifetime achievement award from the fest last spring, he returns to Cannes, but this time Out Of Competition with "Io e Te." And now we have our first look at the film.
Announced last spring to be as the director's first 3D film, only for Bertolucci to publicly ditch the format in the fall calling it "commercially vulgar," the picture nonetheless boasts an intriguing premise. Based on the book by Niccolo Ammaniti and co-written with the author and Umberto Contarello (”This Must Be The Place”) the story centers on Lorenzo, a 14-year-old boy who tells his parents that he went on a ski trip, only to hide out in the basement to try and help his much older half-sister, Olivia, shake off her addiction to heroin.
Unknowns Jacopo Olmo Antinori and Tea Falco star in the film that marks Bertolucci's first effort since 2003's "The Dreamers" and his first Italian language movie in three decades. Is there a reason it didn't make the competition lineup? We'll find out when the film plays the fest, which runs from May 16-27. [Kinopoisk]