Open Roads: New Italian Cinema At Lincoln Center 2023

[Chris Knipp]

ROBERTO DE PAOLIS: PRINCESS (2022)


GLORY KEVIN IN PRINCESS

Force of nature

The followup to De Paolis' warm-hearted young love story Pure Hearts (Open Roads 2018) this film about a robust Nigerian prostitute in a pink wig has been called "contemporary fairy-tale cinéma vérité" in an Italian review.

Kevin Glory, who plays "Princess," is a force of nature, whose confidence and vivacity spread throughout a film about prostitution in the fringes of Italian cities, about immigrants living in the country, and about Italian relations with local-based foreigners.

Princess works on the road alongside a forest in Ostia, on the outskirts of Rome, living in an illegal encampment of cabins (everything is illegal about their existence) with other Nigerian streetwalkers in the forest. Her in-your-face joie-de-vivre and somewhat fantastic appearance may explain the word "fairy-tale" in the review. De Paolis spent time getting to know Nigerian prostitutes and some of them appear as themselves in the film, and this is basically more real than some Italians may want to believe. But the confusion of elements is a problem in a film whose protagonist takes over whatever story the filmmaker may have wanted to tell. Nonetheless, it confirms the intensity and originality of De Paolis in an era of Italian filmmakers who often seem to avoid making waves. Princess is a distinctive effort.

Lee Marshall in his Screen Daily review said "the opening slot of Venice’s parallel Horizons sidebar feels like a consolation prize for a film that would not have looked out of place in Competition." Screened for this review as part of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema (June 1-8, 2023) sponsored by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà.

Princess, 111 mins., debuted as the opening film of the Orizzonti section at Venice Aug. 31, 2022.
Friday, June 2 at 8:30pm (Q&A with Roberto De Paolis)