Review of Fantasia, ma Non Troppo, per Violino

LONG EXPLANATION: To the twinks that wonder where to find this untraceable film, I am sorry but I cannot give you the resource. It’s been almost two years since I last viewed it, and my device has gone through too many updates to recover this film. What I can tell you is that I found it on a website which now belongs to the internet archive, but was able to find a new version of it after some days of research. I discovered that Fantasia was still available on the new website, but you had to pay almost $30 ($25 is the number I remember) to watch it. Being 13 and too scared to ask for it for Christmas, I put myself in contact with an employee of the internet archive site. After a week, she was able to contact who ran this updated version of the obscure theatre film website, and gave me their line. The man who ran it used to be apart of a theatre group in Bologna, that was associated with a camera man of Fantasia, who gave the theatre a copy of it. I convinced him to let me watch it, saying it was for a school project and I didn’t have enough money to pay for it. He wasn’t persuaded initially, but eventually gave in, on a condition that I have it for a day before he deleted the email linking me to the film. Some noticeable people were in here, but I did not watch it for school. So, Pietro, if you see this 2 year old review - I’m sorry for my lie, and that I blocked your email when you asked for the school document linking you to my review. I’m a changed woman who was 13 when she did that and now 15 (sarcasm). Wow, my written odyssey is longer than the actual review. Apologies.

To the internet, Fantasia, ma Non Troppo, per Violino is a very mysterious film, as there are no official film posters, videos or reviews released of this movie online. So, let me be one of the first people to provide a bit of insight into this beautifully crafted film, for strictly English speaking speakers. Named 'Fantasy, but Not Too Much, for Violin' in English, the film was released in 1976 and the plot centres around 4 main characters and the narration of Bologna and its history. The director, Bologna native Gianfranco Mingozzi was looking for a Bolognese to play a character who would act as a link between the various episodes, those being the 16th and 17th century blacksmith, a storyteller from San Giovanni in Persiceto, an actor for Giulio Cesare Croce, who is the author, among other things, of Bertoldo and Bertoldino. Also in this film also features Bruno Musso, who portrayed Carlo Porro in the 120 Days of Sodom, and the wonderful actress Piera Degli Esposti, who recently passed away this year.

Now, getting back to the film. Whether or not the stories told in this film are accurate (I haven't educated myself on Bolognese history so I wouldn't know), I enjoyed watching it. For a film that's only an hour & 33 minutes long, the pacing was quite slow but I got used to it and anyone else will do similar. The acting is quite impressive and something I preferred over the plots. Considering most of the actors are mostly, or were once amateur actors whose filmography featured no more than two or fewer films, the actors are rather talented and made for a wonderful film. The aesthetic too. This is a strange thing to admit but when it comes to a film, if the atmosphere makes me uncomfortable (especially if it's a black and white film) I usually turn it off and watch something else. But for Fantasia, it was the opposite. I'm not sure who the cinematographer of this film is, but they did an amazing job catching the beauty of Fantasia, and within 10 minutes I truly felt comfortable with it and was even excited to see what would happen next. I also liked how detailed this film was and, considering its budget, the creators of this film used the money amount to their advantage and, honestly, I'm thankful they did!

Overall, this film was actually quite good, although I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers my age. I'm sure they'd think I'm weird for even watching it to begin with. I also think it's worth a look if you're interested in Italian history and aren't a native.

8/10