The two Italian filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, who make their feature film debut with ‘The Tale of King Crab’, are clearly attracted to loners. Their 2015 documentary ‘Il Solengo’ explores the world of a true contemporary hermit. “King Crab” starts in the same hunting lodge as in “Il Solengo” and their 2013 short documentary “Belva Nera” Here a group of elderly men share a meal and talk about an old story, one of ‘princes and poor people’.
The film shifts to an unspecified time in the late 19th century, and a small town, where Luciano, the adult son of a local doctor, is a prominent scandal: he drinks wine at a local tavern and talks back to the police who at his table and needle him. He courts the daughter of a dyspeptic peasant lazily. “Here’s a coin,” he says to an innkeeper. “It’s worthless to me. I want to live the way I want.”
Luciano is played by Gabrielle Silli; in the first half of the film, he has an outgrown beard that draws out rather than obscures his sad blue eyes. His mien is sometimes reminiscent of Donald Sutherland or Peter Dinklage. Even when he is out of the picture, his presence obscures the film.
After Luciano commits a destructive act, the film’s action shifts to the end of South America. The exiled Luciano is here, revitalized and treasure hunting, aided, perhaps improbably to some, by – yes – a king crab. The film’s depictions of landscapes, both serene and fertile, and the almost tangible portrayal of isolation, have echoes of the best work of Werner Herzog and Lucrecia Martel. But the Righi and Zoppis here show more real affinity than influenced influence; they are filmmakers worth keeping an eye on.
The Story of King Crab
Not judged. In Italian and Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theatres.