original title:
Trastwest
directed by:
cast:
Massimo, Roberto, Maurizio, Lynda, Stefano, Sara
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
music:
Giovannelly
production:
country:
Italy
year:
2021
film run:
18'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (28/07/2021)
festivals & awards:
A man leaves the house with two bananas hidden in his pockets, while another does tai chi in the deserted streets of Rome. Another wearing an animal pelt walks alongside an electric stroller pushed by an elegant elderly lady with platinum-blond hair. A gypsy, a card player, an acrobat, two odd lovers. A pair of nuns trots swiftly by while two singular individuals play the harmonica, their dogs barking along to the tune. The baristas peek out of the San Calisto saloon to see what's up. Everyone's waiting for the duel to begin; even the seagulls circle overhead like vultures. Then the two duelers meet. One look, one shot, a siren. And the square reverts right back to lockdown, as if nothing had ever happened.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
During the lockdown, in Rome, I came across a scene that was surreal. Two middle-aged men, alone in Piazza San Calisto in Trastevere, faced off in a duel using two bananas. One even provided the soundtrack from A Fistful of Dollars, on a speaker. Instinctively, I started filming in slow motion. Then I thought I'd keep at it, in slow motion like the time around us. The other characters magically popped up from nowhere, ready to join in. Wordlessly, just with their faces, being there. These are people who don't usually come out of the woodwork. This is Trastwest: a duel between reason and folly; between the new Trastevere and the Old West."