
Once upon a time there was a tiny hill town in Tuscany that found a remarkable way to confront their issues - they turned their lives into a play. "Spettacolo" is a portrait of this 50-year-old tradition, where their piazza becomes their stage and every villager from 6 to 90 plays a part - the role of themselves.... (Full plot summary below)
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Once upon a time there was a tiny hill town in Tuscany that found a remarkable way to confront their issues - they turned their lives into a play. "Spettacolo" is a portrait of this 50-year-old tradition, where their piazza becomes their stage and every villager from 6 to 90 plays a part - the role of themselves.
Leave your thoughts about Spettacolo.
| The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe elegiac Spettacolo is in some ways a familiar story, revolving around the universal tug of war between time and tradition. |
| NonficsChristopher CampbellYou'll probably never forget this extraordinary town. But the film itself is largely unmemorable. |
| Film Journal InternationalSimi HorwitzAn evocative but not fully fleshed-out documentary about a theatrical tradition that's lasted for half a century and may be coming to an end in a Tuscany village. |
| NOW TorontoNorman WilnerSpettacolo may not have the structural ingenuity of the filmmakers' previous work, but as a contemplation of identity and the value and comfort people find in telling their own stories, it makes for an engaging, entirely absorbing experience. |
| The A.V. ClubVikram MurthiAlthough Spettacolo is thoughtful and charming throughout, it’s mildly disappointing that the film doesn’t further engage with the self-reflexivity of the annual event itself. |
| RogerEbert.comNick AllenIt is a touching document of seemingly regular people who yearn to keep an artistic tradition alive. |
| Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinTheater lovers and Italophiles alike should savor the documentary Spettacolo. |
| Arts FuseBetsy ShermanAs sobering as all this sounds, the movie is not a downer. There's so much to admire in the players' creativity and courage to speak their minds. |
| Village VoiceBilge EbiriIs this art or is this prophecy? Is there even a difference? |
| Slant MagazineChristopher GrayThough some of Spettacolo's tension is superficial, the stuff of any let’s-put-on-a-show narrative, its latent anxieties are myriad and profoundly resonant. |