Film Review: I GIGANTI: A Group of Men’s Lives Spiral Out of Control and So Does the Film [Locarno 2021]

I giganti Review

I giganti (2021) Film Review from the 74th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie directed by Bonifacio Angius, and starring Bonifacio Angius, Stefano Deffenu, Michele Manca, Riccardo Bombagi, and Stefano Manco.

The new Italian film I giganti (The Giants) takes so many interesting risks. What is most unique about the film is that the viewer is immediately drawn in by the fact that the majority of the male characters featured in it have no redeemable qualities whatsoever. The central premise of the film revolves around a reunion of male friends in an out of the way house where a character is revealed to have a gun. There’s plenty of drugs and alcohol present and when women pop up, they don’t last very long. It’s a stage set for tragedy and philosophical (and not so philosophical) conversations.

The director (and one of the stars) of the film is Bonifacio Angius. He reveals some of the film’s themes through flashbacks and conversations that the characters engage in during the course of the film. One of the most effective characters is Michele Manca as Andrea, a man on the edge who wants the company of a woman in one scene but she, not surprisingly, runs the other way. Manca looks like a typical average Joe but plays his role with such intensity that his part is clearly the standout of the film. Manca’s Andrea is a man who is bitter and cannot escape the fate that has been set for him through the situation the film places him in. Manca brings so much depth to the role through both his dialogue and outer projection. It’s very solid work.

Another notable performance is that of Stefano Deffenu who plays Stefano, the bearded character who is giving the party that the film revolves around. As a man beaten up by life, Deffenu plays his role with terrific precision that creates a significant amount of interest in his character who has been worn down by his experiences and losing the love of his life. We watch him throughout and by the time the movie reaches its unsettling climax, we’ve suspected he will be going down very hard all along. In fact every character in this film goes down hard in ways that I won’t reveal.

Riccardo Bombagi serves as the youngest character in the film. He’s the one who the director uses to convey some of the film’s very heavy themes such as believing that life is going well when, in actuality, reality is far from the one that is being perceived. With the drugs, booze, and dangerous weapon at the party the film centers around, we see that all these men’s lives are doomed in horrific ways regardless of the actions of the characters although the character actions certainly expedite their fates.

Angius’ Maximo lost his daughter and, as a result, his family making his fate the easiest to predict of all the characters in the film. Angius delivers a nuanced performance that sheds some true humanity on his character.

I giganti is not an easy film to watch. It is very bleak and the mean spirits of some of the characters are definitely displayed throughout. Watch a scene as a key character curses people out who are at a funeral procession. No other scene sets the tone of the film better than this very harsh one.

Angius’s film is both dark and overbearing at times especially in its violent ending sequences. The movie ultimately goes off the deep end with too many devastating things happening at once and, unfortunately, makes the movie way too much of a downer to truly recommend. There is the case of the performances, though. All of the turns here are well performed with Manca the standout, as previously mentioned.

I giganti is a very unsettling movie. It is a character study about the abyss at the end of a very irrational life. Characters may have pre-determined fates that they finally meet at film’s end. If you enjoy very dark pictures with no optimistic outlook, for whatever reason, then I giganti may be your cup of tea.

Rating: 6/10

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