Al Primo Soffio di Vento (2002)

Every seven years or so, a new Franco Piavoli film appears which strongly divides auds between admiration (the few) and sleep (the many). No exception is "At the First Breath of Wind," a wordless, non-narrative evocation of a bucolic summer's day on a country estate in Lombardy, which in many ways is the director's most successful work yet. His melancholy artist's eye paints a lovely fantasy world with the brushstrokes of culture, myth and learning. Predictably, film's stately rhythm and refusal to approach anything resembling a story will relegate it to late night pubcaster slots and brief runs at the artiest cinemas in town.