“In Excelsis”

A Brief Comment about this month’s film, “Gloria!”
Mountain Shadow Director, John Bennison

Galatéa Bellugi plays the lead role as Teresa in Margherita Vicario’s film, “Gloria!” Germaine and I had the pleasure of meeting her during a post-screening Q&A of the film at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October; where it had its U.S. premiere.

After a number of very good, but “challenging,” films we’ve brought to our Mountain Shadow audience this year, I thought it best to end our 11th Season on “a high note.” I set about attempting to book the film with a distributor in Rome, with whom I’d never worked before. Multiple emails, and a text or two went unanswered. A friend who speaks Italian even translated the messages for me, to no avail. Glory be, nine days before our scheduled playdates I made contact and succeeded in booking the film!

Those who review films come up with all kinds of descriptive adjectives to describe a cinematic storyline. Oftentimes, similarities to themes and plotlines remind one of previous favorites. A “rags to riches” fable of creativity and sisterhood – breaking with orthodoxy and convention -- is a well-known example.

The climactic ending of “Gloria!” illustrates this point in excelsis, in the “highest degree.” Enjoy! jb