Al cinema dal 17 settembre, La valle dei sorrisi è il nuovo film di Paolo Strippoli, che mescola horror, folklore e atmosfere misteriose, dando voce a un racconto che parla anche di dolore e disagio giovanile. Ma quali sono i principali riferimenti cinematografici del film di Strippoli? Abbiamo provato a rintracciarli dopo aver visto il film alla 82ª Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia.
00:00In theaters from September 17, The Valley of Smiles is the new film by Paolo Strapoli, which arrives in our theaters distributed by Vision Distribution.
00:08The film was premiered in the out-of-competition section of the 2025 Venice Film Festival and, during the midnight screening, it garnered applause and approval from a packed audience who appreciated not only Strapoli's story, but also identified in the film a whole series of cinephile cinematic references that the director has sprinkled throughout his story.
00:31And here are the three main cinematic references in Paolo Strapoli's film.
00:41The first reference we noticed, which is quite obvious, is that of Frank Darbert's 1999 Green Mile.
00:49The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King and stars Toman X and Michael Clarke Duncan.
00:55You all know the story, we assume, that of Paul, a prison guard assigned to death row who assists condemned inmates in their last weeks, in the last days of their lives, before the death sentence.
01:08When Paul finds himself in front of John Coffey, who is clearly innocent, he will begin to completely rethink his life and his work in that dark place.
01:25John Coffey's specialty is that he can capture and suck evil out of people's bodies.
01:29In particular, we see him at work several times throughout the film, as he cures the illnesses and ailments of the protagonists.
01:43This special gift is directly reminiscent of the gift possessed by Mateo, the young teenager who is the protagonist of the Valley of Smiles,
01:51who can use his embrace to suck and eliminate the suffering from the hearts of those who come into contact with him.
01:59The second important title of recent years that came to mind when watching the Valley of Smiles is definitely Midamar,
02:12The Village of the Damned by Ari Aster from 2019.
02:16The film is one of the most brilliant and tells the story of Florence Pugh,
02:19a girl who carries great pain inside her and who, due to particular events,
02:23will find herself facing a celebration of the Midsummer Festival in a village in Sweden
02:27where unusual things will happen and will lead her to unexpectedly overcome her traumas.
02:43It seems exactly what happens to Michelle Riandino's character,
02:47who arrives in Remy with pain, an enormous sense of guilt for his past,
02:51we will discover this later in the film,
02:53and will find himself in this small happy community to come to terms with his pain and,
02:58somehow, to find, a, a way to coexist with it.
03:07The third most thematic and conceptual reference that comes to mind when watching the Valley of Smiles
03:12is undoubtedly The Wickerman,
03:13the 1973 film by Robin Hardy starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee.
03:21The film is the noblest example of white horror and represents and stages the archetype of the stranger
03:28who enters a community that follows very precise rules,
03:31very precise ritual rules and somehow upsets it.
03:36This is exactly what happens in The Valley of Smiles.
03:39Once again, The Outsider, the character played by Michelle Riandino,
03:46arrives in a small mountain community, the one of Remy,
03:49where everyone seems to be happy, no one, um, ever has a frowning expression,
03:55everyone smiles, hence the title of the film,
03:57and he will find himself clashing with this seemingly always happy reality.
04:00He who carries within himself a darkness,
04:07a sense of guilt and a pain that will be revealed as the story progresses.
04:20Here, the archetype of the stranger who bursts into a reality governed by very precise rituals
04:25is what makes The Valley of Smiles most similar to the legendary Wickerman
04:29and therefore allows Strapoli's film to return to a very rich and very noble tradition of titles
04:34that in some way have to do with folk horror, white horror
04:37and a whole series of films that evoke atmospheres that,
04:40more than gore and splatter, focus on thrillers and suspense,
04:43on suggestion, on psychology to stir the viewer's guts.
04:46From September 17th, The Valley of Smiles will offer you a new story
04:59that will try to shock and disturb you.
05:01The appointment is with Vision Distribution in Italian theaters.
Commenta prima di tutti