Michaël Andrianaly
France, Madagascar | 2019 | 72 min
Swiss Premiere
Language : x-mal
Subtitles : English, French
When his barber shop is torn down by the municipality, Romeo needs to find another outlet for his business. He settles for an extremely shabby hut, but dreams of owning a real barber shop one day. In his new workplace, life seems to drag as usual, but Romeo is tired of waiting even though there is not much he can do. An intimate and close look at everyday life Madagascar, lensed by Michaël Andrianaly who achieves to capture unseen nuances of a man struggling for his dignity. A neorealist poem that reinterpretes Vittorio De Sica’s lesson. The numerous small details of Romeo’s daily activities become all elements of a documentary mosaic. The tiny open space on the street echoes the sounds and noises from the outside: the daily news, the population's hopes and angers in a country of poverty and corruption. Almost unwillingly, Romeo becomes the symbol of a struggle that will not stop anytime soon. “Film after film” claims Andrianaly “my work becomes my way of being engaged. It is my way of resisting”.
Giona A. Nazzaro
