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- 2018
- PG-13
- Netflix
- 2 h 8 m
- 2018
- PG-13
- Netflix
- 2 h 8 m
Summary This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancr...
Directed By: Alice Rohrwacher
Written By: Carmela Covino, Alice Rohrwacher
- 2018
- PG-13
- Netflix
- 2 h 8 m
- 2018
- PG-13
- Netflix
- 2 h 8 m
Happy as Lazzaro
7.8
Where to Watch
Summary This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancr...
Directed By: Alice Rohrwacher
Written By: Carmela Covino, Alice Rohrwacher
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
87
96% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
87
96% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
As parable, the film’s slippery quality catches you off guard in the best way. And it summons profound love for a character – a village idiot it would never let you describe that way – without congealing even slightly into sentimentality. It clings on to Lazzaro like the only hope in a benighted world.
A rich sense of mystery pervades this movie. You succumb to its strangeness the way that a child is enveloped in a bedtime story, trusting the teller even when you don’t fully understand the tale or know where it’s going.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 67 User Ratings
7.8
81% Positive
54 Ratings
54 Ratings
13% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 67 User Ratings
7.8
81% Positive
54 Ratings
54 Ratings
13% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Happy as Lazzaro is slow to reveal its full shape: It’s a realist snapshot of downtrodden lives that gradually takes on shadings of fable and myth, a deceptively plain story that, by the end, all but glows with wonderment and surprise.
Poised somewhere between despondency and hope, its conclusion suggests that, unable to see pure goodness even when it’s right before our eyes, we unwittingly snuff it out. Yet that goodness will endure — and it will outlast us.
Happy As Lazzaro is s-l-o-w and its narrative twist will alienate some. But this is deliberate, singular filmmaking, at once poetic and down-to-earth, from an unsung talent. Let’s be clear: Alice Rohrwacher should cherished.
With Happy as Lazzaro, Rohrwacher has crafted a magic-realist fable that doubles as an origin myth for a modern Italy subsumed by corruption and decline.
The main problem of Happy as Lazzaro is that it's unclear what Rohrwacher finally wants to say in part two, which combines the near-documentary realism of her first feature with the occasional flights of fancy of her second.
A gutting, fantastical, cruel, and beautiful story of an honest, poor, downtrodden man out of time. This Italian indie darling is on Netflix right now. its not animated as the poster might have you think and it is most definitely worth your time.
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A tale (or fable?) of social commentary by directress and writer Alice Rohrwacher (that I first knew in the short "Le Pupille") in rural Italy with touches of anti capitalism and class division, where sharecroppers live, without knowing their semi-slavery state because of lack of knowledge. Lazzaro the protagonist, is an innocent character that is happy to make others happy, in the pureness of his heart. He doesn't know who is his father of mother just who is maybe his grandmother.There are very few signs of when this passes you can guess the 60 or 70's till later you see a cellphone of the 90's. So this is the condition that those people lives.They live under Marchesa Alfonsina De Luna state till one day Lazzaro meets the rebellious son of her, Tancredi, that wants to live away from the rot of his bankrupt family, so he devise a plan.A plan that unwillingly ends ends with and event that throws Lazzaro in the future 20 to 30 years ahead. By chance or destiny he meet robbers in the now decadent rural mansion (not knowing that they are people of his past "family") and in the city where he is recognized by an old female friend (the role is played by the older sister of Rohrwacher, Alba) - the only one that sees the miracle of him not ageing anything at all (and not all broken and bloody by the event that happened so many years ago, not seen by **** this urban future he ends up living within the same ignorant and individualist clan (with some exceptions) and ends up meeting by chance the Baroness son again, decadent as ever in his dreams of richness that broke his spirit. Not telling the end after all this spoilers, but it is sad to see Lazzaro so pure treated as nothing, unhappy by his friend status, and trying to correct things in a wrong way in his innocency (no, it doesn't have an happy ending). A movie that may not be for everyone but that shines to see such saintness and pureness of heart among our society.Good cinematography and choice of colors, with Kodak Super 16mm film by cinematographer DP Hélène Louvart AFC and good acting by the protagonist, the newcomer Adriano **** would score this one a 8.0 out of 10.0 / A-.
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I really liked this film. I found Lazzaro a quite endearing figure - he's a quiet, introverted type and he has a sort of naive charm to him - he with the large (and seemingly un-blinking) eyes. I felt frustrated by those who chose to exploit him (if but only mildly) and indeed, exploitation is certainly a relevant theme in this film, as well as tolerance perhaps. I liked/respected the simplicity aspect of it. It has a positive feel about it.
I thought its good as a piece of social commentary. Its quite a charming film in general and so I'd recommend it.
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Happy As Lazzaro – The Smell **** Man
Tuscan-born writer/director Alice Rohrwacher has created an Award-winning allegorical observation on how the average person stumbles along, following the ruling classes orders of the day. Most live without stopping to analyze the derogatory impact, this almost hidden manipulation, has on our everyday understanding of the true meaning of life. Curiously, the writer based part of this strange story on a factual newspaper story! The manipulation of the poorer classes by greedy conglomerates - fleecing workers for a pittance in return for endless hard labor. How empty modern lifestyles can offer little more benefits than those of the slave workers, too often pushing the good in humanity to obscurity. It’s not a film for everyone and many viewers may miss important messages within this thoughtful work – perhaps one reason could be because they blindly accept the hidden economic controls, enforced on the world’s working classes. ‘Lazzaro’ is both enigmatic and silently devastating to any viewer prepared to consider how the world’s bankers – pervade every aspect of modern life - often reducing it to rubble for struggling nations. It's little coincidence this film comes to its haunting conclusion inside a bank! It’s a longish tale (2 hrs) so needing a patient, discerning audience. It could possibly have conveyed its thoughtful message in less time but those attuned to reading between the lines of our every day news media...will be quite willing to take the journey. Fascinatingly the filmmaker is able to convince the viewer to accept quite jarring, bizarre twists, as if we trust somehow they are taking us towards a meaningful outcome. Sought after French cinematographer Hélène Louvart provides the darkly probing visuals. There is an interesting piano soliloquy that plays out here and there but the film has no score composer. Performances are uniformly good, making this a treat for those who like to think about their entertainment – the sensitive viewer might find the final scene one not easily forgotten (aided by a Wolf and some Italian folklore)
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Production Company
Tempesta,
Rai Cinema,
Amka Films Productions,
Ad Vitam Production,
KNM,
Pola Pandora Filmproduktions,
RSI-Radiotelevisione Svizzera,
Arte France Cinéma,
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF),
ARTE,
ARTE,
Eurimages,
Office Fédéral de la Culture,
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
CNC Aide aux cinémas du monde - Institut Français,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Regione Lazio,
Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (MiBACT),
Film Commission Torino-Piemonte
Release Date Nov 30, 2018
Duration 2 h 8 m
Rating PG-13
Awards
David di Donatello Awards
• 9 Nominations
CinEuphoria Awards
• 1 Win & 8 Nominations
European Film Awards
• 1 Win & 6 Nominations
