IN PERPETUO

Italy | 2024 | 88 min | col.

An eerie contraption stands on the beach. Long poles protruding from it seem to point to the sea. It is a trabucco of the Gargano coast, an ancient fishing machine typical of the Adriatic shores of Italy. Two people, an elder and a young man, take care of the wooden structure on a daily basis, repair it, and make sure it works correctly. Federico Barassi’s film follows their routine activities that revolve around the machine. Throughout the film, the structure becomes like an organism, a living being in need of care, an actual character, the centre and focus of vision. The carefulness and attention of the filmic gaze and the precise pace of storytelling reflect the sense of a time, of life, and work (precisely ‘in perpetuity,’ as reads the film’s title) that won’t comply with the inhuman rhythms of present-day work; they offer a glimpse not of an archaic past, but of an alternative option for a time of living. (d.d.)