A queer coming of age in contemporary Italy, Simone Bozzelli’s explosive feature film Patagonia premiered at Locarno 76 and marked the rise of a promising director.
Patagonia (2023) is the mind-blowingly brilliant feature film of 29 year old Simone Bozzelli. Premiering at Locarno Film Festival this year, Bozzelli explores themes of masculinity, sex and drugs in contemporary Italian youth culture. This non-traditional, queer coming of age film is a far cry from the bourgeois sensitivity of Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, but is no less worthy of wide acclaim.
We follow twenty year old Yuri (Andrea Fuorto) as he falls in love with the older, charismatic children’s entertainer Agostino (Augusto Mario Russi), and discovers the world outside of his provincial Abruzzese town and sheltered, matriarchal home. The raw intensity of their magnetic, often violent relationship is set against a gorgeous southern Italian backdrop, which the two explore as they live their nomadic existence travelling by campervan through the region. The freedom of travelling by van poses an excitement and the possibility of independence, but eventually comes to represent a claustrophobic, suffocating space for Yuri and Agostino.
The characters and relationships in Patagonia exude a sexuality, force and a sizzling youthful energy which is truly stunning. The gritty realism of the psychological impact of drugs, the violence of a toxic relationship, and the intensity of growing up is contrasted with an almost magical realism through which Bozzelli portrays the location and setting. Shot on 16mm film, the cinematography is truly something to behold, complimented by an experimental score and the radical, chaotic editing style of Christian Marsiglia.
Bozzelli is a leading figure in the emerging scene of dissident young Italian filmmakers who are working to capture the mood of the current moment in the country’s history and culture. Despite the Meloni government amplifying fascist voices throughout the nation to repress homosexuality, exclude migrants and banish abortion rights, despite a lack of funding and opportunities within the arts, an amazing artistic scene is bubbling away beneath the surface. Patagonia proudly defies any hint at political restriction or repression. Bozzelli filmed rave scenes from sunset till sunrise, with the anarchy of the raves creating an electrifying setting for our characters. This feels like a particularly prescient choice given the infamous ‘anti rave law’ imposed by Meloni in 2022, wherein young people can face three to six years of jail time, eye watering fines and heavy surveillance for participating in protests, demonstrations or raves.
The erotic, destructive, ecstatic rage of youth punches powerfully through the screen in Bozzelli’s explosive feature. Patagonia is definitely one to watch, as is its promising young director.
