Die Terrasse

"During the dinner sequences, it is like operating an ensemble piece on a dime, DP. De Santis adroitly interposes long takes among various characters, discreetly listens to their conversations, or follows the kerfuffles, but there are no Altmanesque flourishes, which can concatenate all the fluid movements into a delectable visual orchestra. Here, Scala is more keen on building the signs of the times than showing off his sleight of hand, and juggling between studio and location shooting, LA TERRAZZA is an oddity that looks old school but attempts to say something au courant (the self-reflection of a society burdened with bureaucracy, commercialism and hypocrisy), therefore, it feels often luxuriate in the inner circles' own woes and melancholia. It is so cruel to see Mastroianni's Luigi the journalist, gets a cold shoulder from a young girl, the erstwhile Italian dreamboat now has been reduced to a gabby uncle figure that is so detached from the younger generation (a metaphor of Italian cinema's glorious days are on the ineluctable wane)."

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