The Gift

Il Dono manages to strike a balance between damnation and idolatry of its medieval setting.

A poetic depiction of how the passage of time has affected a place so close to Frammartino’s heart, Il Dono is a film to lose yourself in.

The film, which was originally released in 2003 and is almost entirely silent, does not have a conventional narrative, instead capturing moments in time and companionship in a kind of extended photography picture, a literal motion picture of life.

Frammartino brings together the sparse beauty of Kiarostami and the brutal honesty of Alan Clark in a melange that’s sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but which belies the quietness of the characters and landscape.