''The Ideal City'' ( it, La città ideale) is a 2012 Italian thriller

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, written and directed by

Luigi Lo Cascio Luigi Lo Cascio (born 20 October 1967) is an Italian actor. He won the David di Donatello as best actor for his starring role in ''I cento passi''. In 2012, he debuted as film director and writer with '' La città ideale''. Filmography *2000: ' ...

. It is Cascio's directorial debut film. The film premiered in International Film Critics' Week section at

69th Venice International Film Festival The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, organized by Venice Biennale, took place at Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2012. The festival opened with the Indian director Mira Nair's ''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'', and clos ...

on August 11, 2012. The film screened at number of film festivals before having a theatrical release in Italy on April 11, 2013.

Plot

The film tells the story of the architect and ecologist Michele Grassadonia, who moves from his hometown of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

to live in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

and build a life that is as environmentally friendly as possible.

Cast

as Michele Grassadonia *Catrinel Menghia as Alexandra * Luigi Maria Burruano as Avv. Scalici *Aida Burruano as Madre *Barbara Enrichi as Giudice *Massimo Foschi as Avv. Chiantini *

Roberto Herlitzka Roberto Herlitzka (born 2 October 1937) is an Italian theatre and film actor of Czechoslovak descent. He has appeared in 38 films since 1973. He was born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. In 2004 he won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor ...

as Custode Maneggio *Alfonso Santagata as Pubblico Ministero *Manuel Zicarelli as Marco

Reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews from the critics. Boyd van Hoeij in his review for

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

said that "An ecologically minded Italo engineer finds himself in judicial quicksand after he pulls over his borrowed car to help someone lying in the road, in this intriguing, only lightly absurdist drama." Jennie Kermode of ''Eye for Film'' gave the film four out of five stars and called it "An intriguing piece of work and particularly impressive for a début feature, this won't be everybody's ideal film but some viewers will adore it." Mymovies.it said that "The ideal city remains an important debut and mature in the spread of so much ugliness takes the side of beauty."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ideal City, The 2012 films 2010s Italian-language films 2012 thriller drama films Italian thriller drama films Films set in Tuscany 2012 directorial debut films 2012 drama films