‘Atlantide’ Review: An Iridescent Ode to the Boy Racers of the Venetian Lagoon
variety.comGuy Lodge Film Critic“Atlantide” is the Italian name for Atlantis, the fictional island utopia imagined by Plato, supposedly cursed by the gods and swallowed by the sea.
It’s a pointed legend to evoke in a film about Venice, the sinking city that, real as it is, feels like a place we collectively dreamed into being, that could somehow be taken from us at any moment.
The crumbling fragility of this impossible city and the defiant ennui of its native sons are both richly illustrated in Italian video artist Yuri Ancarani’s dazzling hybrid documentary, which navigates Venice’s various secondary islands and the waterways that separate them through the heavy-lidded eyes of young men who live for rollicking motorboat action and, it seems, not much else.
All life here is made to feel as beautiful and vulnerable as the city itself. Since premiering at (where else?) Venice last year, “Atlantide” has made a strong impression on the festival circuit, buoyed by its ripe, sensual imagery and seductive sonics.
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