Le quattro volte

Fascinating and engaging in equal measure. It manages to find a rare identity somewhere between silent film, documentary and humble metaphysical drama. It completely switches the perspective away from human-centered world, and shows us the relativity of the scope of life and the fundamental unity of life and mater. These potentially silly themes are engaged with zero pretentiousness or pompous sermoning. Instead it's funny, tragic, uplifting and original. Everything I want from a film.

Bela Tarr should have taken some notes from The Four Times before making his wildly overrated "Turin Horse". The Four Times is a wordless poem, much of it in long still shots which qualify as tableaux vivantes, but it has a substantial plot very much worth following, even when at times, the characters driving it are animals. I sensed slight echoes of Olmi's "Tree of Wooden Clogs". A pretty and affecting film.

A beautiful film that immerses the viewer in the created world. Without the aid of words, Frammartino is still able to provide a strong sense of connection to his subject matter, animate and inanimate. The standout shot involves multiple 180 degree turns, sometimes with the slightest differences in them and with a dog doing what seems only a human actor could be trained to do.

Near wordless film capturing the sleepy rhythms of Calabrian village life structured around Pythagoras' metempsychosis, Le Quattro Volte is a contemplative vision of life from multiple perspectives. Divided neatly into three sections, the narrative is a relay where the baton is slowly passed from one entity to another, emphasing the interconnectedness of all things. It's beautifully shot, but it peaks emotionally with the goat, so the third act, while intellectually justified, feels superfluous.

The Turin Goat.

Mesmerising film, if a little self-indulgent. Obviously made with a lot of thought and love but goes out of its way, particularly towards the end, to drive its point home after all areas of intrigue are explained and connections made. (The end was 10 minutes too long.)

An unobtrusive film that goes quietly about its business with long takes, leaving plenty of space for you to sit back and contemplate the wonders of nature, the meaning of life, perhaps also what you are going to have for dinner and did you close the front gate on your way out. Frammartino only offers the barest of hints at meaning, and it's really up to the viewer to find their own interpretation or message. A hard film to truly fall in love with, but not too repulsively boring either.

An utter joy, an extremely minimalistic take on life and death (with potential reincarnation as well) in an Italian village and yet, including segments following a baby goat and a tree through their lives and deaths, its message is clear and extremely powerful. The framing of scenes like postcards (or the work of Roy Andersson) was an inspired choice, both breathtaking and leading to probably one of the best comedic moments you will find in an art film. It's a unique gem.

insandan hayvana, hayvandan bitkiye, bitkiden zerreye her şey doğar, yalnız kalır ve ölür. ya da tüm bunlar aslında tek bir ruha sahiptir ve sonsuz döngüde salınır.

If you like a no-action movie - watch this. Some friends of mine once had some fun lending me this film, as they both have heard me say that I like slow movies. I spend an evening in boredom wondering why this film....

everyone bites the dust so to speak

Sloooow-cinema.

The fourfold transmigration of a soul is the conceit by which a kind of cosmological rumination is effected, and through which the hubris of human mastery is upset, dissolved as it is into some old-but-new ecological paradigm. The film is always interesting in its collection of moments, shots and scenes, but it seems to this viewer to contain aspects of what Claude Lévi-Strauss called an entropological perspective, in which the fecundity of nature is falsely opposed to human destructiveness.

Star Rating: ★★★★★

Very pretty but not enough narrative to really hook, 'loose' to the point of mind wandering away from it altogether.

The circle of life...

Long, lingering distant static shots, no dialogue but very rich sound and on the surface very little happens. This a visual poem.

An absolute wonder as a film that's 10 minutes too long. Also goats.

Mesmeric film about life, death and reincarnation. Each shot is incredibly beautiful and induces a questioning trance in the viewer. The narrative is both moving and funny. No doubt, it's been analyzed to death but but the meaning is probably the least interesting part of the film.

The absence of dialogue is undoubtedly the film's greatest asset, allowing you to take in its imagery without losing track of the message it tries to get across. It also features what's unquestionably one of my favourite shots of recent years that can't help but bring to mind 2001's most infamous cut. Mesmerizing and unique, Le Quattro Volte should grab hold of your heart as a disheartening and cathartic experience.

A sometimes compelling, contemplative flick that people will read too much into.

Tells a complicated story of life, death, politics, loneliness, religion, drugs, animals, and everything else in the most simple, but funny, tragic, educational, and inspiring way. The segment with the lone goat is particularly moving.

cutest lil' kid (goat) ever

goats

molto buono

Visually engaging and watered-down. The long and static shots, along with this quite rare (nature-like) calmness helps to experience this movie better, as it is very reflecting.

perfect, there is no unnecessary shots. Wonderful depth.

26 subat 11, ifistanbul2011 & festivalin izledigim en iyi filmi. ilk yirmi dakika hikayeye ve anlatim tarzina girmek icin zorlaniyorsunuz ama daha sonrasi filme tamamen kaptiriyorsunuz. filmde hic konusma yok, basrol yasli bir adam iken daha sonra oglak, bir agac veya komur olabiliyor. cunku hayat her yerde. ve kamera hayati takip ediyor. ozellikle kameranin yolda iki uc kez kesintisiz pan yaptigi ve adamin oldugu plani cok sevdim. sinemadaki siirselligin karsiligi.. muthis hayranlik duydum.

"There's certainly no shortage of contemplative static-camera films filling out the festival circuit, but at its worst, Frammartino's movie plays like a parody of this popular approach." - Andrew Schenker