Vox Populi
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Video: Clouds over Corippo
Scenes unfold like Romantic paintings in a touching meditation on grief
Watching Clouds Over Corippo (2019) feels something like seeing a series of Romantic landscape paintings brought to haunting life. And, like experiencing a still artwork absent a full narrative arc, the world within it can only be gleaned from small details and outside context. From the film’s title, it’s clear that the trapped-in-time town is Corippo, Switzerland – a historically Italian-speaking municipality on the Swiss-Italian Alpine border, with a population that’s dwindled to the edge of single digits. From the credits, we see that the man’s name is Lorenzo Schifferli. From a final sequence featuring a series of old family photos, we learn that he seems to have suffered an immense tragedy that’s defined his life ever since.
Written by Adam D’Arpino for Psyche.
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Director: Hayk Matevosyan
Advisor to the director: Béla Tarr
Shot on location in Corippo, Switzerland
Running time: 16 minutes
Email subscribers may click on the title of this post to watch the film.
Vox Populi 
What a most deeply beautiful movie — how the camera allows the viewer a long and enriching time to see (and listen) before moving on to a new “still life” in movement. That old man — the silent thoughts — then, at the end, how beautiful he was young also. The rain, that rain — like a blessing! I LOVED this — thanks, Michael!
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Thanks, Laure-Anne. I love this film. It captures the feeling of the landscape and the grief of the old man so well.
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