Renewable Matter # 20 / February-March

If Nature is Poised Between Enigma and Dream

by Roberto Giovannini

The film industry has discovered the environment, and it deals with it is sometimes within a “catastrophe” scenario, sometimes through science fiction and sometimes in a fantasy style. This time we will talk about two films: one has been released in cinemas (Body and Soul) and one on television through Netflix (Annihilation). In both cases the environmental dimension is interpreted and offered in a surprising dreamlike and fictional tone, that leaves one amazed and confused.

Body and Soul, by Hungarian director Ildikò Enyedi, has already won the Golden Bear at the last Berlin Festival. The plot is simple and almost trivial: Mária and Endre work in the same slaughterhouse. She is in charge of quality control, and he is the financial director. They are both lone and slightly sad characters, but at a certain point they discover they have a...

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