Il dono

Cryptic, atmospheric, pretty much plotless portrait of a sparsely populated village, faintly evocative of Olmi's "Tree of Wooden Clogs". What extremely little dialogue it has is totally inessential - so there's no need for subtitles. I think Frammartino did slightly better in 2010's "The Four Times", but I love "The Gift" as well. It offers surprisingly much to chew on

A hermetic, meditative film on life and death and reason/speech vs. irrationality/silence. The old man gives a gift to the disabled girl and goes back to earth. She's silent & lonely like the Sicilian village. Yet maybe she'll give birth to a child--even though it's a result of rape--and he'll grow up & walk through the same empty streets. He will get old and maybe he'll give a gift to another woman. This is the magical cycle of life and it doesn't need words, just as strong cinema doesn't.