Running Against

Subtle look at the fears we each carry around, about putting our hearts on the table.

All the actors do fine and well-shaded work here, but the movie is sustained by a magnetic and utterly convincing performance from Stefano Dionisi in the lead role (Pablo), a paraplegic with a chip on his shoulder. Tibaldi has created a character who is alternately caring, sympathetic, judgmental, touchy, proud and plain annoying--and Dionisi carries it off without a false note anywhere.

A couple reviews have said this isn't a film about the disabled, and the rehab center is only the setting. True enough, as far as it goes. But that's a bit like saying "Smoke Signals" was a film about fathers and sons and not about Indians or rez life. Certainly it was a film about Indians! But paradoxically, universality lies in particularity. Correre Contro (Running Against) is a film about a disabled man who shares the same fears as the rest of us, but his experience of them is shaped by living in a wheelchair. The real point, I think, is that this isn't a silly film full of histrionics and spelled-out morals.

If the film has a fault, it's probably the camera-work. Sometimes the shots were clever and startling, sometimes just startling. In a couple places, the camera work actually kicked me out of the "world" of the movie. At that point, it's getting in the way. But overall, a small complaint.

It's a real shame this film by Tibaldi hasn't been picked up for US distribution.