Ciao (2008) directed by Yen Tan
Director: Yen Tan
Writers: Alessandro Calza (writer) and
Yen Tan (writer)
Release Date: 30 March 2008 (AFI Dallas Film Festival, USA)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Tagline: A Tale of Love.
Every ending has a new beginning.
Plot: Deeply sincere and exceedingly slow even at 87 minutes, "Ciao" involves two strangers - Adam Neal Smith as Jeff and Alessandro Calza as Andrea - who become acquaintances after the death of a mutual friend. Directed by Yen Tan, who wrote the screenplay with Mr. Calza, the story takes off (slowly) shortly after the mutual friend, Mark (Charles W. Blaum), dies in an accident. Jeff mourns, largely by staring off into space under the fixed gaze of Mr. Tan's stationary camera. The movie picks up somewhat with the introduction of Andrea, an Italian who hoped to consummate his and Mark's online flirtation with a visit to the States. Jeff suggests that Andrea stick to his travel plans. He does, and you can guess the rest. Shot in muddy video, "Ciao" weds a story that sounds (and often plays) like a pornographic quickie with a torturously ambitious visual style. Though it's a bit of a relief that someone in American independent cinema apparently knows how to use a tripod, Mr. Tan has only traded one contemporary visual cliché (dribbling camerawork) for another (the art-house long shot).
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Cast (in credits order)
Adam Neal Smith ... Jeff
Alessandro Calza ... Andrea
Ethel Lung ... Lauren
Chuck Blaum ... Mark
John S. Boles ... Mark's Father
Margaret Lake ... Mark's Mother
Tiffany Vollmer ... Doctor
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