1) The Art of the Line continues at Arts for All Gallery.
2) Vino Libro hosts Bottomless Monday.
3) Ciao continues at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
4) Paintings and Works on Paper and Plein Aire Landscapes continue at TEW Galleries.
5) Emory’s Great Novels and Great Films series continues with The Age of Innocence in White Hall.
(Photo by Alec Knudson)
DON'T SPEAK: Andrea (Alessandro Calza, left) and Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) let their eyes do the talking.
An old commercial used to claim, “If you want to attract someone’s attention, whisper.” The indie drama Ciao seems to heed that advice in its quiet, compelling introduction. The audience reads a series of e-mail messages on a black screen interspersed between simple, enigmatic shots of one man leaving his apartment and another man going through his effects. We soon identify the two correspondents. Andrea (Alessandro Calza), an Italian graphic designer, plans to visit his chat room pal Mark in Dallas, Texas. Jeff (Adam Neal Smith), a financial planner, informs Andrea that Mark recently died in a car accident.
With no spoken dialogue, Ciao’s early moments draw us in. As we watch Jeff go about his routine, we reflect on how unexpected tragedy can lend gravity to the seemingly mundane activities of the survivors. Then, at about the nine-minute mark, the characters finally start talking out loud to each other, and Ciao becomes a lot less interesting.
