Review of The Eight Mountains

I watched "The Eight Mountains"(Italian: Le otto montagne) which is a 2022 Italian drama film co-directed by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch on the Criterion Channel. The film depicts a friendship between two men (Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi) who spend their childhood together in a remote Alpine village and reconnect later as adults. Beautifully filmed on location in the Italian Alps (although the cinematographer used a strange aspect ratio of 1.33:1 - why use a SD TV ratio?) it is also very well acted by the two leads. I was also impressed with the performances of the actors (Andrea Palma and Francesco Palombelli) who play the younger versions of the two leads. However, the story itself is slow-moving, disjointed, and to me, not very involving. The director and writer need to realize that there is more to filmmaking other than cinematic beauty - one can see the Alps in a Natgeo special in High definition - there is no real "meat" to the story. So, I cannot give this film my highest recommendation, but I would suggest you try to find it and make up your own mind. 6/10.