FILTER SCREEN
Sprawling and enthralling
Expansive doc unpacks the creative enigma of the late, great Morricone.
By David Sheppard.
Quiet, please, genius at work: Ennio Morricone –a uniquely gifted composer.
Ennio: The Maestro
★★★★★
Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
DOGWOOF/PIANO B PRODUZIONI. C/ST
THERE’S A telling disclosure midway through Giuseppe Tornatore’s compelling, 156-minute tribute to the globally renowned Italian soundtrack eminence. It concerns director Pier Paolo Pasolini who, we learn, had only ever used J.S. Bach compositions in his films before recruiting Morricone to score his 1966 neo-realist feature, Hawks And Sparrows. After that, Pasolini dispensed with Bach – the implication being that he had found his living equivalent.
Such lofty veneration is a hallmark of Ennio: The Maestro, with its eclectic parade of talking heads – everyone from Bernardo Bertolucci to Clint Eastwood and Bruce Springsteen – dishing out lavish encomiums for the uniquely gifted Roman composer. In marked contrast, Morricone’s own recollections (largely harvested from an 11-hour interview Tornatore conducted shortly before the composer’s passing in 2020) are couched in humility, often interspersed with beguiling, whisper-sung melodic fragments from his 500-plus soundtracks.