Watch Footprints on the Moon For Free

That was an excellent one.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Blistering performances.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

When is a giallo not a giallo, but is a giallo anyway? When it features virtually no blood, no boobs, but still looks gorgeous and has you wondering what's going on right up until the end of the film. Klaus Kinski certainly makes easy money in this one, barely appearing as a strange scientist conducting experiments on astronauts on the moon and never interacting with anyone in the actual main plotline. In fact, he might just be a guy in a scenario dreamt up by Florinda Bolkan, because that's the impression we're given when she wakes up from dreaming about an astronaut abandoned on the moon.Florinda work and lives in the EUR, Rome's neo-classical business district, as a translator and after she sparks up a Dunhill and heads for work, she discovers to her bafflement that somehow she's blacked out and missed a few days of work without telling anyone. After confiding in her friend Ida Galli (don't get attached to her because she's in this for about two minutes), Florinda heads home and finds a torn-up postcard in her bin, showing a hotel in a place called Garma. Seemingly fired from her job due to vanishing, Florinda heads to Garma and things get even stranger. She meets up with a little girl (Nicoletta Elmi) who insists that she was there a couple of days ago, although she had red hair and called herself Nicole. Other people on the island seem to think the same thing, which causes Florinda to dig deeper, and she may not like what she finds. Meanwhile, Kinski appears now again in black and white, eerie sequences experimenting on astronauts on the moon...That's enough plot, seeing as the whole thing revolves around Florinda wandering around the island. There's a whole load of atmosphere in this one, and the whole film, give or take, has almost been bled of colour on purpose, just to emphasise Florinda's isolation (or maybe to reflect her blank memory of the past few days). If you've watched Bazzoni's Fifth Cord (you should) you'll get more of the same lush cinematography here, only here the introduction of colour here and there, for example a yellow dress, really stands out. I wonder if this is why the start of the film is set in the EUR, which is also a place strangely bled of colour. Dario Argento would do the same for his later giallo Tenebrae.Of course, watching someone wandering around an island and shouting at people would get boring really quickly, but Florinda Bolkan's the kind of actress who can carry a film on her own. She really does look troubled as the evidence piles up that she was at the island a few days before, or at least someone who really looked like her.This is a mild film (rated 12 in the UK) but shouldn't be missed. It's a shame this was Bazzoni's last film. I'll have to track to down his Spaghetti Western version of the opera Carmen

A beautiful and independent woman works as a translator and interpreter. When she arrives at the office in order to hand in some written notes, she gets a frosty reception : she is accused not only of exceeding the deadline, but also of disappearing in a sudden (and highly inconvenient) manner. Defensive at first, the poor woman discovers that she can't account for her whereabouts during the last week or so. About the only clue consists of a photograph of a large, striking building in a Moorish or Oriental style... "Le orme" can be described as a psychological thriller, a metaphysical horror movie, or both. Whatever it is, it is a trippy, eerie, discombobulating movie with a highly original plot and style. I'm not sure that the plot, once unravelled, makes complete sense in a (chrono)logical way - which is the reason why I'm awarding 7 stars instead of 8 or 9 - but it certainly makes sense in a poetic, emotional way. "Le orme" also contains some very imaginative metaphors, and even some kind of movie-within-a-movie.Florinda Bolkan gives an excellent performance. She is also a very beautiful woman, a fact which is highlighted by some superbly flattering costumes. In fact, "Le orme" as a whole is an aesthetic delight. The wonderfully shot sets, locations and scenery are so beautiful that I would like to visit them in the flesh. (Am I right in thinking that the movie was filmed in Italy, Greece and Turkey ?) Those shimmering peacock windows alone would be sufficient reason to travel to a far-off destination.Last but not least the movie boasts a fine musical score.

Translator Alice Cespi (an excellent performance by Florinda Bolkan) can't remember anything about the last few days. With only a torn photo of a seaside town to go on about the loss of her memory, Alice visits the community but doesn't find the answers she's looking for. Various folks in the town recognize her, but she has no clue who they are. Meanwhile, Alice is also haunted by dreams of a man being left on the moon to die. Director Luigi Bazzoni, who also co-wrote the quirky and compelling script with Mario Fanelli, relates the absorbing story at a hypnotic deliberate pace, makes fine use of the lovely coastal locations, ably creates and sustains an intriguing and atmospheric air of perplexing mystery, and tosses in a novel and inspired sci-fi angle that culminates in a genuinely startling surprise downbeat ending. Bolkan does a sterling job of carrying the picture with her exceptional acting; she receives sturdy support from Peter McEnery as the likable Henry, Nicoletta Elmi as enigmatic little girl Paola, and Lila Kedrova as the friendly Mrs. Helm. Klaus Kinski has a small, yet pivotal role as sinister scientist Professor Blackmann. Vittorio Storaro's sumptuous cinematography offers a wealth of stunning visuals. Nicola Piovani's spare brooding further enhances the overall eerie and ambiguous mood. An odd and engrossing giallo that's worth seeing for fans of this neat and uniquely Italian genre.

This film seems to be rated rather highly here, for me it just did not pull it all together. I was intrigued by the the film for the most part as it had me wondering the whole time, "what is exactly going on?" Unfortunately, the ending came and it needed more. A film that seems to be racing to some sort of illuminating answer, just should not end in rather confusing fashion where I was left wondering, "what are they implying happened?" The film is based off a book, so perhaps the book ends a bit less vague, but that is what made me not care for the movie as much as I might have. The too vague ending.The story starts out with this strange scene of astronauts dragging an unconscious astronaut along the surface of the moon, there he is abandoned. Then we meet Alice who seems to be suffering from extreme memory loss. She cannot seem to remember the past couple of days clearly at all. Well she is eventually led to a town called Garma, where it seems she may have been before, and strangely she seemed to take on the persona of another person as she called herself Nicole. A little girl seems to have known her, others as well. However, the truth just is not revealed as I kept expecting some sort of conclusion, instead it ended leaving one wondering if this was all a part of some sort of delusion or if it was really happening.Whoever made this film, I am guessing they were trying to leave things up to the viewers imagination. You could either say the lead female was crazy and that at the end her mind had totally snapped. Or, you can believe she was abducted and that she was going to be the next victim stranded on the moon. For me, the film seemed to be racing to some sort of conclusion, but the ending was inconclusive. However, for my money, I would have to say there is more evidence that she was simply crazy.The film was not bad for me. It just was not good. I do not think it helped that it was on an alien invasion DVD which led me to believe it would have some sort of grand conspiracy at the end. I do enjoy films with towns with secrets and this one played out like a film that follows that format, it's just that the town was not really a factor in the end. It was interesting, but not entirely for me.