La Chimera

 La Chimera is a deeply lovely Italian comedy/drama hybrid that's suffused with strangeness, mythic undertones and some interesting themes. Not bad for a movie that takes more than an hour to lay its cards on the table.

 Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is a British expat somewhere in Italy, sometime in the '80s. He cuts a dashing, standoffish figure in his cream suit. It's enough to make the local girls swarm to him, although his surly disposition quickly scares them off.
 The man is a fallen archeologist, just out of prison for tomb robbery. We follow him for a while as he visits his old home (a run-down shack in the shadow of a huge medieval wall), goes to visit the mother (Isabella Rossellini) of an old flame, and is accosted by his old partners in crime - a jolly gaggle of misfits who call themselves the Tombaroli - until he accepts to join them again.

 The thing is that Arthur is critical to their operation, which sees them roam the countryside looking for Etruscan burial sites to despoil: The archeologist is an eerily effective dowser who can sense nearby tombs. Conflict finally arrives surprisingly late in the movie, as his nose for treasure leads him to a spectacular find. Its fate - along with a tentative romance with a local woman (Carol Duarte) the film has been patiently building - sends the archeologist into an existential crisis.

 It's a slow, slow character study that happens to be charming as hell and pretty funny in that boisterous, slice-of-life Italian way while mostly steering clear of melodrama in a way that requires more than a little patience. But writer/director Alice Rohrwacher adds a lot more to it: a red thread (almost literally!) runs through the movie, serving as both an incarnation of the protagonist's restlessness and a nod towards Theseus and Ariadne, and the story also references the Orpheus myth. Hell, there's even a couple of musicians that follow the Tombaroli and sing a couple of songs that comment on the action like a Greek chorus. All that on top of many slightly surrealist (or magic realist, I guess) touches.

My favorite movie poster in ages. I mean, look at this thing - it's glorious!

 Arthur clings to memories of a happier time, as does Rosellini's character. Italia, Arthur's new love interest, unknowingly articulates the Tombaroli's justification for stealing historic artifacts (it they belong to everyone, they belong to no one?) and later turns it on its head. It's not a hugely deep movie, and there are some misfires such as a scene where a powerful woman compares the Tombaroli with tiny cogs in a huge machine... and then proceeds to frame Arthur between huge, gyrating engines. But on the main it's all pulled off with grace and wit; There's quite a bit going on here.

 The filmmaking is beautiful - lots of film grain and bright primary colours - and Rohrwacher and DP Hélène Louvart sneak in some clever camera moves and some fun touches like slightly undercranking a  ridiculous police chase. The acting is also incredible - O'Connor is incredible, as is Duarte, and most of the side characters are given memorable performances.

 As with so many of these movies that scratch deeply personal itches (eww!), I find it really hard to gauge how well it would play for others. As always, I can only try to articulate why I feel it might be worth your time. If any of the above sounds appealing, you can probably do a lot worse.