Davide Manuli’s new take on the historical Kaspar Hauser story previously adapted by Werner Herzog (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) features Vincent Gallo as both an English-speaking The Sheriff and an Italian-speaking bell-bottomed The Pusher.
I’m a huge fan of Herzog’s film, but Manuli’s second film The Legend Of Kaspar Hauser (La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser), weird as hell, is a quirky Techno Western depicting surreal humor from obscure scenes.
The mysterious titular character is played by a flat-chested stage actress Silvia Calderoni, while Claudia Gerini stars as The Duchess, Fabrizio Gifuni as The Priest, and Elisa Sednaoui as The Psychic. Gallo delivers a solid performance, but all the other actors appeared to be fairly amateur.
Inspired by westerns, surrealism and sci-fi, the film premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival in 2012 and it opens in Italy and France in September, but no word yet on a U.S. release.
Actually it’s no surprise at all because Legend is a little too inaccessible for a mainstream audience.
Open yourself to this film and check it out – the score by French electronic act Vitalic is terrific.
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Here’s the synopsis:
We are on the deserted and abandoned island, in a dimension without either place or time. A body, floating in the sea, comes to a beach: it is Kaspar Hauser, the heir to the throne of island, who disappeared for obscure reasons when he was still a small boy. It was Hauser’s destiny to come back alive, but his mind is apparently disturbed or lacking in clarity. The boy is cared for by the Sheriff of the island, who gives him a place to stay in the old jail. Since his arrival is the only novelty in the routine of the small community he will soon find out who his friends are (the Sheriff and the Clairvoyant) and who his enemies are (the Dark Man and the Duchess). Unfortunately his stay will not last long, as he will soon be dead and will return to the place where he came from: the sea.
