Rating: NR | Runtime: 74 minutes
Release Date: November 17th, 2025 (Italy) / November 13th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Oscilloscope
Director(s): Virgilio Villoresi
Writer(s): Alberto Fornari & Virgilio Villoresi / Marco Missiroli (collaboration) / Dino Buzzati (graphic novel Poema a fumetti)

They are just images trapped in time.

Adapted from Dino Buzzati’s early Italian graphic novel Poema a fumetti (itself an adaptation of the Greek tragedy centering upon Orpheus and Eurydice), writer/director Virgilio Villoresi (with assistance from Alberto Fornari and Marco Missiroli) uses the expressionistic aesthetic of the source material to play within a sprawling sandbox of vintage cinematic tricks including in-camera optical illusions, stop-motion animation, and visual composites.

Orfeo proves a kindred spirit to last year’s Resurrection from Bi Gan. The 16mm textures and dream-like surrealism take Orfeo’s (Luca Vergoni) lovelorn pianist into the afterworld to find his ballerina love, Eura (Giulia Maenza). It’s an uncertain journey through an ornate villa (populated by Aomi Muyock looking like she stepped out of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster series), darkened forest, and crowded train station to cheat and/or accept death.

It’s a love letter to the medium that those already allergic to old titles like Jean Cocteau’s own Orphic Trilogy will probably want to avoid too. Those who adore the art form, however, will find a lot to latch onto from this sensorial experience with wonderful music, an exquisite atmosphere, and kinetically fun sequences like a confrontation with the villa’s “Master” taking the form of a floating coat who tempts Orfeo to abandon his mission for nostalgia and sex instead.

The whole embraces the bittersweet nature of life regardless of whether this version of Orpheus achieves his mission to reclaim his bride. I loved the idea of lost souls remaining in purgatory to watch the imaginary happy endings of past hopes that never came to be. That human desire to spend time and energy trying to futilely erase regret rather than create new dreams. A grief-stricken prison wherein we search for closure that can only be provided by us.

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Angelica Mazzei and Stella Mazzei in ORFEO; costuming by Sara Costantini, courtesy of Oscilloscope.