Netflix has cast Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich and Martin Scorsese himself in the cast of its new film, which now presents its first trailer. ‘Dante’s Manuscript’, however, is not an action blockbuster, but rather an arthouse film that divided critics after its passage through the last Venice Film Festival, and which screened in theaters in the United States in a very limited way a few days ago. There are those who are already comparing it to ‘Metrópolis’. 17 years of preparation. This project has been going on since 2008: it was then when Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, acquired the rights to Tosches’ novel with the intention of having Depp himself star in it. Julian Schnabel came on board as director in 2011, but the project remained on hold for years. Filming did not start until October 2023 in Italy, with Oscar Isaac already in the lead role after replacing Depp, and with countless problems and delays due to the actors strike. What is it about? Two timelines run in parallel: in New York in 2001, shortly before September 11, a writer (Isaac) is recruited by a mafia boss (John Malkovich) to authenticate and steal what would be the original manuscript of ‘The Divine Comedy’, written in the handwriting of Dante Alighieri. In parallel, the film follows Dante himself in the 14th century as he goes through a creative crisis under the tutelage of his mentor, played by Scorsese. Isaac plays both roles: Tosches in the present, Dante in the past. And Butler also doubles: a hitman in the 21st century and Pope Boniface VIII in the 14th. The film adapts an excessive novel of almost 400 pages that mix medieval philosophy, mafia violence and reflections on writing and the divine. Colored things. The most striking visual decision of the film, as seen in the trailer, is to represent the two eras with different chromatic treatments: one in black and white and the other in color. However, the film does it in the opposite way to usual: the medieval scenes are filmed in color and the contemporary ones, in black and white. The past appears to us alive and saturated and the present, under a gray and colorless layer. Who is Schnabel? Julian Schnabel is not a filmmaker of mass productions for all audiences. Look at his filmography: ‘Basquiat’ (1996), ‘Before Night Falls’ (2000), ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ (2007, Best Director at Cannes), ‘Miral’ (2010) and ‘Van Gogh, at the Gates of Eternity’ (2018). Eight years have passed between ‘Van Gogh’ and this ‘Dante Manuscript’. Schnabel is also a painter, and that origin can be seen in his films, with careful framing and highly visual work. From heaven to hell. the movie received an ovation 9 and a half minutes at its premiere in Venetian Venice. But the reviews were not so good: there were who compared it with ‘Megalopolis‘by Francis Ford Coppola. Othershowever, they mentioned the influence of totems of auteur cinema such as Cassavettes or the first Coppola. However, this is not small independent auteur cinema, but a Netflix premiere, which will finally present it on June 24. The film completely departs from the platform’s usual style, but the truth is that it is not a Netflix production, but rather that it has been purchased exclusively for its catalogue, convinced that the cast of well-known names will generate a conversation very different from the one produced by, for example, ‘The Burroughs’. The moment of ‘Roma’ and ‘The Irishman’ has already passed, Netflix has no intention of positioning itself as an auteur film factory, but there is something that does not change in its intentions: the more content it brings and the more attention it generates, the better for it. In Xataka | Netflix has achieved what seemed crazy at first: that we pay in exchange for watching ads
