Felicita

Seven Pounds and Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino is at it again, this time with his release of Italian flick Baciami Ancora. Although this film has yet to hit theaters, its trailers suggest a plot where love and adventure intertwine. As I've obviously yet to see this film, I can't comment on its content. However, Lorenzo "Jovanotti" Cherubini recently released a beautiful music video in the spirit of the film, which I will make a few comments on below.

What is striking about this video? The communal family feel; the images of simple delight in relationship, landscape, and community. Each of the moments captured in this brief video are like portraits capturing the images many of us hold dearly: a big family-style dinner, dancing, the delight of children, and the pleasure of spending time with those you love. One of my favorite scenes from this little piece is where Jovanotti is bouncing around and raising his hands with the family that is playing in the ocean. It reminds me of the cover of Sigur Ros' "Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum" album, with bare-bottomed youths running across a highway. It has the same spirit, a spirit of delight exhibited by people who are fully in a moment and thus able to taste a hint of something spectacular. As the viewers of such moments, we can taste it too. Watching something like this leaves one feeling more attuned to life's lunar eclipses as they quickly pass.

Teach us Delight in simple things,
And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And Love to all men 'neath the sun!
-Rudyard Kipling