(**)

If advertised as a tomb raider excursion, audiences will look for a Harrison Ford adventure vehicle. But what they will find is a dull, eccentric comedy that blends reality and fantasy in the most forced ways. A tale so small it’s not worth telling. 

Arthur (Josh O’Connor, The Crown) is a stylishly dressed Englishman and ex-con who never changes his clothes. He makes his meager living, assisted by a band of hapless marauders, finding, excavating and robbing tombs for artifacts he sells on the black market. 

The very quirky Italian writer/director Alice Rohrwacher sets her story of thievery in Central Italy. Her main character is melancholy. He’s lost the love of his life. He dresses in an oatmeal-colored linen suit, which evolves from smudged to near rags—just like his life. Add in that he and his robbers rarely succeed, and their shenanigans test patience at the 80-minute mark. Yet the film continues for 130 minutes.   

Credit O’Connor for working through Arthur’s misery the best way he can. But that’s expected.  This is what gifted actors do. They find a way to shine and bring audiences into their character even in a film that isn’t captivating. Isabella Rossellini costars.  Supporting cast looks and acts like it just escaped from an office Halloween party. Soaring soprano solos fill the air and make the musical soundtrack more winsome than the entire film. 

Most comedic elements seem like an overreach. Much Like the third installment of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. But there is a gimmick with a thread of yarn being stretched from the ground that pulls the exasperating storyline together in the end. It’s a trick that makes you sympathize with Arthur. It’s effective.

A forgettable film except for a tattered linen suit that ages better than everything else. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syCSULYnDsg

For more information about the New York Film Festival go to  https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2023/ 
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.