As the narrative – enigmatic and disjointed – slowly begins to take
shape, we gradually build up an understanding of both the external
facts of the protagonist's (Titta's) life and the inner landscape of
his personality. This journey of revelation is achieved via a
perfect synthesis of style and content. Titta's carefully suppressed
inner turbulence and controlled distance from everyone around him is
matched by a camera that restlessly observes and interrogates the
world. The camera also shows both Titta's point of view (as it
surreptitiously catches peoples' faces, or focuses on the details of
surroundings) and reflects our own fragile and fragmented sense of
who he is (as it catches him disappearing down corridors and around
corners - an effect heightened by the sometimes disorientating
editing – or moves into close-up on his face, trying to decipher his
inscrutable expression).

This method of character revelation - from confusing narrative and a
tension in points of view, to emerging clarity - is achieved with
astonishing skill, and leads us to a real sense of connection and
understanding of this character. It is particularly satisfying that
this process of storytelling avoids becoming simply an intellectual
game of puzzle solving.

There are so many other aspects to enjoy about this film: the build
up of suspense; its leisurely shift into a kind of genre film; some
fantastic music that will occasionally burst out of nowhere; the
wonderful central performance of Toni Servillo; and the always
imaginative and never redundant camera moves.

A real treat.