“Tommaso” is based on the life of director Abel Ferrara. If you go into this movie with that knowledge in hand then it will be a much more rewarding experience.
I saw “Tomasso” almost exactly a year ago at Cannes 2019. I thought this personal and, sometimes, very sweet movie was Ferrara’s best work since 1995’s “The Addiction.” The 69-year-old Ferrara has directed over 40 features in his 5-decade career. There have been a lot of misses, but peak Ferrara (“Bad Lieutenant,” “King of New York,” “Ms. 45”) makes the filmmaker well worth following.
As seen in the new trailer for “Tommaso,” the plot revolves around an American artist living in Rome with his wife and young daughter. Much like every other film by the writer-director, the male lead struggles with his inner demons and tries to find a way to feel whole amidst the chaos around him. Dafoe plays the Ferrara-esque filmmaker, but his real-life wife and 3-year-old child play wife and child in the film.
Dafoe and Ferrara have collaborated on a number of films over the years, notably “New Rose Hotel,” “Go Go Tales,” “4:44 Last Day on Earth,” and “Pasolini.” There’s also “Siberia,” which premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and still doesn’t have an American distributor or release date.
“Tomasso” arrives on VOD on June 5th
Here’s the synopsis:
“Willem Dafoe is an American artist living in Rome with his family, played by Abel Ferrara’s real-life wife and daughter. Their tumultuous relationship is set against his day to day life as a teacher, ex-pat, and recovering addict.”