I dug this film when I saw it this past May at Cannes. No surprise, Netflix picked it up and has launched a full-on awards campaign for Alice Rohrwacher's hypnotic, surreal and sensual "Happy As Lazzaro." The film won the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes, and its just-released trailer evokes everything I loved about it; moody atmosphere delivered through the mysteriously dreamy ambiguity of the narrative. The film takes a major detour in its second half, one which I will not reveal, but that's when the film really gets going and becomes damn-near Bressonian.
REVIEW: ‘Lazzaro Felice’: Alice Rohrwacher’s Evokes Timeless, 1960s Cinema [Cannes Review]
‘Lazzaro’ comes to us from writer-director Rohrwacher, whose other two narrative feature films, both selected for Cannes, I didn't particularly like, but 'Lazzaro' is a major step up for her. Netflix is pushing this hard for a Best Foreign Language Film nomination and they might get it, which means that both this and 'Roma' would be available via streaming when the nominations are announced in early January. Netflix may even have 3 nominees in the final five as Belgium's "Girl" has also been campaigned hard by the streaming giant, and for good reason.