Ennio

Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore proves the perfect filmmaker to craft this loving tribute to one of the all-time greats: composer Ennio Morricone (1928-2020). Tornatore knew Morricone as a regular collaborator and a friend, and the film is built around a series of interviews they recorded together six or seven years ago. A trumpet player who set out to become an avant garde composer, Morricone was sidetracked by cinema, a medium for which he found had an exceptional affinity. But he never abandoned his avant garde learnings; part of what makes his scores so revolutionary is his openness to go beyond the orchestra to incorporate unorthodox instruments (jew’s harp; electric guitar) and “found” sounds: gun shots, snapping whips, the percussion of hooves and boots. That said, his music could also be unapologetically romantic, witness his scores for The Mission and Days of Heaven. An extraordinary roster of talents testify to Morricone’s genius, but it’s his personal warmth and sensitivity that speaks loudest. Even at 2.5 hours the film barely scratches the surface of an immense career that stretched beyond 400 credits.

VIFF is showcasing several of his greatest scores this month, including The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, This Mission, The Untouchables, and Days of Heaven.

A painstakingly detailed, fantastically entertaining, and profoundly exhausting deep dive into the career of the hyper-prolific Italian composer Ennio Morricone.

Leslie Felperin, The Guardian

One of the movie’s nice surprises is that Morricone turns out to be a total charmer, a low-key showman with a demure gaze that he works like a vamp and an impish smile that routinely punctuates one of his anecdotes.

Manohla Dargis, New York Times

The bad news about the Ennio Morricone documentary “Ennio” is its length: 2 1/2 hours. Far too short!

Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal

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