Alien Food (Italy) by Giorgio Cugno, "a fascinating portrait"

Alien Food follows Alberto (Gianpiero Abate), a middle-aged man who, after an extended stay in a psychiatric community, has just moved in with a foster family. The film chronicles Alberto’s daily routine as he attends therapy, sits down to family meals, and works at a computer repair store. At work, he’s taken an interest in personal photos and videos stored on devices sent for repair. Late at night, Alberto looms over his laptop screen, cycling through strangers’ photos and videos. The audience is forced to watch along with him, an unwilling participant in Alberto’s voyeuristic routine. However, as the plot unfolds; we realize that the videos become Alberto’s only personal connection, artificial as it may be. That is, until he forms a bond with Vicky (Victoria Mannoni), his foster family’s 12-year-old daughter.

Vicky has a fascination with extraterrestrials, a hyperfixated young girl ostracised from her peers, even her mother.  Despite the pair’s obvious differences, she seems to be the only one who can match Alberto’s wavelength, an unwitting participant in his quest for mental balance. The interactions between Alberto and Vicky are touching. Both performances convey an acute sense of loneliness, desperation, and compassion for one other.

Visually, the film alternates between largely static shots and handheld, point-of-view footage. This does an excellent job conveying the divide between Alberto and the outside world, placing us firmly in the headspace of someone who feels perpetually alone. One scene in particular, in which Alberto misinterprets an interaction with his boss, paints a powerful picture of his warped sense of reality, and how it can bear grave consequences. The film takes some big swings too. As days turn into weeks with Alberto skipping his medication, he experiences haunting hallucinations, the blend of imagination and reality expertly realized through a series of increasingly disturbing assaults to the senses. When Alberto skips his dosage, the lethargic fog is lifted, but at what cost?

Ultimately, Alien Food is a fascinating portrait of not only the effects of mental illness, but the perpetual struggle of those impacted to find peace, understanding, and balance with the world around them.

Review by Shane McKevitt for Venice Film Week: https://www.venicefilmweek.com