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For more information on cookies see our Cookie Policy. (BUTTON) X Human Capital review: a cracking social satire and a mystery story Donald Clarke Valeria Golino in Human Capital Valeria Golino in Human Capital Film Title: HUMAN CAPITAL Director: Paolo Virzì Starring: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Golino, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Matilde Gioli Genre: Drama Running Time: 109 min Fri, Sep 26, 2014, 00:00 First published: Fri, Sep 26, 2014, 00:00 * * * * Well, you know where to look for the best yarn of the week. On the surface, Human Capital sounds like a 1980s soap operas about decadent industrialists with harridans for wives. There’s some of that going on. But the knottiness of the plot and the brilliance of the performances mark it apart. Set in Milan, the picture – told in discrete chapters, each of which covers the same period – follows several unfortunate folk connected to Giovanni (Fabrizio Gifuni), a corrupt property developer. Dino (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), a local buffoon whose daughter Serena (Matilde Gioli) dated the crook’s son, is persuaded to invest money in an unstable venture. Giovanni’s wife Celia (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) becomes involved in redev- elopment schemes. In the final breathless section, we follow Serena as her story connects dots and solves mysteries. The story hangs around a late-night car accident. Some may argue that the late discovery of a hitherto unseen character is a bit of a cheat, but that trickery does allow Virzì to sideswipe carefully built-up assumptions. At any rate, the film is as much a social satire as a mystery story and, in that area, it works very well indeed. IFRAME: //www.youtube.com/embed/7VnEFuYWND4?rel=0 Human Capital, whose title is drawn from the world of insurance, is sickened and dizzied by the inequality and recklessness that characterises modern commerce. The weak are misused. The strong prevail. Unscrupulousness brings its own sordid rewards. The baddies have fun with their roles, Gioli is charismatic, but the most interesting performance comes from the gifted Bruni-Tedeschi (sister to Carla Bruni). Celia is inclined towards virtue, but hasn’t quite got the courage to fight against her husband’s tyranny. She’s not a hero. She’s not quite a coward. She’s like most of the rest of us. Fri, Sep 26, 2014, 00:00 First published: Fri, Sep 26, 2014, 00:00 * * * * Subscribe. More from The Irish Times * Music Pop Corner: Selena marks her ex’s spot; Zayn chaffed at control * Books An illustration from Aharon Appelfeld’s Adam & Thomas Children’s book reviews: a trio of compelling stories * Art & Design Giant’s staircase: Utec, Lima has ‘opened up exciting new frontiers for Peruvian architecture’. Photograph: Grafton Architects, Iwan Baan Studio Bravo Lima: the Irish architects designing the ‘new geography’ * Food & Drink The Drift Inn in Buncrana: an upturned boat with huge, semicircular beams divides the main bar. Barfly: the Drift Inn, Buncrana ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268873|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Fi lm;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] ADVERTISEMENT The Film Show The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room 7:47 The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War 6:55 The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268872|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Fi lm;kvcat=arts,+culture+and+entertainment;cookie=info;] Film Reviews Room The walls close in on a mother and child in Lenny Abrahamson’s moving, harrowing adapation of the acclaimed novel Creed Creed firmly overthrows any notions that the Rocky films are trading on an elaborate Great White Hope mythology The Revenant ‘The Revenant’ is short on dialogue and thin on characterisation; however the misery is well worth enduring A War (Krigen) The war in Afghanistan is the inspiration for a tense Danish courtroom drama Shem the Penman Sings Again A delightful, playful study of the relationship between Joyce and McCormack The Hateful Eight Tarantino sinks deeper into his auto-mythology with more haphazard plotting, gooey violence and endless dialogue, writes Donald Clarke Last Hijack: a real-world prequel to Captain Phillips Last Hijack Tommy Pallotta’s documentary is nicely presented but lacks a coherent narrative Ballerinas get bolshie in Babylon Bolshoi Bolshoi Babylon “The world of theatre is cruel . . . It looks beautiful from the outside, but inside it's boiling” Donald Clarke's Movie Quiz You can see Twilight twinkling in the eye of this week's quiz... Screenwriter 10 things to note about yesterday’s Oscar nominations * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke We had Charlotte, but not Carol. The Force Awakens encounters unfamiliar failure. And an actor who wasn't nominated steals the show Movie quiz for January 15th * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke Warm yourself up with a good hard quiz Most Read in Culture 1 Family sugar audit: Eva Orsmond with Louise and Ollie Ryan Television: A sugar-crash course in how we are poisoning ourselves 2 Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Creed ‘Apollo Creed meant everything to African-Americans’ 3 Did Philip K Dick dream of electric sheep? Much worse 4 Final bow: Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc at the end of the final Friends, in 2004 Friends: they lived perfect lives in a time of plenty. Of course we want them back 5 ‘I think cognitive enhancers should be allowed for academics’ Unthinkable: Is it unethical to take brain stimulants? 6 Dublin Rapper Tommy KD: “I never dreamt I’d be doing stuff like this, like getting the album out or playing my own shows. But at the same time, it’s important to say that everything’s not rosy.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES Tommy KD: the Dublin rapper with one of the toughest stories in Irish music 7 Giant’s staircase: Utec, Lima has ‘opened up exciting new frontiers for Peruvian architecture’. Photograph: Grafton Architects, Iwan Baan Studio Bravo Lima: the Irish architects designing the ‘new geography’ 8 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards: And the nominees are . . . 9 Joseph O’Connor on David Bowie, pictured here in 1965: “Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that the only plausible mission of the artist is ‘to make people feel they’re glad to be alive, at least a little bit.’ There are not many artists who’ve ever managed to achieve that highest of accolades. In my own life, David Bowie was one of them. He was part of my soundtrack, my passport, my pillow. I feel I was enriched to be around during his spell on the planet.” Photograph: CA/Redferns/Getty Images David Bowie: Irish writers pay tribute 10 The dialogues the author creates between Plato and various contemporary characters, including a marketing agent, a Google employee, a Tiger Mum, a radio host and a neuroscientist, convincingly demonstrate the value of continuing the job that Socrates started in ancient Greece. But they also show just why Plato would struggle to be heard today. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Never miss a story. SUBSCRIBE IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook. com%2FIrishTimesCulture&width=292&height=258&colorscheme=light&show_fac es=true&header=false&stream=false&show_border=true Film News Director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board, at a party in the Light House cinema in Dublin. Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Irish Oscar nominations exceed all expectations Pictured celebrating four Oscar nominations for Irish film Room are director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika, and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board at a party in the Lighthouse cinema last night.Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Oscars: ‘You have to mark an event like this,’ Lenny Abrahamson says Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has paid tribute to ‘magnificent actor’ Alan Rickman on his death. Photograph: Jas Lehal/Files/Reuters J.K. Rowling pays tribute to ‘magnificent’ Alan Rickman Subscribe About Us Policy & Terms Subscribe * Subscription Bundles * Gift Subscriptions * Home Delivery Irish Times Products & Services * ePaper * eBooks * Crosswords * Newspaper Archive * Dating * Ancestors * Email Alerts & Newsletters * Article Archive * Executive Jobs * Page Sales * Photo Sales About Us * Advertise * Contact Us * The Irish Times Trust * Careers Download on the App Store Download on Google Play * Our Partners * Rewarding Times * MyHome.ie * Irish Racing * Entertainment.ie * Top 1000 * MyAntiques.ie * The Gloss * Irish Times Training * Terms & Conditions * Privacy Policy * Cookie Information * Community Standards * Copyright * FAQs © 2015 THE IRISH TIMES For the best site experience please enable JavaScript in your browser settings Sign In ____________________ ____________________ (BUTTON) Sign In Forgot Password? Don't have an account? 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