Matteo Garrone's "The Embalmer" tells the story of Valerio, a waiter,(with the face and body of a God)who is taken under the wing of a troll-like man with bad dental work, Peppino, who makes Valerio and offer he can't refuse. After Valerio accepts Peppino's offer to work as an apprentice, he quits his job and is kicked
out of his apartment. Along with the job, Peppino allows Valerio to move in with him. Things get rather creepy as Peppino introduces Valerio to his occupation and lets him in on a job where he extracts baggies of drugs out of human corpses. As the movie progresses Peppino gets more obsessed with Valerio and the relationship turns strange as Peppino sets up sexual tristes with two girls that usually end up with things moving to the homeoerotic side. When Valerio meets a girl, Deborah, she suspects that Peppino is looking for more than friendship and decides to expose him.
The performances are very good and the psychosexual power struggle is developed well, but the mafia subplot and some interesting scenes are truncated. Still, it is an interesting movie about deception and obsession. Many will find it a bore, but the characters and what motivates them is what is at the core of this film.
February 24, 2011
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