‎Happy as Lazzaro (2018) directed by Alice Rohrwacher • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Happy as Lazzaro

2018 ‘Lazzaro felice’ Directed by Alice Rohrwacher

Purehearted teen Lazzaro is content living as a sharecropper in rural Italy, but an unlikely friendship with the marquise’s son will change his world.

Adriano Tardiolo Agnese Graziani Luca Chikovani Alba Rohrwacher Sergi López Tommaso Ragno Natalino Balasso Nicoletta Braschi Carlo Massimino Daria Pascal Attolini Maddalena Baiocco Giulia Caccavello Annunziata Capretto Davide Denci Alessandro Genovesi Edoardo Montalto Leonardo Nigro Gala Othero Winter Iris Pulvano Ettore Scarpa Pasqualina Scuncia Carlo Tarmati Pascal Tréguy

125 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Dilara ★★★★

"The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope." -Alice Rohrwacher
Review by Sean Baker 5

Finally gave Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro a proper watch on Netflix. (Wish I was able to see on the big screen because Hélène Louvart’s Super 16 is lush) And it’s one of my faves of the year. What a fantastic follow-up to The Wonders.

Arriflex 416, Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses
Laboratory - Augustus Color, Roma, Italy
Super 16 mm (Kodak Vision3 250D 7207, Vision3 500T 7219)
Review by Allison M. ★★★

My feelings on this film were pretty mild.

Things I didn't like:
-kid spitting on the cake
-Lazzaro showing up and disappearing

Things I did like:
-The lire and walkman signalling this took place awhile back

The plot's all over the place: there's illegal sharecrapping and a fake kidnapping plot and then stuff at the end that I won't spoil.

Basically, a big "eh" from me.

This is the penultimate Spirit Awards nominee that we are allowed to vote for. I just have one more to watch. Stay tuned!
Review by brat pitt ★★★½ 3

we got julia ducournau and coralline fargeat resurrecting the new french extremity movement, and now alice rohrwacher breathing new life into italian neorealism! while the sub-genre’s post-war predecessors such as The Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. kept their tones somber and grounded, Happy as Lazzaro is more playful, incorporating magical elements without sacrificing the naturalism of the performances.

i admit that italian neorealism has never been my cup o’espresso, but it’s hard to resist the warmth radiating from both hélène louvart’s sepia-toned super-16 cinematography and the awww-inducingly sweet Lazzaro — even as the fable warps from humble pastoral to urban fantasy.

also, it’s now streaming on netflix!! just letting y’all know since they sure aren’t advertising it!!!!!!!
Review by Aaron Locke ★★★★ 1

Full review on Lazzaro Felice here.

Alice Rohrwacher is the real deal. This movie has it all and more. A profoundly moving, deeply inhabited film that soars as a portrayal of inequality and exploitation, friendship and selflessness. Lazzaro, as a character, is so impressively, unrelentling unselfish that he is essentially unfit for the world he lives in. Rohrwacher’s use of magical realism allows her to extend the “metaphor” that is Lazzaro beyond just the time he is born into, broadening - ever so lightly - the scope of this story.

I was particularly struck by the distinct change in visual style and aesthetic between the first and second hour. It helps deepen the story, serving as a showcase for Rohrwacher’s…
Review by Leo 🔥⬇🏠 ★★★★★ 12

Added to: 2018 Ranked, Leo's Top 200+ Favorites, Masterpieces of the 21st Century and 52 Films by Women - 2018

Dreams to survive
Dreams make a wish come true, ooh
Keep your dreams alive
Dream, dream on
Your dream will come alive

I’ve always considered the fable to be one of the most precise and satisfactory forms of storytelling ever conceived. It aches close to being a fairytale or a parable but uses the essence of both forms to create something that’s wholly its own. Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice is such an ingenious little fable.

Starting out somewhere in the '90s, we find ourselves in a small village, hidden from the rest of the world. It’s a…

Recent reviews

Review by ScarlettDubois ★★★★½

First watch of 2019 and what a choice. Pure cinematic magic and it definitely keeps growing on me in my memory.
Review by GusNoriega ★★★★

Realista y mágica pero sin las grasadas del realismo mágico. Desarrollado aquí en Infobae.
Review by dan dinary ★★★★

ngl, love lazzaro more than i love myself

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INCLUDED IN: 2018 RANKED and SARDONICAST FILMS RANKED
Review by Gaby ★★★★½

magical and heartbreaking
Review by Alex Castillo

This film is magical.
This film is tragic.
This film is pure excellence.

BRAVISSIMO.
Review by stef 🍊 ★★★★★

this was all over the place but it works so good. i dived head first without knowing anything about this movie. and i loved every single part of it. i love the surrealism combined with the realism in it. i’m speechless.
Review by Nathan Labonté ★★★½

Au Hasard Lazzaro?
Review by danielle ★★★★½

you think they sell those stripped pants at urban outfitters?
Review by Aos

A lot of you like this line
It’s a ditch
It’s like the moon
Why?