RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•Ethan Wade is a sixteen-year-old who lives in the sleepy and bigoted town of Gatlin, South Carolina. For months now, Ethan has had the same dream where he sees a beautiful girl waiting for him in a field, but each time the boy fails to reach the girl because a lightning bolt splits the sky and kills him. One day, a fifteen-year-old named Lena Duchannes arrives in Gatlin, belonging to the Ravenwood family, about whom sinister rumors of witchcraft and satanism circulate. Ethan immediately feels attracted to Lena, although she is aloof with everyone, including him. All the teenagers in the town avoid the girl, frightened by the reputation of her family, and try to exclude her from all activities. Only Ethan seeks her out and begins to court her, but when he manages to get close to her, he discovers that all the rumors about Lena and her family are true, and the girl is a powerful witch on the verge of her sixteenth birthday, the day when she will have to face the choice that will align her with the forces of good or evil.
For better or for worse, "Twilight" has represented a fundamental piece in contemporary editorial and cinematic production linked to the fantasy genre. There are countless novels that try to emulate its style and dream of its success, just as there are many literary-inspired films that desperately try to anchor themselves to the "void" left by the conclusion of the saga about Edward and Bella. Recently, we have seen the loving zombies of "Warm Bodies" and soon we will witness the romantic feats of young aliens in "The Host" (based on another novel by the author of "Twilight"), but in the middle of these - which all come out within a few weeks! - there are witches and wizards who are the protagonists of "Beautiful Creatures".
This time, the literary phenomenon was created by the duo of writers Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, whose novel "Beautiful Creatures" was published in 2009 (in Italy in 2010 by Mondadori with the title "La sedicesima luna") achieving such success that it pushed the authors to quickly develop a saga, which already counts three more volumes plus a spin-off in e-book.
The formula of "Beautiful Creatures" is now consolidated and focuses on blending a teenage love story with the fanta-horror imagination. This time, the stars are witches and wizards (but don't call them that, they prefer magicians!), underground masters of the usual sleepy American provincial town and ready to fight to the last blood to assert their status despite the rampant bigotry that relegates them to followers of the devil. That said, a bit followers of the dark they are, since not all the magicians of "Beautiful Creatures" are devoted to good and, moreover, they have been making war among themselves since the times of the American Civil War. But this matters relatively, since the attention of the plot is mainly focused on the impossible love story between Ethan and Lena. He, a perfect and obedient boy that every teenager would want as a boyfriend, she, introverted, plain but with a dark soul. The novelty lies mainly in the point of view of the story, which is no longer the female one, but the male one, since the "supernatural creature" this time is the girl and the eye of the spectator is Ethan. Despite this change of sex, the result is almost similar to the predecessors, since it is noticed a mile away that, after all, these are characters written by a woman for use and preferably female consumption. The phase of falling in love and the consequences are from the teen-romance manual, from the ethereal and platonic relationship that timidly catches fire (literally) in a single scene, to the love sacrifice that leads to fairly predictable consequences.
"Beautiful Creatures" lives in this commonplace of fanta-romance that does not reserve surprises and appears strongly targeted, also resulting quite boring for the casual public that is not a fan of the novels or a twilight-addicted.
The plot proceeds mechanically in highly predictable steps and the entire story regarding the curse and Lena's sixteenth birthday is too neglected, arriving too hastily at the supernatural epilogue. The rare scenes that bring to light the girl's and her family's powers are not always effective and range from an explosion of the windows of a classroom with the sole force of thought (the simplest and most successful manifestation of Lena's powers, which seems almost like a new Carrie White) to a ridiculous kinetic vortex during a dinner scene. The characters are not very convincing either, and if Ethan and Lena are as "basic" as one can imagine for the genre (to give them a face are the semi-unknown Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert), the supporting characters are all damn monotonous and superficial. The only attempts to liven up the cast of "Beautiful Creatures" are represented by the bad cousin Ridley (played by the attractive Emmy Rossum of "The Day After Tomorrow") and the equally wicked Mrs. Lincoln, an unpleasant ultra-Christian conservative to whom Emma Thompson gives face, who performs a annoyingly theatrical performance. In a supporting role - it's Uncle Macon Ravenwood - there is also Jeremy Irons, and it is very noticeable that the actor of "Inseparabili" and "Die Hard - Duri a morire" does not believe at all in what he is doing.
To write for the screen and direct the film is Richard LaGravenese, author of the romantic drama "P.S. I Love You".
"Beautiful Creatures - La sedicesima luna" is therefore a banal and mostly boring film, a product of trends and essentially aimed at a female adolescent audience. It is difficult to find anything really valid or memorable, the classic product that will be lost in the crowd and that few will remember in the future.
We hope at this point that the flop at the American box office will spare us the adaptation of the 3 (so far) paper sequels.
