Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, the Colours of Life

This documentary is a fond and informative tribute to the simplicity and elegance of one of the modern masters of cinematography, and takes its title from the drink that Roman tram drivers gave the young Carlo Di Palma when they were minding him for his florist mother. Having served behind the scenes on several neorealist masterpieces (the anecdote about Sven Nykvist and Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City is a gem), Di Palma learned his trade under the great Gianni Di Venanzo (8½) and made his monochrome mark with the sharply etched contrasts of Pietro Germi's Divorce - Italian Style (1961). But he forged an international reputation as an innovative artist with Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert (1964) and Blowup (1966). Eavesdropping on Di Palma's widow, Adriana Chiesa, reminiscing with some of his key collaborators (with the exception of muse and lover Monica Vitti), director Fariborz Kamkari sticks to the patented clips-and-chat format, which pays off particularly well during Woody Allen's reflections on their 12-film partnership between 1986 and 1997. Yet, while the likes of Ettore Scola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Wim Wenders offer affectionate insights, Ken Loach opts for a political eulogy that says more about his own concerns than Di Palma's brilliance.