Castello Cavalcanti

Wes Anderson's short, running about nine minutes, is set in Italy in 1955. Jed Cavalcanti, an American racing driver played by Jason Schwartzman, crashes in a small town called Castello Cavalcanti, hitting a statue. Why the town shares his name becomes clear soon enough. It was made for Prada and screened at the Rome Film Festival in 2013. Formally it is a salute to Fellini from start to finish: shot at Cinecittà, with sets that deliberately read as sets, and with crowd staging and camera movement pointing straight at that period of Italian cinema. It is one of the clearest examples of what Anderson enjoys in short form: one location, one incident, and a man confronting his own origins inside a symmetrical frame. Who it is for: viewers who love Anderson's visual language and are curious about his short work. It runs nine minutes and is freely available. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a story. The film is a single idea and does not push that idea very far.