Lazzaro is the kind soul who helps anyone in his village, which is cut off from the outside world by a bridge that no one has the energy to fix. The inhabitants of the village are serfs to the Marchesa, whose son drafts Lazzaro into a kidnapping plot that quickly go awry. Following up The Wonders, Alice Rohrwacher offers a beautiful freewheeling fable that has the timeless quality of a folk tale but also brings to mind Pasolini and Fellini. Happy as Lazzaro has the brightness of a summer’s day, but also dark shade to luxuriate in. ★★★★★ "Alice Rohrwacher’s enigmatic drama is an unsettling and moving satire about the unquestioning toil of peasants’ lives." -Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian