Film Review – The Kidnapping of Arabella

The deadpan comedy spirit of Wes Anderson and Jared Hess appears to be the main influence on “The Kidnapping of Arabella,” an Italian production from writer/director Carolina Cavalli. She’s not necessarily out to make something uproarious with the endeavor, offering an askew sense of humor while examining the troubled life of a young woman trying to process past mistakes by making a fresh one, accepting the company of a feisty girl who lives to torment her father. “The Kidnapping of Arabella” has moments of hilarity, and Cavalli attempts to give the feature a healthy dose of idiosyncrasy to keep it unexpected. More dramatic intentions are less compelling, but still register with intended sincerity, allowing the movie to reach some personal areas of pain without fully losing viewers to slower pacing and a gradual loss of narrative drive. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com