Review: ‘The Eight Mountains’ is a luminous, gentle stunner

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer

Seasons and years blow through the high Alpine peaks of the decades-spanning “The Eight Mountains.” But a warm, abiding glow persists throughout this tender, even restorative epic of male friendship.

The film, by Belgian filmmakers Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen, is a stunning, often profound and frequently jaw-droppingly gorgeous tale of two friends from childhood through adulthood set against the Italian Alps. Vast and intimate at once, their luminously languid adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s bestseller reaches sublime heights.

‘The Eight Mountains’

*** ½

Not rated

In Italian.

Run time: 147 min.

Opening at the Roxy on Friday.

“The Eight Mountains,” which last year won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, isn’t hurried. The ebbs of its two-and-a-half hours are sometimes a little too placid. But the passage of time — what changes, what endures — is much the subject of the movie. Just as the film’s near-sole setting — a remote mountain cabin beneath the peaks of northwestern Italy — beckons Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) throughout their lives, the intoxicating atmosphere of “The Eight Mountains” is a cherished retreat I’m already eager to revisit.

People are also reading…

View Source