Shia LaBeouf has always been an intense guy. The kind of actor that walks down the red carpet with a paper bag on her headwhose motivational videos are mobbed to death by the internet, or to whom one of the best YouTube videos of all time (“Shia LaBeouf live” by Rob Cantor) is dedicated.
At the Venice Film Festival, he now proves that he can also bring this intensity in front of the camera. In Padre Pio he plays the Catholic saint of the same name shortly after the end of World War I and suffers from one existential scene to the next. A feeling that I could understand well during the 104 minutes running time. But not because the film is so good.
Padre Pio is intense – and always involuntarily funny
Padre Pio actually plays a rather subordinate role in the film named after him. The beating heart of Abel Ferrara’s historical drama is the Story of a small Italian village, which is allowed to hold its first democratic elections after the war. Inspired by Karl Marx, parts of the poor population band together to help a socialist candidate win the election.
Actually, LaBeouf was also supposed to play the male lead in another Venice film: Don’t Worry Darling
Don’t Worry Darling – Trailer (German) HD
At the same time, Shia aka Pio confronts his demons and past misdeeds in the monastery around the corner. He has visions, throws up screaming in a corner at night, consecrates hosts, insults penitents and even performs a small miracle. His story is more of a Catholic moodboard than an experimental biopic. which is OK. Wouldn’t it rip a LaBeouf out of the illusion of being in 19th century Italy over and over again.
Because Shia LaBeouf consistently speaks the way a white American speaks in 2022. And is not bothered by the religious robes of bygone times, nor by the Italian accent of his co-stars. A curious highlight of the whole thing is a scene in which the saint in spe, in the broadest US English, speaks to a confessing woman (Asia Argento) “Shut the fuck up!” yells in the face. Another absurd Shia moment, another perfect meme template.
Shia LaBeouf doesn’t actually play a saint, he plays himself
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LaBeouf was in a monastery for several months before the shoot, is now a devout Catholic and testified that he his time in the monastery saved his life. “The gun was already on the table,” the actor told Bishop Barron Presents on YouTube. It was only his stay in the monastery that put him on a better mental path. Although he himself admits: “I wouldn’t have gotten in the car and driven to the monastery if I hadn’t thought to myself: ‘Oh, I’m going to save my career with this.'”
In early 2021, Shia LaBeouf was Twigs by his ex-partner FKA reported for sexual assault, physical harm and mental distress, as reported by the New York Times, among others. At the time, LaBeouf admitted to being aggressive in relationships and spoke of a deep shame. A shame that his current film character also seems to feel. Eventually she too flees to a monastery because she doesn’t seem to know what to do next.
There are several scenes in Padre Pio that seem as if the words are not addressed to the historical figure but to the actor behind them. Pio is a narcissist, someone who has done bad things to women, someone who hurts others, says one of his demons. Pio’s suffering, his pleas, his freaks out, his aggression, which was also directed against himself echo exactly what LaBeouf has said about his personal struggles.
These scenes in Padre Pio are not shocking, because someone is revealing completely new facets of a historical figure. You meet because we’re watching an actor do it, like him revealing the ugliest side of himself. Self-flagellation – another deeply Catholic concept. Except that in this case it’s not Hollywood or God who has to forgive him, but the people he really hurt.
Will you watch Padre Pio?