Freaks Out

Freaks Out (2021) is Gabriele Mainetti's wartime fantasy adventure, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Nazi-occupied Rome, 1943. A bomb levels a tiny circus, and four performers with genuine superpowers are left with nowhere to go.

Young Matilde shocks anything she touches. Fulvio is a gentle wolf-man covered head to toe in fur, Mario can pull iron through the air, and soft-spoken Cencio commands swarms of insects. When their adoptive father and ringmaster Israel vanishes, the four drift toward a lavish Berlin circus run by Franz — a six-fingered pianist and seer who glimpses the future and dreams of building a squad of superhumans for Hitler. Aurora Giovinazzo as Matilde and Franz Rogowski as the villain carry the whole strange carnival.

Mainetti blends war drama, circus fairy tale and comic-book spectacle in a way few directors would dare: brutal one minute, tender the next, and thoroughly Italian throughout. The film took home a handful of David di Donatello prizes, including ones for its effects and makeup. If the polished superhero franchises have worn thin, this is a welcome jolt of the odd. Stream Freaks Out (2021) online on iFILM.