Among the many aspects that contributed to creating the cult of Verdena, what made it so long-lived, pure and radical was the punk, vaguely antisocial and absolutely artisanal attitude of the three members of the band. If the visceral love for complex melodies, peculiar lyrics and the power of live performances are characteristics that we can find in many other fanbases, it is Verdena’s lifestyle that has made not only their music, but also the relationship with the fan a unique example in the Italian panorama. Their propensity for chaos and sabotage of all forms of success and worldliness have made a mythology grow in all these years that until now had remained fragmented, scattered in the maze of a disrupted internet, old interviews, amateur videos, forums or blogs, when these were not oral histories. X always absentthe documentary signed by Francesco Fei – director who has already collaborated with the band in the making of numerous video clips, including the first ever dating back to the 1999 single Valvonauta – is first of all a tribute to this cult, as well as a faithful testimony of a very short period of the band at work.
Officially presented at the Biografilm festival in Bologna, X always absentin its approximately 50 minutes of duration, follows Verdena during the launch period of their latest album I wanted magic – released last September – and of the preparation for the relative tour which started in the days immediately following, after seven very long years of absence from the stages. The most beautiful thing to note after just a few minutes is that there are no social networks that hold, nor millionaire biopics fed to the big platforms: authenticity – if it is a value – lies in small acts of love and what produces Fei with the camera is exactly that, a small act of love. First of all, it is because – anyone who has ever tried to interview the Verdenas knows this well – it is a half-miracle to get their attention and participation for more than a few minutes, before they make everyone completely lose the thread of the conversation. So we can only imagine what a titanic undertaking it must have been to follow them for all those hours with a camera and ask them to indulge in the thin narrative of the images that follow one another.
Surprisingly (but perhaps not too much) who does it best is Luca Ferrari, who in some ways emerges as a kind of narrator of this story, even if it is not a real story. It is he who appears in most of the scenes, who takes initiative, proposes improbable tours in the United States and writes the draft for the live lineup. It is he who darts with the Ciao and a very enviable sleeveless jacket designed by Melinda through the dark streets of what we imagine to be the surroundings of Albino, in the harsh province of Bergamo, where the three live and maintain the already famous studio-henhouse and on which it is now useless to dwell on it. Skinny like the protagonist of a Schiele painting, a bundle of nerves, sweaty (we are in the middle of July) while loading the van with amplifiers and speakers, or while preparing boiled meat for his grandmother, with the mountains of the Seriana valley in the background.
Interspersed with moments of live in the studio, perhaps for the first time ever we also see the apartments of Alberto and Roberta, in their total normality, in their disorder, and it almost makes an impression. We see them as they dine on ordinary days and then a moment later as they discuss in the post-production phase in the studio, surrounded by memorabilia, trinkets, stickers, old Polaroids and all the objects that surround those who have never left the place where was born and raised.
Francesco Fei follows all this in silence. There is no voice-over, there are no American plans or green screens or answers given while looking at the lens, there is no plot or artifice. Once again, in all respects, it is pure craftsmanship, albeit with excellent photography. Only at the end, when we have passed the climax of the first notes of the first live show of the tour, do the three appear seated, (relatively) calm and relaxed, for some brief statements, including that of Roberta which is worth mentioning: «There will always be in high school class someone who is metal and who carries on a discourse that is eternal. As we understand it, rock is immortal». It may seem like a naïf discourse, but the truth is that we live in such uncertain times and we are so hunted down and threatened even in the things that until recently we took for granted that the attitude of the Verdenas is to all intents and purposes a form of resistance from which take a leaf. From today, fans also have a documentary to perpetuate their creed.
