In competition in the Pardi di Domani: Concorso Corti d'Autore section of the Locarno Film Festival, Carlos Segundo's Big Bang opens without showing us the protagonist Chico (Giovanni Venturini) in full. He has a form of dwarfism, but the framing problem isn't his short stature—it's that he's wedged inside an oven, leaving only his legs visible as they stick out. Chico repairs ovens for a living, precisely because he can fit inside them with ease.
He sets out to attend a funeral and asks for a ride. There's no room in the car, so he agrees to climb into the trunk. A traffic accident involving the vehicle forces him to see a doctor, turning him into a curious news story. Whether entering tight spaces out of necessity or pushed by circumstance, Chico seems to be working through an original wound: his mother died giving birth to him. He carries the weight of having killed the woman who bore him—from the inside. In reaction, he repairs objects from within, but it doesn't ease his pain.
At its heart, Chico's brief story is about a crucial step he hasn't yet taken: emerging from that womb and learning to truly live. He lacks awareness. The primal guilt he carries makes disrespect and degradation feel acceptable. A chance encounter in the hospital might offer him a different way of seeing. Perhaps Chico will find his way out of his mother's body—and with a touch of lightness, finally let himself dance, to move and reclaim a body that has grown cramped from repairing too many ovens.