La passione (2010) Reviews

• Mazzacurati doesn't disappoint, once again

  stefano14882010-09-28

  One of the most unusual films in recent times that you may happen to see. But then, in my opinion Mazzacurati has always been unusual among Italian directors, due to his sensitivity and his (very un-Italian) understatement. "The passion" tells the story of a group of assorted people, bound together by the most unlikely (and, in some cases, unfortunate) circumstances, who find themselves busy staging the tale of the passion of Christ on a Good Friday in a Tuscan village, an old tradition that is still alive all over Italy. Among the characters, sometimes bizarre but seldom really improbable, two in particular stand out: an obscure, alternative film director that finds himself in a phase of creative stalemate and an ex thief turned actor (and a very bad one at that; or rather not?). As in other films by Mazzacurati, losers are bound to stay that way, not to turn into winners; you're not in for cheesy Hollywood crap. And yet, those characters are not desperate: without even realising it, they are heroes of sorts in that they manage not to fall into despair despite the hardships of life. That happens, rather than by a deliberate choice, by clinging to sort of a little voice inside that tells them not to betray what they feel they believe in. They sometimes seem not just to suffer, but even to pursue humiliation and defeat; but, in spite of that, they retain, almost by accident, a deep-rooted naiveté and sense of humanity that makes them, in their own way, heroic and easy to sympathise with. That happens in the lives of most of us; that is why the film is deeply moving and, sometimes very funny. It helps that the cast features several comedians, more (Corrado Guzzanti, who plays the vain Manlio Abbruscati) or less (Marco Messeri, by now a familiar presence in Mazzacurati's films, or Fabrizio Battiston) known by the Italian general public, with a penchant either for the bittersweet or for the downright sardonic. Never understate losers; there's more to them than meets the eye.

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• just a few gags won't save this movie from mediocrity

  mauslyon2010-09-27

  The story centers on Dubois (S. Orlando) a once-acclaimed movie director now in a 5-years long creativity crisis. While his agent is pushing him to have some ideas for a new movie, he gets a call informing him that there is a major problem with his apartment in an a tiny village in Tuscany and urging him to go there immediately. Once there he discovers that local authorities broke his door and most of his bathroom to search for a leak that damaged a 15th-century fresco in the church below. Since he had failed to comply with requests to upgrade/redo the plumbings in the past, he is now held responsible for the damages but the major (S. Sandrelli) is willing to settle the issue if he accepts to direct the "holy Friday" representation to be held in the upcoming days. If he refuses he will be publicy accused of disregarding Italians art masterpieces (an accusation that will crush his image of a man of art). Reluctantly accepting the offer, he is now forced to stay there while at the same time trying to manage his agent and restart his creativity. The movie revolves about the interaction of Dubois with the different characters until holy Friday arrives and the representation takes place. The problems with the movie lay in the poor script, viewers are often required to suspend belief (just for starters: in case of a leak would not be easier to close the main water valve instead of breaking into someone's apartment and start pickaxing the bathroom tiles to find such a leak? is it lawful for a major to arbitrarily decide to propose such a deal to Dubois?). There are just a few gags that will make you laugh and raise the level above the boring mess of this movie; but they are just too few and to sparse to save the day. In short, a slow movie who was in need of a good rewriting. In short

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• Just love it

  selvatica2017-09-21

  A tiny jewel by Mazzacurati,I think often back at some scenes or expressions of its actors, all excellent: Battiston plays a very fat Jezus on the Cross, I love this ( comic/melodramatic) actor, one of the finest we have, so humane, his face + body SPEAK. Orlando's always excellent + here hilarious as shallow opportunist niche movie-maker who can't sell his idea LOL ( he doesn't even have one ) so he settles for the direction of a regional , silly Passion-Play in some provincial hole of a village with 'ignorant villagers as actors' and he HATES it . He has right cynicism and is funny ( think of every time he has to use his mobile phone but there's no signal in this rural place ) The actor chosen at first to play Jezus is hilarious too with his theatrical over-acting and loud voice. And I could go on about how funny and sweet this movie is but I guess only for Italians, or even only Northern Italians , it's subtle humor. Mazzacurati was from my city and a pity we lost our only director. We miss you + thank you, Carlo .

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