Supergigi

After a few rounds of interviews, Luigi "Gigi" Bambrilla (Lorenzo Munzi) a young man has secured a final job interview for an important position at a prominent firm. He practices on the mirror, answering the questions he'll for sure go through at the office. His slacker roommate tells him to relax, his "aura" is dark with stress, he's thinking too much about the interview. Once at the workplace, Gigi goes to the bathroom to relax and regulate his breathing, when the executives that will be heading his interview enter and he overhears their conversation. Gigi discovers that the interview is nothing but a formality and that the job position he seeks has already been reserved for the boss's nephew. The truth drops like a bomb for Gigi, however, this knowledge gives him a newfound carefree attitude. If he already knows he's not going to get the job, then he doesn't have to worry about making an impression, but rather, he allows himself to let loose and take command of the interview with an arrogant and overconfident attitude that leaves the interviewers perplexed. This Gigi has no fear, so he allows himself to have fun with the executives by subverting their expectations.

SUPERGIGI has more going on than what the surface suggests. Above all, this is a fun look at a young man who has nothing to lose and therefore he allows himself to live out a power fantasy come true. The knowledge that the job interview is nothing but a front and that the job he applied for will be taken by somebody else due to nepotism sets him free and the results are supremely entertaining. As the interview unfolds, Gigi chews up the room and the executives are left shocked by the sheer deploy of arrogance coming from the young man, an arrogance they are not used to see in others but only in themselves. The power dynamics shift, Gigi is the definition of a man with nothing to lose, he already lost, so by knowing the results of a game he's already failed at, his only option is to just play. And he plays with the executives in front of him, and watching Gigi turn the tables on these people across him is a delight. But what if Gigi left the interview and lived the rest of his days like this? Unafraid of what may happen? We don't find out what happens next, maybe the boss's nephew still gets the job and Gigi will have to go back to search for a new opportunity somewhere else, or maybe his new found confidence can get him the job anyway. Whatever happens, it sure was entertaining to see the young man work the room without a safety net, for he simply soared. But beyond the entertainment factor we also have to think of the philosophical ramification of such questions: if we all knew the outcome of every situation, if we knew we have a "no" as a predetermined answer, would our demeanor change? Fear and insecurity are mostly product of the imagination, we imagine a future in which we picture the worst outcome and so we play it safe in our present, we play things so safe that we become cowards and other people detect this insecurity. When people stop giving a damn about what may happen to them, about making a good impression, then that's when the self-confidence kicks in and takes over. Most people worry constantly about saying the right things to cause a good impression, so people can like us, or to get that job or the promotion. But the people who actually get all these things are the people who simply throw themselves out the plane without a parachute. This cavalier, arrogant attitude has given results to many. So after seeing the story of Gigi and his job interview, perhaps the lesson we should take is this: we have already lost, so just go for it anyway.

SUPERGIGI's strength lies in the clever script by Nikolas Grasso and the central performance by Lorenzo Munzi. Grasso's script has a great idea at its center, "what if you knew the outcome of a situation?" The set-up is relatively simple, but as we already mentioned, the possibilities are endless. Gigi is presented as a meek, neurotic ball of stress, worrying about the outcome of a situation he has no control over. Once the truth is out, the script has fun crafting a dialogue sequence in which Gigi becomes more and more outrageously arrogant towards people who are not used to this type of treatment from people sitting across them in a job interview. This sequence is the entire crux of the film, and despite being written in such a clever and creative way with excellent dialogue, it wouldn't work without Grasso. Grasso has to basically play dual roles here as he portrays both sides of Gigi: the shy side and the powerful side. His physique and frame sell the milquetoast side of Gigi much easier, but then it's the arrogant Gigi that demonstrates the amount of range that Grasso possesses. The SuperGigi we see unleashed is a steamroller of attitude and bravado. The expressions of the executives as SuperGigi chews them up and deflects their questions is priceless. Excellent script and excellent central performance.