Santa Maradona

I wish many of you will get the chance to see this movie. Why? 'Cause it's about a generation (mine...i was born in 1974) with very few things known for sure, full of doubts, asking for much and getting very little. Because it's been shot in my own town, Torino, in Italy: a wonderful city not yet appreciated as it should be, and here, in the movie, elegantly and properly photographed and shown. Because the story is brilliantly told, because the characters are as real as they can be in a movie. Because it's funny but not stupid. Because, though not flawless, it's a good movie, modern enough in its layout and accurate enough in the way it's written to be enjoyed by a wide (not decerebrate) audience.

I just came across this movie by accident. Switched through the channels and got sucked in by "Santa Maradona". The thing that grabbed my intention first was the story of the two main characters: aimless, jobless, clueless. Sounds familiar. Stefano Accorsi and Libero De Rienzo are wonderful in the leading roles. The conversations are totally true to life and kind of intriguing, if pointless. Imagine the characters of "Before Sunrise" minus all the romantic feelings and dreams and you get an idea of the dialog in this movie. The story is rather anti-climatic until the movie suddenly ends and that is a bit of a flaw. On the other hand, it's just further proof that this movie was intended to be as realistic as possible. Life is like that for people like Andrea and Bart. No big happy ending, no dramatic development, just a long monotonous chain of meaningless events. Yep, if you're looking for something gaudier watch "Reality Bites", but don't think that that movie has anything to do with reality.

While not a great social commentary, the playful portrayal of tension between the 4 protagonists makes it fun to watch. Andrea is purposefully like many other Italian young adults, living the fact of unemployment and getting no where even when he tries; his chance (too forced?) meeting with Dolores is a distraction and test of his commitment to growing up. His room mate and other friends also help drag him down. Can he break out?

It's also refreshing to find the true-to-life non resolution of relationships; it's use of language is also street real.

oh what a terrible movie... It looks like the screenwriter/directed was locked in a room with a copy of Clerks and a copy of Chasing Amy and left there to rot for five years. Derivative, manipulative, full of wannabe "witty" dialogue that's absolutely stupid and pointless (with more of a hint of homophobia)... it was clearly made just because the male lead Stefano Accorsi (already a display of acting mannerism) helped pitching the script. A perfect example of why italian film industry is getting shoddier and shoddier.

An italian "Trainspotting"? A social satire? An effort to imitate Antonioni? Who knows, but the movie was absolutely schyzophrenic and if it wanted to be funny,it wasn't,if it wanted to be socially significant,you'd better try Pasolini or Altman than this tripe of a movie.Beware of the language: there is some clean word among the profanities the characters (???) pronounce all along.