Watched it on RAI Storia today... Very strange movie from the beginning of the 80s. It starts off in such a fashion that the protagonist (and his story) are almost neglected by the world at large, which you can say is already part of the whole point.
No, there is no Robert DeNiro from The Awakenings here - this movie is a totally different animal with a silent lead, if you call the writer/actor/director's positioning in the story one. (BTW, he's a dead ringer for Altan Erbulak the Turkish actor from the same era!)
The simplicity and the nonsensicality of the plot delivers certain cartoonish qualities while allowing us to dive deep into an age where human ineraction was still not poisoned by the emergency of mobile media tools.
Intentionally absurd? Sure... But watching it today, what looks more absurd is this kind of filmmaking, investing so freely in such plot lines and scenes.
Speaking of scenes: There are some really striking plastics, especially during the theatre sequence. Something you might not expect from a film that resorts to slapstick when mocking how English-speaking directors are employed in Italian cinema merely after learning four words.
If you give it a chance, you most probably will end up finishing it. And that's because of the unpredictability, be it with the overall flow and the fragments to come along. Just don't expect a whole-encompassing finale.
