It’s official – I have no taste or refinement. If you have been reading this blog and expect any kind of cultured look at the movies – forget it. I realized this about myself after having gone to the theater yesterday to see the stage production of Marco Bellocchio’s “I Pugni in Tasca”, Fists in His Pocket. It was a movie first, a 1965 cult hit that was “the banner and the mirror of a generation – the 60’s”. I’ve never seen it – I’m going to have to now – I’m just quoting what it says in the paper.
I had a really good seat, first row, center, balcony and there were movie stars in it, so you know I was excited about that. Ambra Angiolini, from Ferzan Ozpetek’s Saturno Contro and Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Marco Bellocchio’s son were in the play’s starring roles – and they were wonderful – don’t get me wrong.
It’s about a family, a mother, her daughter and three sons, who are truly – and I don’t use this word lightly, trust me – fucked up. It’s like none of them have really anything to live for. The oldest son is a raving lunatic and the rest of the family is afraid of him but honestly, nobody in this story is the picture of mental health.
The mother seems oblivious – she’s blind, literally and figuratively – and her children hate her. She asks her son to read her the news and he complains, “Mamma, I can’t read you the whole paper,” and he asks her what part she wants to hear.
“It would make me really happy to hear who has died”, she tells him. It’s one of the only time she smiles in the play.
Things go from dismal to dangerous really fast, and I was, very frankly, happy when it was over.
At home that night, I decided to lighten things up and watch one of the DVDs I’d bought, “Cado Dalle Nubi”, with the actor everyone is talking about in Italy, Checco Zalone. “Che Bella Giornata” is very popular and in the theaters now, and I’m planning to see it on Monday.
There is something wrong with me if I am happier in my apartment watching Checco Zalone than I am watching a Marco Bellocchio play.
“Cado Dalle Nubi” is about Checco, who lives in a small town in Puglia and is absolutely certain that he is going to be a famous musician, even though everyone around him thinks he’s a loser. His family suggests he moves to Milan to try his luck there, so he’s taken in by his cousin, who turns out to be gay. In this very sweet side story Checco changes from a homophobic numbskull to a more enlightened and loving friend who encourages his cousin to be an outlet ( he means to say, “out himself”) and helps him do it.
Checco is not very sophisticated and he puts his foot in it over and over, like when he sings his original lyrics at a gay bar, “Homosexuals are just like us normal people and they cry, laugh and clap their hands just like healthy people.” Later, when he takes a job teaching kids who have come from bad homes to play the guitar, he divides them into groups – “Everybody who has drug addict parents sit over here on the left, everybody who has parents who are thieves, to the right. We’ll have a little bit of of a competition between you.” He tells one boy whose mother is in jail for a year that he’s lucky – he’s got the year to get really good at the guitar.
I don’t know – it’s funny. Checco is adorable and I can’t wait to see “La Bella Giornata”. I guess that makes me a little like Checco – not exactly the height of sophistication.
I Love Italian Everything 