Mi manda Picone (1984) Online

In MI MANDA PICONE ("WHERE'S PICONE?" in the U.S.) Giancarlo Giannini has one of his better roles following his work for Visconti in THE INNOCENT. Here he plays a small-time scrounger who ekes out a living as a consultant in matters of red tape at the Naples city hall. For a small fee he assists unfortunates who come for help and don't know where to turn. When a man sets himself on fire in a courtroom, supposedly out of desperation because he is unemployed, Giannini helps the wife find out what happened to the man's body. In helping this woman (played by talented first-timer Lina Sastri), he becomes involved in a series of discoveries about the dead husband's petty racketeering activities. This all leads Giannini into a Dante-esque underworld that is bizarre, fascinating, and never what it seems. The film is an insider's view on Naples. Both producer Gianni Minervini and actress Lina Sastri came from that city as did director Nanni Loy, whose classic FOUR DAYS OF NAPLES was a stunning achievement. This is the Naples of hidden streets of the "bassi", back alleys, cheap rooms, the unromanticized landscapes of the poor.

I saw this film for sale for almost nothing at a store closing in town. I was not familiar with it but I was already a big fan of Giancarlo Giannini. I have never been disappointed with his films and this movie is no exception. Set in a Naples that could substitute for any city in any age, this is a satire that spends all its energies lifting up the many veils that shroud the underworld. While most people think of the dark side of (any) town as the 'bad side of the tracks' where nasty people live, they too are human beings who struggle, not always successfully to get by. This film is not an apology or a critique of the low life's that inhabit the 'dark side'. The obvious thematic current is to Dante and the underworld he spent much of his life writing about. However, we cannot escape the mirror the film holds up and it is not such a stretch to identify the larger scale of society in the husk of the cast off and discarded lower realms.

Any satire worth its social salt should make us laugh and also leave us a bit uncomfortable at the same time. The bumbling and grasping Giannini who sort of has a job (seems like he is tolerated and might even be not formally employed - to me it was never made clear) is both pathetic, hilarious and always looking for ways to make a quick thousand lira, while at the same time keeping a look out for those people he owes money to. As a matter of fact when you think about it, he's probably not all that far removed from the mysterious "Picone" character, who we find out was a man of many shades, masks and personalities. A man who owed and loaned huge amounts of money, always on the run from something and going to another while his wife and kids sort of know him; at least they have the fantasy of knowing a part of him.

It's a really funny film that seems to be always coming apart at the seams. Very good, sometimes poignant dialog keeps pace with the sometimes frantic action. Colorful characters appear in chapter after chapter, each adding a bit of spice to the underworld that Giannini's character is falling into or slipping through. All of the actors are superb, as you'd expect in higher quality Italian films. The children are natural and simple. Lina Sastri is wonderful as the confused wife. But of course, this film like many others, runs like spokes out of Giannini. He is a hell of a fine dramatic and comedic actor. That face of his is impossible to take your eyes off. I loved it. Not his best work but still terrific stuff.

Having first seen the black comedy Mi Manda Picone not long after it won best foreign film at Cannes in 1884 (I am pretty sure it did, but I am writing this 16 years after the fact), I was left with an indelible impression on my movie senses.

There is no question in my mind that this was one of the greatest Italian film comedies of all time. The storyline involves a petty crook, Salvatore Cannavacciuolo, finding a book of names that belonged to a recently deceased protection-racketeer named Picone.

The plot takes a million twists and turns as our hero passes himself off as Picone's representative in order to pocket the protection money from various small businesses in Napoli.

There is evidence of great pathos as well as the humor, as his relationship with a young prostitute develops, whilst they both are sleeping on a mattress in a condemned inner-city slum. Tensions rise as Salvatore gets sucked deeper and deeper into the dirty world of the Napoletana Camorra gangs, whilst continuing to bluff the unsuspecting shopkeepers, occasionally landing headfirst in the Bay of Naples...

This film is particularly attractive to Italian speakers, especially those who understand Neapolitan dialect, as the language is rich, thick and amusing. Other viewers should enjoy it too, as the atmosphere is vibrant, and the scenes full of color - even the slum scenes and night scenes have something about them.

I also saw the movie long ago with reasonable English subtitles on UK Channel 4, and again as recently as Christmas 1999 on Polish TV, with a particularly bad voiceover.

Verdict - Well worth seeing, but where you'll see it now, I don't know. Luigi