Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam

Toronto is a city awash with film festivals to feed the ravenous population of local movie buffs. Even though these things seem to pop up every week, there’s always room for more. The Italian Contemporary Film Festival, a new annual event, will split time between the TIFF Bell Lightbox and various other Toronto venues until July 1. Things kick off with Kryptonite! (La Kryptonite Nella Borsa) the ’70s-set directorial debut of acclaimed screenwriter Ivan Cotroneo, and the festival closes with the Canadian premiere of To Rome With Love, the Italian stop in Woody Allen’s ongoing filmmaking world tour, proving that neurotic love between self-destructive intellectuals has no borders. In between them a collection of some of the finest Italian productions from the last year will grace Canadian screens for the first time. We sifted through the offerings to provide a sampling of highlights. Italy has long been known as one of the finest international film hubs, so pick a movie and cap it off with a night of wine, pasta, and boisterous conversation.

Che Bella Giornata (What A Beautiful Day) (Gennaro Nunziante, 2011)

What A Beautiful Day arrives on Canadian screens having already claimed the title of Italy’s highest-grossing local production ever. Expectations should be appropriately modest, though, because like anywhere else in the world, the country’s most financially successful films are rarely the most daring. Italian standup comic and TV-mugging specialist Zalone Checco stars as a manchild who wants nothing more to join the military police. Unfortunately, being an Inspector Clouseau-style bumbling buffoon ensures that ain’t gonna happen. However, his family is connected, so he ends up as a security guard at Milan cathedral where he does all sorts of mildly embarrassing/offensive things to frustrate the clergy. That makes him an ideal rube for a brother-and-sister team of Islamic terrorists looking to blow up said cathedral. The sister (Nabiha Akkari) decides to seduce Checco for her dirty deed, but as tends to happen in comedies, she falls in love with the moron for all of his delightful foibles.

As you might have gathered, it’s a fairly mainstream slapstick farce with the illusion of edginess thanks to silly religious figures and a terrorist subplot. Checco and his directorial collaborator Gennaro Nunziante don’t dabble much in darkness, though: it’s all merely played for naughty schoolboy giggles rather than satire. Checco has a certain goofball charm that explains his celebrity and shares undeniably endearing chemistry with his terrorist love interest Farah. Regional humor doesn’t tend to cross borders particularly well, so some jokes will fall flat even though most of the established Italian stereotypes (id you know they like to eat a lot? Even more than most cultures!) are trotted out so broadly it doesn’t much matter. A perfectly pleasant airhead farce that you’ll probably only get to see at the festival, since I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s bought up by a studio for an Adam Sandler remake (once he’s done with his Tonka truck movie, of course…yes, that’s sadly a real thing). That’s about the level of humor you can expect from What A Beautiful Day, but at least it would be in the upper echelon of Sandler pics, and the subtitles provide the illusion of a high-minded night out before all the pratfalls and bug-eyed double takes kick in. 

Wednesday, June 27, 8:30 pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Thursday, June 28, 7:00 pm at AMC (Interchange Way).

Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, 2011)

Terraferma arrives after a successful festival run and a selection as Italy’s official entry for last year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. It offers a thoughtful, slice-of-life experience that lives up to the hype in its own delicate way. The story takes place on Lampedusa, an impoverished Sicilian island community where a family struggles to make a living out of fishing and a dwindling tourist industry. One day the grandfather Ernesto finds a small boat full of starving African refugees. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence in the region, and the expected reaction is to alert the coast guard to avoid being charged with abetting illegal immigration. However, the leaky boat has one heavily pregnant woman onboard and Ernesto believes in a law of the sea: never leave someone in that condition to drown. So he takes her to a holiday home the family rents, where she gives birth, and tensions inevitably rise within the family as they struggle to decide whether to continue helping the new guests or alert the authorities, who already seized their boat (and only form of income) for transporting tourists without a license. 

Director Emanuele Crialese (Golden Door) approaches the potentially inflammatory material with the delicate humanist touch of a Ken Loach picture. Audience sympathies are torn between the struggling Sicilians and illegal immigrants, without much relief from the human misery inherent in the situation. Judged by the standards of Crialese’s previous efforts, Terraferma can feel a little on-the-nose in terms of political commentary. Thankfully, the director still creates a gorgeously shot and exquisitely acted film that finds a comfortable middle ground in a complex issue. While it’s unfortunate that Crialese and many other Italian filmmakers have already taken on similar themes in a far more complex way, Terraferma remains a powerful, memorable experience and is easily one of the best entries in the festival.

Wednesday, June 27, 6:00 pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Basilicata Coast To Coast (Rocco Papaleo, 2011)

Probably the most purely enjoyable film in the fest, Basilicata Coast To Coast offers the gorgeous tourist-tempting postcard photography you’d expect from the title, wrapped around a joyous romp guaranteed to induce at least a smile, if not stomach-clenching laughter. The story follows Nicola (director Rocco Papaleo), a bitter math teacher and comedic musician, who decides to take his band on a tour of the scenic Basilicata countryside. It’s a journey that would take mere hours by car, but they decide to walk and bring an irritated journalist along to fund the tour on the back of a TV documentary. All of the ambling, episodic, and frivolous qualities of road movies apply in hefty doses, but the whole thing is more than enjoyable enough to make it worthwhile.

Papaleo brings a playful sense of humor to every scene, with surreal comedy digressions and rat-a-tat bickering between every member of the cast. The fleeting attempts at drama when one member of the band ditches the tour and the group encounters a car crash don’t quite work, though. Papeleo is more comfortable generating laughs than tension and fortunately it doesn’t last long; the breakup is merely a writing device to set up a triumphant third=act reunion. As enjoyable as the character comedy can be, the filmmaker is clearly just as enamoured by the sun-soaked vistas of the region, piling beauty shots on top of each other to reward the big-screen treatment. Is it a movie with complex ideas that will stick with you for days? Hell no, but chances are you’ll have so much fun watching Papaleo and co.’s journey that you won’t notice how inconsequential it all feels until the credits roll.

Friday, June 29, 7:00 pm at AMC (Interchange Way).

Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) (Nanni Moretti, 2011)

Nanni Moretti’s eccentric comedy/drama has deservingly gobbled up a few international awards before finding its way into this fest. The film opens with the election of the new pope, as each member of the College of Cardinals prays not to be chosen. Eventually a man named Melville (Michel Piccoli) is picked, and he promptly responds by panicking and hiding in his room in tears. A psychiatrist (amusingly played by the director) is called, but with the conversation surrounded by questioning Cardinals it obviously doesn’t go anywhere. Eventually Melville escapes and the cardinals busy themselves with volleyball (just as amusing as it sounds) while waiting for him to inaugurate himself on the Vatican perch. Meanwhile, the future representative of God walks the streets as a civilian, struggling to be normal one last time.

The concept suggests a potentially vicious satire of a religious institution, but Moretti has other goals in mind. Though unafraid to go for those laughs at times, his film is a more thoughtful affair. It’s about the immense pressure and difficulty that would come with accepting such a position and more often than not Moretti strips away any religious content to focus on that relatable human dilemma. The satirical approach may have been more fruitful, but Moretti’s film is still quite interesting, led by a remarkable performance by 86-year-old former Bunuel collaborator Michel Piccoli. His streak of childlike innocence within a weathered soul is fascinating enough to carry the movie, even in the scenes that feel featherweight. Intriguing, charming, and funny, although a little darker humor would have been nice (even if it inevitably would have kicked off a Vatican boycott, like all the good movies).

Sunday, July 1, 5:00 pm at AMC (Interchange Way).

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Phil Brown writes about film for Toronto Standard.