09/09/2010

Paola Randi’s desire to make Into Paradiso [+see also:
trailer
film profile] arose from the power of an image. The director realised she had found the immigration-themed comedy she was looking for when she saw some street kids playing football next to some Sri Lankans engrossed in a match of cricket in Piazza Dante in Naples.

So the idea was born for Randi’s debut feature, in competition on the Lido in the Controcampo Italiano section. The film, recognised by MiBAC as being of national cultural interest, is produced by Fabrizio Mosca’s Acabe, with backing from the Campania region, and collaboration from Cinecittà Luce, who will release it theatrically this winter.

Starring Gianfelice Imparato, Saman Anthony and Peppe Servillo (Avion Travel’s vocalist and brother of Toni), Into Paradiso centres on Alfonso, a middle-aged scientist who is made redundant due to the crisis. Feeling disheartened, he decides to turn to his childhood friend, Vincenzo, a businessman who has dealings with the Camorra and is standing as an election candidate.

In return for putting in a good word for him, Alfonso agrees to deliver a small package. In reality, the box contains a gun to be used for score-settling and when the delivery goes wrong, the scientist has no choice but to hide in a kasbah in the shadow of Vesuvius, where he meets former cricket champion Gayan and his community.

“I firmly believe that irony is an effective way to explore important issues”, said the director, a former pupil of Werner Herzog, “famous examples in cinema range from The Great War to Dr Strangelove. I wanted a story that looked at immigration and the forced cohabitation of two very different men”.

The result is a rhythmic and light-hearted film which looks at Campania’s capital and the criminal world through the vehicle of feelings rather than the violent images we’ve grown used to with Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile] and Abel Ferrara’s Napoli Napoli Napoli. It offers another vision of the city but nonetheless often lapses into caricature, with chance situations and foolish rogues.