24/03/2009

“Do whatever you want, but not in my house”. The words of a father struggling to come to terms with his gay son who is involved with his professor is the very Italian motto that could apply to many of the 16 episodes of I Mostri Oggi [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The comedy directed by Enrico Oldoini follows in the footsteps of the legacy begun by Dino Risi in 1963 (I Mostri) and later continued, with Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli, in 1977 (I Nuovi Mostri).

Then, the stars were Vittorio Gassmann, Ugo Tognazzi and Alberto Sordi. Today, incarnating the cynicism and vulgar spirit of certain Italians are, among others, Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bisio, Sabrina Ferilli, Giorgio Panariello, Neri Marcorè, Angela Finocchiaro and Carlo Buccirosso. But not Alessandro Gassman and Gianmarco Tognazzi – the latter called the project “an insult to my father’s memory” and said he’d been thinking about a similar film for 12 years.

“I called Gianmarco Tognazzi to offer him a role,” said the director. “But he refused because he wanted to be one of the stars, with his name on the poster. Alessandro Gasman, on the other hand, distanced himself from [Tognazzi’] statements”.

All controversies aside, I Mostri Oggi – coming out March 27 on over 400 screens through Warner Bros., which produced the film with Dean Film and Colorado – opens with a sketch worthy of a sentimental holiday picture and, luckily, improves a bit after that.

The stories – told without much imagination and with few laughs – include a family that abandons a dog and grandfather on the highway; a psychoanalyst who induces his patient to suicide; two slackers who get by squeezing dozens of immigrants in one apartment; a couple who force their daughter back into prostitution rather than see her engaged to a Muslim; and a mother who loses her son in a supermarket and uses the occasion to show off on TV.

“We were very careful not to imitate current affairs too much, which gets dated very quickly,” said Oldoini and screenwriter Silvia Scola, “and to keep the tributes to just three episodes”.