English Version
made with
sorry for the mistakes
Lockdown all'italiana
I'm not a Vanzina fan. I think Greggio is a rather poor comedian who
has never moved from the already mundane gags of the eighties. Martina
Stella reminds me a theatre teacher of mine who felt bad just hearing
her name. I have no great ideas about Ricky Memphis. Despite this
premise, I sympathized with all of them when this film came out. For
sure you remember just posting the poster and the trailer triggered a
series of comments on social media: "Aren't you ashamed even a little?
Of all the people who work at Medusa, did anyone think you were doing a
bullshit? " and "Nothing, suck it." Just two, as example, among the
many who, without having seen it, added up the names of the cast and
the subject of the story and decreed that it was a little respectful
bullshit for all Covid’s deaths.
After seeing "Italian Lockdown", I am even more on the side of Vanzina.
This film doesn't offend the covid dead. Absolutely not. But I must say
that after cleaning the social comments of the insults, that this film
is horrendous, banal and badly done.
Enrico Vanzina's goal, which officially marks his directorial debut, is
quite clear, that is, to make fun of the Italian vices caught in the
middle of the lockdown, inspired by the classics of Italian comedy,
quoting (rather shittily) Alberto Sordi and Vittorio Gassman, with that
bit of bitterness that here finds its highest point in a short
monologue by Greggio which naturally ruins completely with his little
interpretative capacity (the sense of the words was not so wrong). In
between, Barbara D’Urso TV and people's ignorance also ends.
So far so good, but it is useless to remember that Vanzina is not
Monicelli and that Greggio and Memphis are not Sordi and Gassman.
Thus we see a rather dull story with the Piedmontese comedian who again
becomes the mature man (rather mature) who has affair with young girls.
Well, young girls in a sense, considering that Martina Stella at
thirty-six is still there to be a young girl in the throes of youth
fires. Ricky Memphis, too, does nothing but repeat the classic
character of the Roman borgataro and simple that undergoes events. The
quartet of stars has also Paola Minaccioni, perhaps the only one who
should know something about acting but who is struggling with a
stereotypical character to the maximum and who has very little to say
(besides she also co-signs the screenplay).
While the aforementioned Barbara D’Urso is a target of satire, a
series of trashy characters rehabilitates and underlines the greatness
of Queen Barby. The most striking example is certainly Maria Luisa
Jacobelli, daughter of Xavier Jacobelli director of Tuttosport, TV
presenter, influencer, competitor of Temptation Island, whose artistic
performance is worse than a child who plays in kindergarten (but with
the difference that Maria Luisa can boast a generous
décolleté). There is also Romina Pierdomenico who gossip
in hand is Greggio's girlfriend, who renews, this time well, the
tradition of some Italian comedies, shot to the cry of "everyone
inside!"
Summing up, " Lockdown all’italiana" is to all intents and
purposes a film of a rare ugliness, whose noble attempt is destroyed by
what has already been said and by a direction and editing that do not
seem to have the slightest idea. Not to mention the credits with the
bloopers, a stuff from the nineties.
Mariella (Paola Minaccioni) discovers that her husband Giovanni (Ezio
Greggio), a rich lawyer, is cheating on her. On the outskirts of Rome,
Walter (Ricky Memphis) discovers that his partner Tamara (Martina
Stella) is cheating on him. The two couples break out, they plan to
separate but the lockdown is triggered, thus forcing them to live
together. The intertwining of the two stories that I am not
emphasizing, however easy they are to understand, lead the four to
confront their own lives and their partners "ironically" as mentioned,
on the vices and habits of Italians, also including a dating app called
" Famo Bingo ".
If we want really to find a merit, it is the first film released after
the lockdown in Italy. We would have gladly done without it. Both the
lockdown and the movie.