11/12/2012 - Giulio Manfredonia’s film, in which Lombardo comedian plays three different grotesque characters reminiscent of modern-day politicians, will be coming out in 700 movie theatres this Thursday 13

After a viral marketing campaign which involved an electoral tour, three candidates and fake primaries, Fandango and distributors 01 are launching new film Tutto tutto niente niente [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Giulio Manfredonia  across 700 movie theatres on Thursday 13. The film follows Qualunquemente [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile] (€16 million revenue in 2011), except that this time round, the brash character of Cetto La Qualunque, played by Antonio Albanese, is joined by two equally rambling co-stars. The first, Frengo, is a priest within a drug cult and is based on one of Albanese’s old television characters. The second is Olfo, a secessionist and Northern League supporter from Venice who exploits people on the black market. Together, they are taken from prison and thrown into parliament by an unscrupulous undersecretary (Fabrizio Bentivoglio). A weird and excessive depiction of political happenings over the last few years.   

Beyond Albanese’s multifaceted comedic abilities, the film’s strong points are its screenplay and costumes, which take you back to an author-actor cartoon-like world, as bewildering as it is grotesque.

“We tried to make a key to the world of Antonio Albanese,” film director Manfredonia explained to Cineuropa. "Whichever character he has played during the course of his career started with an observation of real life and was then taken through a deforming lens. We think we found the right way. Antonio is the only one who allows you to escape the realism route. Other films proved this was doable with great results, think of Amelie". Starting with Albanese and Piero Guerrera’s screenplays, the director worked extensively with screenwriter Marco Belluzzi and costume designer Roberto Chiocchi.  Photography director Roberto Forza made everything even more hyper-real with the use of wide angles.

Manfredonia refuses to be branded anti-political in his film. “Certain types of character - not just politicians - are ridiculous, ignorant and unacceptable. We wanted to tell children that they have a lot of potential and they shouldn’t be conditioned by these types of figures.”

Through his theatre work, Albanese has been working for a while on heated topics such as secessionism, racism, and the vulgarity of a world based on an economy of markets. In the film, woman’s subaltern role is highlighted. The film’s three main characters, he explains, “are also ridiculous when it comes to their views on women. It is my own way, perhaps an aggressive one, to point the finger at unheard of types of behaviour.” And for those who may argue that the situation is too dramatic to be explained through caricatures, both director and actor respond that irony “moves energy, makes you think, and creates poetry.” 

(Translated from Italian)