28/01/2013 - Second film for Là-bas director, this time telling the story of a fantastical robbery conceived by five men and their fragile ties. Among the main characters, Salvatore Striano (Caesar Must Die)

Filming for Take Five got under way in Naples today. Director Guido Lombardi will try and strike again after his widely acclaimed Là-bas – A Criminal Education [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guido Lombardi
film profile] (Golden Lion in Venice in 2011 and best film during Critics’ Week – read the review here). Produced by Gaetano Di Vaio for Figli del Bronx, Gianluca Curti for Minerva Pictures Group, Dario Formisano for Eskimo, in collaboration with RaiCinema, the film is entirely set in Naples and tells the story of an extraordinary robbery conceived by five men, and the fragile bonds between them.

Gaetano (Gaetano Di Vaio) is a professional robber who has served time and now deals in stolen goods. Peppe, nickname ‘O Sciomèn (Peppe Lanzetta), is a neighbourhood legend, who also spent time in jail for robbery, but is now depressed. Ruocco (Salvatore Ruocco, seen in Gomorra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile]) is a boxer forced into clandestine meets. Striano (Salvatore Striano, star of Caesar Must Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
film profile]) is a photographer and a new generation boss. Carmine (Carmine Paternoster) is a municipal worker in charge of sewers. One morning, he finds himself in a Bank of Naples branch because of a drainage system network failing. And an idea comes to him.

For the director, Take Five is “the story of five ‘irregulars’ who have a dream in common, to become rich. Without money, they know they are nothing. And they obsessively look for it. Even if they are destined to fail.”

The fragile alliance that has formed for the time of a robbery enters into crisis when Gaetano, who put the band together, disappears with the loot. “When put under pressure, and shut in a room for hours, their real personalities, vulnerabilities, but especially their loneliness come out. And not one of them trusts the other.” Take Five becomes a massacre game, where the robbers’ secrets slowly emerge – secrets which once revealed can only be protected by killing those who have come to learn them.  

Filming is set to last six weeks. Images from the set and production updates are all available on the film’s official blog.

(Translated from Italian)