17/06/2014 - Agostino Ferrente and Giovanni Piperno's documentary about the hopes and dreams of four Neapolitan young adults picks up where it left off ten years ago and is due to be released in Italian cinemas on 26 June by Istituto Luce

When greeting fellow Neapolitans, local people tend to wish each other "many beautiful things," not because bad things don't exist, but more because there are so many more beautiful things in the world. Adele, Enzo, Fabio and Silvana thought they would find beautiful things in their own lives when, as young teens, they talked about their hopes and dreams for a 'reborn' Naples at the end of the 1990s. Today, in an immobile and lost city, the smiles and vitality of their early youth have given way to the disenchanted realism of adulthood. What is left is dignity, with its perhaps less evident but nevertheless concrete beauty. Taking us on this journey is the vibrant documentary by Agostino Ferrente and Giovanni Piperno, Le cose belle [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. The Beautiful Things), a film that narrates the lives and dreams of four Neapolitan young adults as they cope with difficult challenges.

Today's film is a very fitting follow-up to Intervista a mia madre, a documentary by the same directors for RAI in 1999, in which two 12-year-old boys and two 14-year-old girls from Naples were asked what they thought their futures held. Le cose belle uses footage from this previous documentary as a starting point to tell us about the less-than-perfect lives of these young adults twelve years later. Enzo, who used to sing in restaurants with his father, is now a door-to-door telephone contract salesman. Adele, who wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up, now has a little girl of her own and works as a lap dancer to support her. Silvana, single, dreams of getting married while she takes care of her sick mother and brother, who is in prison. While Fabio, traumatised by his brother's sudden death, is unemployed and on a path full of uncertainty.

"In 1999, we were in full Bassoliniano mode (Antonio Bassolino was the then mayor of the city) with a Naples that he was hoping to revive," said Ferrente and Piperno at a screening of the film in Rome, which, after debuting at Venice Giornate degli Autori in 2012, is finally due to hit Italian cinemas on 26 June with Istituto Luce (10 copies). "To return ten years later and find the city submerged in rubbish has been painful. But these young adults have resisted discomfort, and it is their drive for life that we focus on. Like flowers among ruins. They are the beautiful things."

The Camorra mafia is just an image, crime isn’t an option for these young people. A way of saying that Naples is not only what we see in Gomorra: "Although inspired by true facts, Gomorra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile]tells the story of events that happened over a 16 to 18-month period, and should be viewed as such, rather than a picture of everyday Neapolitan life," says the producer Antonella Di Nocera, who hopes to take Le cose belle into schools, too. A life made up of disappointment, family problems, unemployment, but also friendship, redemption and music. The documentary is well directed, encouraging viewers to reflect on its message and leaving a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth. A film that will make you laugh a lot, thanks to the desecrating power of its protagonists. 

Le cose belle was produced by Pirata M.C., Parallelo 41 and Point Film with Bianca Film and Ipotesi Cinema, with contribution from the Region of Campania. After winning numerous awards, including the Doc/it Professional Award in 2013 for Best Italian Documentary and a special award at the 2014 Nastri d'Argento awards, the film will receive the Cariddi d'Oro Award on 19 June for Documentary of the Year at Taormina Film Festival. 

(Translated from Italian)