08/02/2023 - Andrea Papini’s movie sees a documentary-maker organising a film workshop in a prison, but the former’s good intentions are thwarted by his superficial approach to the subject-matter

We’ve seen numerous films in recent years revolving around the theatre or film workshops which are often now held in prisons, such as the Compagnia della Fortezza’s now thirty-year-plus initiative in Volterra prison. We only need cite Caesar Must Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
film profile] by the Taviani brothers, which won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2012, or Riccardo Milani’s comedy Grazie ragazzi [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a remake of Emmanuel Courcol’s French film The Big Hit [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is currently screening in Italian cinemas. Just like in Grazie ragazzi, the protagonist of Andrea Papini’s Yesterday [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - which is hitting Italian cinemas on 9 February via Atomo Film and Cineclub Internazionale - is a director who obtains ministerial funding to organise a film workshop in a prison in the Emilia-Romagna region (the real location is the former Codigoro prison, in the province of Ferrara).

Played by a concise Peppino Mazzotta – known for his role as Inspector Giuseppe Fazio in the mega-famous TV series Inspector Montalbano, and an ongoing presence in Papini’s short filmography too – documentary-maker-come-teacher Luca is getting to grips with five inmates of various ages, ethnicities and genders who are watched over by slightly unpredictable prison guards. There’s also a sixth “prison guest” called Beppe (Francesco Di Leva) within the group, a prisoner who’s a little “trickier” than the others. We later learn that Beppe was a lorry driver who killed a young female lawyer for no real reason after an unremarkable car accident. Luca shows the pupils a sequence from his previous autobiographical film and offers to shoot an episodic docufiction film, of sorts, in which the prisoners are tasked with reconstructing their crimes. The first episode revolves around Beppe himself. Despite the “interesting” nature of this idea, the slightly eccentric psychiatrist sent by the Ministry doesn’t find it particularly strange.

In the meantime, the director’s actress friend comes on the scene to play the victim (Maria Roveran, who also collaborated on the disorganised screenplay, written by the director together with Manuela Tovo), as does the director’s twenty-year-old daughter, who’s visiting him before setting off to start her Master’s in America. And, by pure coincidence, Luca also comes across the real victim’s sister (Daphne Scoccia) and hires her as his assistant director.

Starting with a whisper of discourse about our gaze (the glasses Luca has worn since he was 4 years old), the obscured view from confined spaces (the prison), fiction, and, ultimately, film itself as salvific and liberating, the movie takes various directions and swiftly loses its identity. The more intimate moments which see the protagonist squaring up to the trauma of her childhood (her parents’ separation) and her neglected relationship with her daughter don’t fit with the film’s social intentions, which are tackled in an overly simplistic fashion.

It’s naive to think that a documentary-maker might conceive of such a radical psychotherapeutic approach in order to alleviate the deep-rooted causes of a murder, while teaching inmates to act and shoot films, and while totally ignoring the victim’s sister’s discomfort. The “cynical” (an adjective used by Papini in his director’s notes) reconstruction of the crime is so clunky the result is tragicomic. The major themes of femicide, the rehabilitative role of the prison system, and the social and human value of cultural projects in prisons are all ultimately minimised. And the brilliant cast (as we previously wrote in relation to Il buco in testa, Francesco Di Leva is probably the best among Naples’ new generation of actors) is wasted, including Teresa Saponangelo, who’s only allotted a small part. In all, the director’s good intentions are thwarted by a superficial approach to the subject matter.

Yesterday is produced by Atomo Film. International sales are entrusted to Illmatic Film Group.

(Translated from Italian)