21/02/2006

An imaginary trilogy on Italy’s recent history would see The Best of Youth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marco Tullio Giordana and Michele Placido’s Crime Novel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michele Placido
film profile] making up two sides of the triangle. The third would belong to Arrivederci amore, ciao [+see also:
trailer
film profile], representing the triangle’s more “pulp” side.

Shot like a horror film by Michele Soavi – who, as a director, was born and raised alongside masters Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento before passing over to television – the film will be distributed on 200 screens by Mikado this Friday.

Based on the eponymous novel by Massimo Carlotto, perhaps the most interesting Italian noir writer who lived through the years of terrorism in the 1970s, Arrivederci amore, ciao tells the story of an ex-Communist terrorist (Alessio Boni) who fled to Central America after receiving a life sentence and returns to Italy after the fall of the Berlin Wall to “start a new life” through crime. "I wanted to talk about the worst part of my generation," said the writer, who was at the film’s press screening along with the cast. "I was also interested in today’s new criminal, who cleans himself up in order to enter the folds of society without hiding”.

Thus, the film shows the dark side of the "best youth", with a very spectacular approach, full of unusual high shots, visionary strokes, audacious angles and shoot-outs worthy of an American crime movie. There is an undeniable continuity with Soavi’s last feature, Of Death and Love (Dellamorte Dellamore), a film about the living dead that starred Rupert Everett. "Here, I talk about the dying living", explained the director, who admits he owes much to Polanski’s Knife in the Water.

The film was shot with a budget of €4.3m and producer Conchita Airoldi told Cineuropa that "finding the financing was like putting together a difficult puzzle. It’s not easy finding money for a film with such a ruthless anti-hero and no punishment in the end. France’s Wild Bunch were the first to get involved in the project, with a 10% participation. Then RAI Cinema came on board with another 20% and we also got state funding (“fondo di garanzia”) and money from the MEDIA [Programme]".

The cast includes a remarkable Isabella Ferrari and an excellent Michele Placido as a cold-blooded and corrupt policeman: "At the Berlin Festival, French journalists were enthusiastic about my Crime Novel and mentioned Best of Youth, which seems to have paved the way for something new. I expect the same from Arrivederci amore, ciao".

(Translated from Italian)