27/11/2007

I can imagine Michele Apicella - played by Nanni Moretti - running on top of Lingotto, the old Fiat factory in Torino as the first snowflakes of the winter slowly fall and disappear into the river Po.

Apicella is nearing a nervous breakdown. This is possibly because someone has stolen his last piece of Sacher Torte. For Apicella, this cruel and criminal act has been the final blow in the struggle to run a film festival. He has arrived at the top of Lingotto not in a Mini but on a Vespa, and before racing through the streets of Torino has left a simple, clear message on his desk that reads: "I'm out of office and don't know when I will come back." The events leading to this situation have the same playfulness and irony as in other films by Moretti.

Apicella tries to balance his time between running a festival in Northern Italy and keeping in touch with a possible film project in the South. In the middle of all this he finds himself dreaming of the chance to make a special Christmas film with Aurelio De Laurentiis (Apicella always wakes up, not sure whether it has been a nightmare or a dream come true).
Then one day, as Apicella thinks he is awake, one of the characters of his would-be film, a tinker bell-like girl dressed in a Christmas outfit (played by Jennifer Beals) comes alive and helps Apicella to open his eyes to the realities of the film industry, reminding him that he is in fact "un autarchico" - self-sufficient. A happy ending follows.

While I wait for Moretti to option my film idea and also to make the musical about the politically-committed pastry chef, I am left with a feeling that he comes from the Don Camillo/Peppone school of filmmaking (is there any better?). Besides, I like Sacher too.