email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FESTIVALS Italy

Piva returns with Henry, at Turin

by 

Alessandro Piva’s career path has been an odd one. After debuting with the ultra-indie Lacapagira in 2000 and eight years after his sophomore effort My Brother-in-Law [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, one of Italy’s authentic outsiders returns with a film years in the making, which is still searching for a distributor.

With regards to his debut, he’s changed locations (from Bari to Rome), but not the pulp, Tarantino-esque atmospheres. Based on the novel by Giovanni Mastrangelo, Henry focuses on warring groups of drug traffickers fighting for the heroin – in slang, “Henry” – market in the Italian capital.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

It’s an old-fashioned noir story (always surprising in Italy, where genre films are rarely made), in which Gianni (Michele Riondino) and his girlfriend Nina (Carolina Crescentini) get sucked into when Gianni goes to his dealer’s house and finds the latter dead his living room. The proof against the unlucky Gianni is overwhelming, but the scrupulous detective Silvestri (Claudio Gioè) wants to get to the heart of the matter with the help of his colleague (Paolo Sassanelli). While the official investigation is underway, Nina investigates as well, as tough at her job (as a fitness instructor) as she is in life.

All this against the backdrop of a Rome “inhabited only by immigrants,” explains the director, be they Apulian or African. “They feel like fish out of water,” adds Piva (who also writes and edits here). Rather than updating the conventions of the old cop drama, this geographical and linguistic mix is instead mostly used to lighten up the film. And the already tenuous tension is forced to cede to robust injection of vernacular comedy.

Blending elements of mystery, comedy and auteur cinema (the characters have long monologues or speak into the camera), the film that emerges is as mixed as the city it wants to depict. Viewers will decide whether this is a vice or a virtue.

The only domestic title in competition at the Turin Film Festival, Henry is produced by Piva’s Seminal Film with Bianca Film, with a contribution from the Ministry of Culture (MiBAC).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy