User Reviews

The second film we have seen at the Italian film festival was an entertaining comedy starring one of the most popular actors and singers in Italy nowadays. The title 'Quo vado?' may send to serious philosophical and even Biblical connotations, but it's actually a light-heart comedy about the Italy and Europe of today.

It's probably good not to take this film too seriously, especially using the political correctness filter. The main hero is a mid-class, mid-age, bold type living with his parents and enjoying what seems to be a for-life bureaucratic public servant position in a small place somewhere in Italy. One sunny day the skies fall on his head, as his job is going to be terminated because of an efficiency campaign. He either should resign, pocket some termination bonus and give up the good life, or fight for his job - which means being sent to all extreme places to perform the extreme job an Italian clerk is supposed to perform. The hero is sexist, ethnic prejudices and stereotypes abound, and he undeservedly accommodates any place and gets the smart and beautiful girl at the end (who just happens to have three different kids of three different races without having evener been married. No-PC? Thanks, God! Funny? yes - most of the time. Original? Not really, but who cares as long as we have a good time.

Director Gennaro Nunziante relies on a script that could be as well the skeleton of a theater comedy or musical show, and on his leading star actor Checco Zalone who is apparently popular enough in Italy to assume the risk of lending his name to the hero. A few holy cows are tickled just enough not to cause too many waves and allow for the good spirit of comedy to prevail. It's easy but not stupid entertainment, and with this state of mind many viewers will enjoy it, I believe.

What can I say about this... let's say... "particular" movie? It isn't specifically hilarious, its jokes are mostly dated and overdone, and some might even sense that some "good ol' habits" (in this case, slight hints of racism) are having a hard time dying out.

No. What is intriguing about this movie, above its irrational success in the former cinematographic powerhouse that was Italy, is its message... and the period in which it is being delivered. To reassure some of you, it is NOT a negative message. Far from it, it seems to encourage people to get out of the country and discover places, take risks and feel confident about your capacity to rebound in cases of failure. The only hitch is that "paradise" figures out to be... Norway. And that, in comparison, Italy has corruption and bureaucratic laziness that most Latin American or African tin-pot dictatorships would only dream of. On top of public sector workers only obsessed with keeping their undeserved jobs and perks.

And this is where the positive qualities of the movie (undeniable levels of energy, that do not always compensate a certain sense of amateurishness; thoroughly likable characters, far from being developed) die. When a TV series like "Yes Minister" (which I would recommend for those who think this movie is too "popular") was subtle and pretty dark in its denunciation of administrative incompetence, leviathan-like civil services and government in general, this movie is both blatant and outspoken about its "targets". In the midst of a reformist drive led by Matteo Renzi back in Italy (with reforms in working contracts, public sector pay and the like), this movie resembles... no, clearly represents a highly coordinated, government-sponsored marketing job by Checco Zalone and his team. No amount of publicly-financed TV ads, speeches, exposes and/or documentaries could've done such a job. This has to be a premiere for such a nation. A study-case in what a nation will become under its current ruling class. And seeing its record-breaking intake, it seems that most people are liking it...

This film does a great job of parodying Italian stereotypes, especially, as others have mentioned, the tenured public servant. It features a fairly deplorable lead character, Checco Zalone, who embodies stereotypes of laziness, sexism and racism. His counterpart, played by Giovanardi, is his opposite: the modern, empowered woman, who has a past that would generally disturb more traditional conservatives, but which is obviously celebrated in the film. This film tries to parody Zalone's sexism and Euro-centric racism and rudeness, and attempts to demonstrate character growth in Zalone by mildly watering down these characteristics. However, ultimately it celebrates all of these things, by rewarding Zalone with the beautiful and incredible Valeria (why do obnoxious anti- heroes always get these types of intelligent women?) Stereotypes of ferocious, 'tribal Africans' (seemingly conflating Himba and Hamer peoples, while possibly being located in the Horn of Africa) go unquestioned, and, of course, end up loving the protagonist. Despite being offensive, if you actually want to think about the film's subtext, the film is well-paced, and offers some hilarious moments. Each actor plays his/her part admirably, and direction and editing are spot on. To those who advise not to take this film too seriously, perhaps examine the privileges you have that allow you to ignore repeated negative, stereotypes, and the triumph of the white male, regardless of his characteristics, in the vast majority of films, which contribute to reinforcing our daily acceptance of these things.

"Quo vado?" or "Der Vollposten" is an Italian(-language) film from this year and what got me really curious about it was the fact that I read it was the biggest commercial success ever in Italy. But first things first. The director is Gennaro Nunziante and he wrote this movie together with his lead actor Checco Zalone, who has the same name in the film and is basically in every single scene during these 85 minutes. These two are pretty good friends and they worked together on other occasions as well in the past. This one here is the story of a man who is employed by the state and things change drastically for him when he gets moved from one location to the next in an attempt to get him to accept a compensation and quit his job as they are not allowed to fire him because of his status. And he solves all these situations in a way that is a lot about charm and also about comedy. So they really rely on you finding the main character likable. Guess what? I almost never did. I, from a very subjective position, found the actor's take on the character pretty unlikable and the clumsy attempt of how they included a justification that halfway into the film he recognized his wrongs (out of nowhere) did not save the film at all for me.

But the biggest problem was the comedy. There were shockingly few moments that I found really funny and it was so obvious how they tried so hard to make every second scene a funny scene and it became cringeworthy really quickly as some jokes were really far far away from what one considers good comedy. I would say the female actors in here really saved the film on some occasions as they showed some decent acting talent, something I was missing from Zalone from start to finish and this way they made the film watchable at times and also gave it solid directions in terms of drama, emotion or comedy. But even there were moments that just could not have been saved by anybody. It was really disappointing. However, I will admit that some of the audience members in my sitting had a truly great time seeing this film and there was lots of laughter. Oh well.. if you find jokes about chlamydia funny, then go for it. I myself was very distracted by Zalone who did not work well at all with the main character and like I said he was in almost every scene which felt very wrong.

It is very telling that such a protagonist-centered film did not result in any awards recognition for Zalone beyond a song that is in the movie. Thumbs up for Giovanardi and Bergamasco though, they had some solid moment and I especially liked the former, also because of her stunning looks. I cannot deny it. This is what you want your wife to look like after she has given birth three times. So I am really baffled how much Italians appreciated this film. Then again, being seen many times does not equal being a quality film. I do believe that the contents in here, especially the references about contemporary Italy, culture and cuisine, make it more interesting to Italian audiences than to everybody else because we non-Italians may not even get many of the jokes, but I do believe that it is a fairly cliché film. Bastian Pastewka who I quite like could not save it either with his dubbing. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended. And sadly, the success of this film will probably boost a niche of films (maybe even sequels to this one) that really do not deserve to be made.

This movie isn't just a funny comedy. Checco is the main character: from when he was just a child, he wanted to become a public employee, to have all the privileges that an Italian public employee always has. He lives with his parents, his mom cooks for him and irons his clothes every day. He is engaged with a nice woman but he doesn't want to marry her because of the responsibilities he would have to take. Everything changes when the Italian law changes: every public office has to review the amount of office workers he has. Checco gets called to Rome with the purpose of getting him to dismiss but... the story gets really funny! I don't want to spoil too much so watch this movie, I am sure you'll laugh a lot.