Gabriele Mainetti
Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot

Thank you all for fulfilling my wish. I like to think that it was a demonstration of respect, and I am moved.

This time, I really couldn't (but for decency, I say) skip the cinema screening. So, I was forced to look for the theaters. This film in Turin is distributed only in multiscreen coollaughhorrorteen with at least one of the following nearby:

coffee lab

a park with colorful playgrounds where there are NEVER any children but only sixteen-year-olds smoking

arcade

pool hall

Brazilian restaurant

popcorn and egg candy shopping center

And another indispensable peculiarity, the showtime: 7 PM. Start of the film: 8 PM.

As if all this wasn't enough, when I entered the theater, they were projecting a MUSIC VIDEO by Emma Marrone OR Alessandra Amoroso. I couldn't choose, and marti and matte were no help.

Despite being nervous, I was sporadically calmed by the pleasure of anticipation and gently amused by Wind's advertisements, which I love.

I have to say that while I was diligently spreading the word about the film's release, I realized that it wasn't really necessary; fortunately hyped, a bit surprisingly, They Call Me Jeeg Robot hits Italian theaters on February 25th. There are two groups of people: those who are very well-informed about the film and those who repeat the question "Is it about Jeeg???" as much as an omnivore repeats to a vegetarian "Not even tuna?"

Not that it's not a legitimate question. It's just that when a Spider-Man movie comes out, which is indeed about Spider-Man, no one asks "IS IT ABOUT SPIDERMAN?!"

But here, Jeeg is a quoting tangent, and thus the film isn't "Jeeg's story," therefore not really, the only case in superhero movie history, it's right here, people ask "Is it about Jeeg?". This world is crazy.

Enzo (inflated Santamaria) makes a (poor) living with petty thefts; he's a loser who can't break into the big leagues of Tor Bella Monaca, a suburb of the capital, and during a chase following a minor theft falls into the Tiber and comes into contact with a radioactive\toxic substance—in short, falls into the Tiber, damn it. The story begins exactly like this, with the immediate triggering incident that forever changes the superhero's life. A classic "hero's incipit."

But to heck with those who online speak of a mishmash of clichés, I assure you this guy isn't thinking about saving humanity. I'm a thief. If I become mega powerful, I punch a ATM and take it home with me. And screw you all.

There's a bit of a difference between rules and clichés. You pay homage to a superhero, you do entertainment; it's obvious I'll find the hero, the nemesis, and the princess to save. And speaking of that princess: straight out of Big Brother, she arrives and literally kicks ass. Don't get offended, maybe she's a copy of how she is in life, but at least it's a good copy. I don't believe she's a half-wit Jeeg fan in real life, so if anything, it confirms a lot for me.

What truly matters at the end of it all, among the massive aesthetics, the colors of a hand-operated Ferris wheel, the Italy that seems to disappear from an Italian film but actually doesn’t, is how the entire context is a synonym of possible, achievable. And it's quite rhetorical when paired with the superhero's function, but deep down, it has something comforting.

A bit as usual, I've rambled, I haven't reviewed anything, I've just laid bare a bit of naivety and vulnerability, and that's it. Well, if you see it, let me know. I'm curious and I like to read. If it were late, goodbye. And it is indeed late.