Matteo Garrone
Pinocchio

I'm sorry to say it, but the great Collodi must be turning in his grave! Beautiful cinematography, very meticulous set design, costumes. Excellent ability to evoke atmospheres... But the rest... Oh my! Last night, I wanted to leave the theater because I was so annoyed by this Pinocchio by Garrone that cheapens and empties the profound meaning of the work. There isn't a single character, except perhaps for the fairy — and only partially — that is faithful to the text: Pinocchio is a naïve character, sometimes good, sometimes inert, and doesn't retain anything of Collodi's "big-hearted rogue, clever and swift" nature. Geppetto is a pathetic character who, in fact, lacks the dignity and ethical stature of the original text, but is a poor man seeking undignified expedients to make ends meet. Master Cherry practically doesn't exist, he's just an amorphous sketch reduced to a drunkard. Mangiafuoco in Collodi's Pinocchio is an almost titanic figure, frightening and seemingly heartless but in reality very easy to move and, in moving, reveals an infinite humanity. Here, again, Garrone sketches, cuts, and empties of meaning. The Cat and the Fox appear as two caricatures, but Garrone would have done well to keep the original dialogues because they were already perfect in their comical and dramatic force. Instead, he cut them. An example? In the original text, Pinocchio mocks the Cat and the Fox by saying "Vi conosco Mascherine!" Garrone replaces it with "Ciao Mascherine!" The Cricket then is a figure that, in Collodi, symbolizes his conscience, a sort of Freudian superego, but in Garrone becomes an almost monstrous nothing with a Neapolitan voice. Lucignolo then... Let's draw a veil of pity... Or rather, let's say what needs to be said: Lucignolo is the older boy, the fascinating negative model that influences Pinocchio. In Collodi. In Garrone, he's a chubby little boy smaller than Pinocchio who has absolutely nothing of the original Lucignolo. The "Butter Man" with Garrone becomes a big man whom I even mistook for the pantagruelian Giovanni Rana... I don't know how many scenes were cut (for example, the scene with the Green Fisherman, Melampo, Eugenio, the Tomb of the Blue Fairy, the Land of Industrious Bees) and how many were distorted. For example, the scene with the gravedigger rabbits, which in Garrone is ridiculous whereas in Collodi it is highly dramatic and symbolic. Characters distorted. One for all, the Snail that in Garrone becomes a clownish snail. The acting? No actor is spared in my opinion, except for Sergio Forconi or Marine Vacth (the fairy). I don't love Comencini's Pinocchio, but at least it had a wonderful soundtrack and first-class acting. Remember the great Manfredi! Here the soundtrack is mawkish and insignificant, and the actors seem poorly directed. Conclusions? Don't go see it!