Paolo Virzì
Ovosodo

LA RECENSIONE

"Ovosodo" is a 1997 Italian comedy, filmed in Livorno and largely acted by non-professional actors. This gives the film a touch of genuine realism and immerses the viewer in the "miasmas" of a working-class environment with its Tuscan accents (its slang, such as the memorable adjective "allezzita"), its shabby, dingy buildings with laundry hanging out, colorful hooligans with uncertain futures, and families living in very humble conditions. Amidst the asphalt and a borderline family situation, little Piero Mansani (Gabriellini) grows up, a boy with the capabilities and strength to succeed, learning to manage somehow despite lacking economic resources, an absent and imprisoned father, a disabled brother, and a stepmother who neither can nor wants to do much. Supporting him is a middle school teacher (Braschi) who believes in him and pushes him towards higher education.

It's a simple story about a simple boy, with his adventures, his wrong turns, the discovery of freedom, transgression, friendship, and love. The whole story is told in a sober and straightforward manner by the skilled and courteous director Paolo Virzì, in his third work, who without too much rhetoric manages to tell a simple tale without fundamental flaws. The result is an adolescent journey that inevitably culminates, with its disillusionments and the impact with a reality that breathes angrily down your neck, with becoming a man.
A tender, bittersweet, funny, and generous comedy. It engages and involves pleasantly, lightly touching you with its dramas and setting out to tell a certain truth, a common, ordinary truth, depicting it as a varied challenge made of continuous insignificant deviations that inevitably leave their mark. Piero will lose his way, but in the end, it will be the road that finds him. We will find ourselves in front of a boy who has become a man.

"Ovosodo" takes its name from a working-class neighborhood in Livorno, and in reference to the protagonist, symbolizes a person with a hard shell and a tender heart. Always in an allegorical sense, this "hard-boiled egg" is like something in the throat that won't go up or down, a heavy and indigestible lump that could represent an emotion, a feeling or simply the weight of life. The actors are exquisitely successful. Claudia Pandolfi also appears, let's say peripherally, and indeed does not leave a mark. Nicoletta Braschi is one of the few professional actresses and the Venice Festival will award her a prize as best supporting actress. Seeing her work away from her husband is pleasing, and on the whole, she appears credible and pleasant.

Virzì will earn public acclaim, 12 billion lire in earnings, and the Grand Special Jury Prize in Venice. As an Italian comedy, and indeed as a snapshot of Italian life, it is absolutely recommended.