Roberto Benigni
Pinocchio

Last night I happened to watch on television the "Pinocchio" by Matteo Garrone, a director whom I personally "admire greatly" (as dear Pina would say), but which already during the theater viewing didn't particularly win me over. And here the comparison with Comencini's version of "The Adventures of Pinocchio" kicked in; certainly another era, another logic, and perspective of staging a story like Pinocchio, considering it's a television miniseries. However, Garrone maintained a consistent sense of discomfort and poverty that surrounds the character of Pinocchio, and especially for having made Geppetto in certain aspects very "childlike" and happy in his possession of nothing, also thanks to Roberto Benigni himself. Why do I start with this preamble? Because the "Pinocchio" of 2002, directed and played by Benigni, is practically the opposite of what one might think of Collodi's masterpiece.

I won't be here to make comparisons with the book, because to be honest, even Garrone took quite a few liberties, but I start with the assumption that Benigni's "Pinocchio" is a bad film. By bad, I don't mean one of those where you can have a laugh due to lack of resources, but it's bad precisely because it's one of the most expensive films ever made in Italy, and when you have all the means in the world to make a decent film, turning it into a half fiasco is embarrassing. While Comencini's series managed to enchant with its characters immersed in their poverty, some cut with an axe but memorable for the little they appeared, Benigni's Pinocchio instead reeks of fake from every pore: indecorous, exuberant, boring, and excessively pretentious, although I must admit that at certain moments it even entertained me, perhaps driven by my fondness for Roberto Benigni's character in his comedies, despite here we are objectively faced with one of the worst performances of his career; there is no empathy with Pinocchio. Not only does he come across as unsympathetic and annoying, but incredibly over-the-top all the time, and I don't think it was entirely a choice wanted by the director/actor himself (maybe).

Benigni takes control of his spaceship but fails to use the controls. The majestic visual technical department completely consumes the substance of the film itself, emptying it of that passion and depth of the Pinocchio story. It seems like one of those lacquered Hollywood products, but with lacquer that turns your stomach, aided by direction that doesn't help the story gain rhythm, and above all performances at the edge of "Alex L'Ariete", which being bad at least doesn't take itself seriously. Benigni doesn't convey, and when he tries, he borders on the ridiculous; there is the scene where he "kills" so to speak the fairy due to his incorrect behavior, and in his sadness, he screams "come back to life!", bringing us into a Luca Giurato skit dressed as Pinocchio. Speaking of the fairy… yes, coincidentally it's Nicoletta Braschi, a beautiful woman for pity's sake but compared Monica Bellucci becomes Gina Lollobrigida, who by the way is endowed with a strength and determination that Braschi's fairy can't even touch. There's a terribly underutilized Kim Rossi Stuart as Lampwick; the dialogues between him and Pinocchio are disconnected, lacking depth, and don't create enough interest in this character, although the donkey from a kid sequence kind of "moved" me, so to speak. We have the poor Carlo Giuffré playing a pleasant Geppetto in his tenderness, but he lacks the charisma and class of the great Nino Manfredi's Geppetto. There's the great Peppe Barra playing an irritating Talking Cricket (the scene of the Toy Land is bordering on trash), the Cat and the Fox played by Fichi D'India are totally out of context, they seem to come out of "Vacanze di Natale", although they bring a few smiles every now and then, if you think of facing the depth of Neri Parenti, of course. The characters of the policemen are "pure evil", at moments they are even more annoying than the circus performers. The actors overall do not convince, some are bewildered others completely out of the box. A real pity, because many of them (Rossi Stuart above all) have a certain level of depth, and seeing them reduced like this is quite embarrassing more for them than for the viewer. The problem with the film, aside from the cast, is that it turns out to be terribly dull. It moves at a snail's pace, every sequence from the Circus to the Toy Land lacks pathos, and they are destroyed by Benigni's performance who screams, screams, screams, and cries screaming all the time, that at a certain point you would really want to enter the film with an axe and destroy it style "Shining", or burn it alive like good old Rick Dalton.

But is there anything good? Surely the technical department makes up for the disappointment of a flat and monotonous screenplay. The special effects are the best thing about the film: the fairy's carriage pulled by mice left me, it looks like it came out of a Disney cartoon, as well as the most famous sequence from the film of the elongated nose. However, even this feature has some low points, such as the attack of the shark, which looks like a sequence from an Asylum movie. The cinematography by Dante Spinotti is splendid, especially in the sequences shot at Cinecittà Umbria Studios (truly suggestive) and another worthy mention for the makeup and hair department. Nicola Piovani's music is wonderful, perhaps the only truly memorable thing about the film (apart from some special effects and scenography), and it finds its best in the dramatic sequences, managing to give them a kick in the butt and dress them with a minimum of warmth.

To conclude, "Pinocchio" is a $40 million mishmash that doesn't make you laugh, doesn't make you think, doesn't entertain, and above all, at the end of the viewing, you are literally stunned by the puppet character, and a cast of people in their 40s playing students would be enough as the coup de grâce. A film that overall leaves very few traces of itself, setting aside as I said above the technical and special effects department, which is saying something. Luckily it has slowly faded into oblivion, and whoever remembers it feels a bit embarrassed to talk about it.