Sergio Corbucci
Rimini Rimini

Il_Paolo "And... Stay with Me" no. 5 - end

Hello everyone, unfortunately, I have to give you some bad news: tomorrow I'm leaving for the seaside and I won't return home before 9/23. When I started the summer series, I thought my vacation would last just a month, and instead... but let's not dwell on sadness and move on to the last review of the "And... Stay with Me" series.

I dedicate it to what, due to a convergence of comedic talents, erotic myths of yesteryear and yesterday, cohesion of screenplay and setting, represents the best episodic summer film of the '80s, and probably, of all Italian cinema.

I'm obviously referring to "Rimini, Rimini" ('87), a homage to the riviera, popular and low-cost vacations, the simplicity of the piadina and the disco contrasted with the intellectual pretensions of many, to summer carnality in all its forms, the hedonism of the '80s as a direct descendant of the sweet life and the frivolity sung by the most illustrious citizen of Rimini (after the members of the Malatesta family), Federico Fellini.

Many stories intertwine in this film in the vibrant city of Romagna: a moralistic magistrate nearing retirement (Villaggio) is led astray, a modern-day Aschenbach, by a voluptuous local (the best Grandi ever), to the point of denying himself and his values in the fetish of an oedipal and infantile sexuality, however late; a cheap comedian (Micheli) is hired by some butchers on vacation to lift the spirits of their sister Noce (my beloved Antonelli in one of her last worthy appearances), desperate for the loss at sea of the man of her life (later found to be a rugged Pappalardo), reaching the peak of illusion and the nadir of moral and sexual frustration; a rising businessman (Calà) passes off a prostitute as his wife, knowing that a significant deal could be concluded by offering her to the bed of a wealthy entrepreneur (marvelous Bonacelli), ultimately prostituting himself with the latter's mature sister (Koscina). In two stories I would describe as minor, a priest (Roncato) falls in love with a nun, and a young woman (Brigliadori) with a boy, crowning what I would call a theory of satirical indulgences or couplings, which, from the Roman tradition of the Satyricon (look... again Fellini) takes us to its modern version set in the Romagna suburbs.

I don't want to bore you with considerations on the implicit meaning of these stories, neither from a sociological perspective nor from a value or moralizing perspective, limiting myself to noting how, rewatched more than twenty years after its release, this work, although superficial and haphazard in some parts, encompasses many of the clichés of summer and summer-set cinema in general, which, as we've already discussed with "Acapulco..." probably depend on the rediscovery of the animal nature of the individual in the face of the apparent freedom of naked bodies, beaches, clubs, discos, pubs, walks, tandems, roundabouts, and whatever else you fancy.

Limiting myself thus to denote, and not to connote, the film, it must be observed that it leaves us with some delightful scenes of pure comedy, amusing today as in the past, ranging from the entire episode of Villaggio (the "black cat" of Grandi), to Micheli's masterpiece (who could forget the legendary "Champagne" sung by him, or the wheelbarrow with Antonelli... gosh, what regrets!), passing through the no less cynical episode of Calà, which, jokingly, exposes a certain yuppie culture and the tendency of the time to commodify everything, even oneself, for the sake of a nice car (someone must have taken note in the following years).

There's no doubt that here and there the pace slows, and at times boredom may overcome the viewer, especially in the less successful episodes of Roncato and Brigliadori, but in my opinion, in films like these, the risk must be taken into account, enjoying and remembering the fragments that entertain and relax us the most without the structures and tedium of too many thoughts. After all, summer is also about this, the freedom to do as you please (with judgment and within the limits of the irrelevance of the facts, mind you).

So much so, now I must leave you: I will ideally take you with me on my vacation, of course, if anyone comes to Porto Cervo until the fifteenth of August, indicate it in the comments to the review so we can meet for a mojito, while, until September, I will be a guest of my friend Il_Mattia in Curma (meant as Courmayeur), but if you wish, we can meet there as well, bring your snow gear, we'll go skiing together on the Mont Blanc!

With sincere regards,

Il_Paolo