I wish many of you will get the chance to see this movie. Why? 'Cause it's about a generation (mine...i was born in 1974) with very few things known for sure, full of doubts, asking for much and getting very little. Because it's been shot in my own town, Torino, in Italy: a wonderful city not yet appreciated as it should be, and here, in the movie, elegantly and properly photographed and shown. Because the story is brilliantly told, because the characters are as real as they can be in a movie. Because it's funny but not stupid. Because, though not flawless, it's a good movie, modern enough in its layout and accurate enough in the way it's written to be enjoyed by a wide (not decerebrate) audience.
8 Reviews
Somewhat bleak but very realistic
Superunknovvn12 November 2004
I just came across this movie by accident. Switched through the channels and got sucked in by "Santa Maradona". The thing that grabbed my intention first was the story of the two main characters: aimless, jobless, clueless. Sounds familiar. Stefano Accorsi and Libero De Rienzo are wonderful in the leading roles. The conversations are totally true to life and kind of intriguing, if pointless. Imagine the characters of "Before Sunrise" minus all the romantic feelings and dreams and you get an idea of the dialog in this movie. The story is rather anti-climatic until the movie suddenly ends and that is a bit of a flaw. On the other hand, it's just further proof that this movie was intended to be as realistic as possible. Life is like that for people like Andrea and Bart. No big happy ending, no dramatic development, just a long monotonous chain of meaningless events. Yep, if you're looking for something gaudier watch "Reality Bites", but don't think that that movie has anything to do with reality.
A Sweet and Sour Movie
fanni6 December 2001
Santa Maradona tells the story of two 'young' men living in Turin and trying to start their professional life after studying at university. Their way to live appears funny (the couple Accorsi / De Rienzo plays very well together), but also sad and void of points of reference. They communicate very well with each other, thanks also to their common passion for football, but their relationship with the rest of the world is difficult, not clear and not definite.
It is a clever movie about the difficulty to live, to find oneself identity and to pursue one's interests and objectives. Stefano Accorsi even leaves the girlfriend he loves due to his unsatisfaction with himself. Very real situations.
It is a clever movie about the difficulty to live, to find oneself identity and to pursue one's interests and objectives. Stefano Accorsi even leaves the girlfriend he loves due to his unsatisfaction with himself. Very real situations.
Not great but fun to watch
diazr27 January 2003
While not a great social commentary, the playful portrayal of tension between the 4 protagonists makes it fun to watch. Andrea is purposefully like many other Italian young adults, living the fact of unemployment and getting no where even when he tries; his chance (too forced?) meeting with Dolores is a distraction and test of his commitment to growing up. His room mate and other friends also help drag him down. Can he break out?
It's also refreshing to find the true-to-life non resolution of relationships; it's use of language is also street real.
It's also refreshing to find the true-to-life non resolution of relationships; it's use of language is also street real.
Pityfully inadequate
Angeloventura23 December 2001
An italian "Trainspotting"? A social satire? An effort to imitate Antonioni? Who knows, but the movie was absolutely schyzophrenic and if it wanted to be funny,it wasn't,if it wanted to be socially significant,you'd better try Pasolini or Altman than this tripe of a movie.Beware of the language: there is some clean word among the profanities the characters (???) pronounce all along.
Slackers in Torino
jotix10013 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Andrea and Bart are two good friends recently graduated from college and starting their own lives. Andrea, who has graduated from what might be the equivalent of Liberal Arts, finds the grim reality of finding a job that will help him start a career. Bart, on the other hand, is a lazy sort whose only purpose in life seems to be talking about outrageous stories about terrible things in the news, probably. The duo's repartee is the basis of the film, as two diverse twenty-somethings go aimlessly around the city playing tricks and stealing books they cannot afford to buy otherwise.
Andrea meets, by chance, the lovely Dolores, a young university student interested in making a career in the theater. Andrea falls madly in love with the gorgeous woman, but there is a big problem. Dolores comes clean telling Andrea about meeting a director who was interested in casting her for a role in his new play. He took her to dinner and then to his apartment where both ended up having sex. Even though this happened before they even met, Andrea cannot get over the fact that he was not her first one. The action is interspersed with the two buddies love for soccer, although their idol, Diego Maradona, was long retired from the game.
Marco Ponti, who had written for the Italian cinema, was making his full length debut with "Santa Maradona" a buddy film that should have been better, after all, it has the right elements going into it, in addition to the principals who are appealing in the work they have done in movies from their country. The film is a crazy combination of styles as it kept reminding this viewer about the films of Kevin Smith as well as Danny Boyle in the way these two friends go through life, one wanting to enter the employed classes while the other refuses to take part into anything serious with his life.
Stefano Accorsi and Libero De Rienzo are seen as Andrea and Bart. They have done better in other films. Mr. Accorsi is the serious one, while Mr. De Rienzo has the best opportunities to be funny with his Bart. Beautiful Anita Caprioli plays Dolores, Andrea's love interest, and Mandela Tayde appears as Lucia.
Andrea meets, by chance, the lovely Dolores, a young university student interested in making a career in the theater. Andrea falls madly in love with the gorgeous woman, but there is a big problem. Dolores comes clean telling Andrea about meeting a director who was interested in casting her for a role in his new play. He took her to dinner and then to his apartment where both ended up having sex. Even though this happened before they even met, Andrea cannot get over the fact that he was not her first one. The action is interspersed with the two buddies love for soccer, although their idol, Diego Maradona, was long retired from the game.
Marco Ponti, who had written for the Italian cinema, was making his full length debut with "Santa Maradona" a buddy film that should have been better, after all, it has the right elements going into it, in addition to the principals who are appealing in the work they have done in movies from their country. The film is a crazy combination of styles as it kept reminding this viewer about the films of Kevin Smith as well as Danny Boyle in the way these two friends go through life, one wanting to enter the employed classes while the other refuses to take part into anything serious with his life.
Stefano Accorsi and Libero De Rienzo are seen as Andrea and Bart. They have done better in other films. Mr. Accorsi is the serious one, while Mr. De Rienzo has the best opportunities to be funny with his Bart. Beautiful Anita Caprioli plays Dolores, Andrea's love interest, and Mandela Tayde appears as Lucia.
Great buddy movie that is let down by the uneven development of the story
Funkadelic_11613 August 2006
It was a hot summer night when I first saw the movie, and straight from get go the Italian atmosphere displayed so prominently in this movie just sucked me in.
All the actors in the movie have excellent charisma and presence on screen which is aided by the chemistry between them all. You really feel like you are watching every day life people having a good time rather than a scripted movie. Anita Caprioli is absolutely stunning in this film, from the first scene that she is in you can't stop looking from her.
Now for the not so good. As many users before me mentioned this movie deals with some major issues in the Italian life, such as unemployment for the younger generation. Andrea keeps looking for work and keeps getting rejected while Bart has given up altogether and settles for some street philosophy and bumming around. Aside from that the story slows down towards the end, after Adrea dumps Dolores, and the movie doesn't really recover from there. Most of the fun in this movie was watching the relationship develop, and when that disappears and the missing housemate comes back the story just gets ridiculous to the point where the whole feel of the movie is disturbed and feels as though a different director took over.
To finish this all off, I still enjoyed this movie immensely, particularly because of the chemistry of the leads and if you have a chance sit down and give this movie a shot. Won't be disappointed
All the actors in the movie have excellent charisma and presence on screen which is aided by the chemistry between them all. You really feel like you are watching every day life people having a good time rather than a scripted movie. Anita Caprioli is absolutely stunning in this film, from the first scene that she is in you can't stop looking from her.
Now for the not so good. As many users before me mentioned this movie deals with some major issues in the Italian life, such as unemployment for the younger generation. Andrea keeps looking for work and keeps getting rejected while Bart has given up altogether and settles for some street philosophy and bumming around. Aside from that the story slows down towards the end, after Adrea dumps Dolores, and the movie doesn't really recover from there. Most of the fun in this movie was watching the relationship develop, and when that disappears and the missing housemate comes back the story just gets ridiculous to the point where the whole feel of the movie is disturbed and feels as though a different director took over.
To finish this all off, I still enjoyed this movie immensely, particularly because of the chemistry of the leads and if you have a chance sit down and give this movie a shot. Won't be disappointed
ninety minutes wasted & i have only one life to live
salome-323 November 2001
oh what a terrible movie... It looks like the screenwriter/directed was locked in a room with a copy of Clerks and a copy of Chasing Amy and left there to rot for five years. Derivative, manipulative, full of wannabe "witty" dialogue that's absolutely stupid and pointless (with more of a hint of homophobia)... it was clearly made just because the male lead Stefano Accorsi (already a display of acting mannerism) helped pitching the script. A perfect example of why italian film industry is getting shoddier and shoddier.
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