Mario Martone, the Italian film director and screenwriter, steps into the role of the documentarian to spotlight another Italian filmmaker and (writer/actor/director), Massimo Troisi. Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me leans more towards the pre-scripted narrative version of a documentary rather than the kind that finds the story in the interviews. As Mario likely knew going into this, the structure he wanted the documentary to take. And he’s not an outsider/observer documentarian in this but also appears on camera.
The documentary looks at the life and work of Massimo Troisi, both his stage and film work, in his rather short but prolific career (he died at 41). If you are familiar with his films, this documentary will probably serve as a nice retrospective, along with providing some nice anecdotes from people whose lives/careers were influenced by his work. If you see this film unfamiliar with his work, or have only seen it minimally, it makes a compelling case to see his films.
The introductions to the interviewees are inconsistent. While some people get proper introductions with context as to their connection to Massimo, others only get a name superimposed, which left me wondering if the expected audience is only people that already know Massimo and his work, which feels limited.
Early on, I knew I had seen one of his films, or at least a clip before, probably in film school. The clip of him walking down the street talking to a woman at the start of the film gave me a visceral flashback. And I got a huge smile from the sequence highlighting his notable acting “tell” of touching his eyebrow. I love this when actors lean into a character trait instead of fighting against it in their work because when you find something that works, I don’t think you have to change it. It’s why writers, at their core, usually explore the same theme repeatedly.
And for Massimo “the writer” it was the conflict of Naples’ need to change combined with the difficulty of finding love. Naples’ need to change was due to the tragic result of an Earthquake. Those kinds of disasters have a way of forcing change to happen more quickly. But I feel this is a very relatable theme and makes his films accessible to many people.
Take Toronto. Over the last 10+years, the kind of bohemian, grungy, thrift store vibes it had, has been stripped away for growing condominiums that all look the same and restaurants and storefronts that can mostly pass for airport lounges. No specific disaster predicated this character change (unless you count the election of Rob Ford). Most people, unless they had a rough childhood/young adulthood, are nostalgic for the period of their city during their formative years, regardless of what changes happen to the city. City’s change, that’s life, but human nature is to mourn what’s no longer there. I mourn so many things lost in Toronto that were part of my formative years that no longer exist, but they disappeared just because of regular things (the family retiring, rent getting too high, etc.). My losses happened slowly, over time, not overnight due to a natural disaster.
And that desire to not want to see things change combines nicely with the difficulty in finding love. Because allowing yourself to be open to loving someone, is to be vulnerable to the ultimate change. So again, you don’t have to be from Naples to relate to that.
Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me (Laggiù qualcuno mi ama) premiered at the 73rd International Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) in the Berlinale Special section.
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