PESARO – Ficarra & Picone protagonists of a retrospective at Pesaro Exhibition, an unprecedented choice, that of two Sicilian comedians, for the festival that has always studied Italian cinema. This time in the volume Marsilio, edited by the director Pedro Armocida with the critic Giulio Sangiorgio, essays and interviews focus on the idea that we can “Laugh seriously”, as the title of the book states. Among the films analyzed also the latest ones, The first Christmas And My goodness further explored with a video essay by Sangiorgio who analyzes the macro themes of their cinema (mafia, legality, priests, politics…) through a collage of sequences as significant as they are hilarious.
The two actors, directors and producers, who arrived in Pesaro on a break from the set of The blunder by Roberto Andò where they take on the role of two sui generis Garibaldians (Valentino Picone sports a beautiful Risorgimento beard). A project that, after the success of The strangeness, recreates the team of that film much loved by audiences and critics. With the irony and dialectic that characterizes them, the two played hide and seek. Let’s try to tell them in chapters.
Politically correct
Picone: “It is a fact that times change and ethics evolve. We cannot continue to say what we said before. I always hope I’m not rude with my jokes. In Sicily, once upon a time, if you wanted to offend someone you said “that one is a policeman” or “that one is repentant”, but thank God our heroes Falcone and Borsellino have changed their mentality and perception. Today we are in step, the State has realized that there is a battle to fight and has not left us alone thanks to the general indignation that followed those mafia killings”.
Ficarra: “We have an ironic intent, while others speak without asking themselves the problem of what surrounds them and how society evolves.”
The platforms
Ficarra: “You should have a passion for cinema and theaters. The cinema is a place where you go to consume this ritual. But I don’t see any competition with the platforms. Indeed, they provide enrichment. Just as Verdone, Troisi and Benigni all came from TV, or Totò and Sordi from vaudeville and radio, the platforms can serve to introduce a comedian to the public who then find him at the cinema”.
Southerners
Picone: “For years we were treated very badly, there was a prejudice against the South. Politics took it out on Southerners, as well as non-EU citizens. Today it’s not like that, we too tell the Milanese as many things but they are all clichés! Before they wanted to build a wall between North and South and it was talked about on talk shows, today the same people want to build the bridge over the Strait of Messina. In Sicily there are no roads, there is only one track, there is no water. We Sicilians laugh about it.”
Comedy and the comedian
Picone: “There is prejudice against comedy cinema, but it concerns those who have it. Paola Cortellesi has shown that it makes no sense, with There’s still tomorrow we laugh, we smile and we think. With Daylight saving time we won an award in China. I find it simplistic to reward the best comedy, then we should also reward the best horror or the best thriller. The difference between comedy and comedy is that in a comedy film you expect to laugh, while in comedy you expect it to be pleasant and if you laugh then, even better.”
The new comedians
Ficarra: “We produced Roberto Lipari, Max Angioni, Pintus. There are many young and interesting colleagues. The transition from TV to film must be calibrated.”
Picone: “We try to make those who start understand that they are not doing an episode of a show. Before, comedians had more time and more possibilities, we need to give them time to learn. Alberto Sordi, apart from the fact that he was a genius, made four films a year with directors like Risi and Monicelli. Today Chaplin would make Tik Tok before arriving at the cinema.”
The relationship with criticism
Ficarra: “We have a good relationship with critics, we don’t trust them! But the mission of our film is aimed at the public, the best thing is hearing the laughter in the room. We often go secretly to hear where and when people laugh and understand why they laugh. On paper you think one thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s effective. This is also why we watch our films again with pleasure, to understand where we went wrong.”
Mafia and priests
Picone: “The Hank was labeled “anti-mafia,” as well as My goodness it was labeled a blasphemous film, but they hadn’t even seen it. Catholicism is part of Italian society and in our films there is always a priest.”
Ficarra: “I’m sorry if the idea comes across that there is a thought in our films, that we are intelligent. I’m stupid, Valentino too. And we are also ignorant.”
Local politicians
Picone: “Daylight saving time it accuses the citizen more than the politicians. In that film there is a corrupt mayor and an honest mayor. Curiously, when we went around Sicily to show it, all the mayors thanked us and identified with the honest mayor even if they were famous for their misdeeds and under investigation.”
Ficarra: “In one country they voted for someone who already had a final conviction. They put into practice the slogan of the film “Vote Patanè without asking why” which is still valid for many people elected to the European elections, even if it doesn’t rhyme”.
Roberto Andò and Toni Servillo
Ficarra: “With Andò we are united by knowledge that comes from afar. We tell him all our projects as we also do with Peppuccio Tornatore. When we did The frogs of Aristophanes at the Ancient Theater of Syracuse we rediscovered a very powerful and very popular comedy which then served to launch a political message. We also like it if people leave the room asking questions. With Toni Servillo we share the love of telling characters. Now we’re making another movie, The blundercompletely different from The strangenesson a historical moment of the Unification of Italy”.
Ficarra: “Servillo had the role of Pirandello in it The strangeness because he was the only one who knew who he was.”
