A world apart. The review of the film with Antonio Albanese

It’s definitely not a world apart the one outlined by Riccardo Milani in his new film; at least as far as the Italian director’s filmography is concerned. Written by his collaborator Michele Astori, the filmmaker’s new project fits within the social framework so dear to the director and already previously investigated in Thank you guys (2023) or I run to youof 2022.

Marking the return of Milani’s film, as the director’s fetish interpreter, is once again the comic actor Antonio Albanese, who, having now completed his transfiguration into Robin Williams – or at least into a bizarre and fake one of his Italian version – here he plays the role of elementary school teacher Michele Cortese, who managed to get assigned to the Cesidio Gentile Institute known as Jurico, in the Abruzzo National Park, after about forty years of teaching in the schools of the capital. Thanks to the support of the vice-principal Agnese (Virginia Raffaele), as well as his new students and his (few) fellow citizens, Michele soon manages to adapt to life in the small, cold village. But the threat of a possible closure of the school, due to the too small number of children enrolled, forces the two teachers into a race against time – even at the cost of circumventing some rules for the good of their students and the folkloristic mountain village. .

Not a world apart, we said, and for some simple reasons. In fact, what Milani tries to disguise as a deviation from a traced path, reflected in Michele’s adventure out of the comfort zone, is nothing other than the director’s evident desire to abandon himself to the codes of a super-inflated narrative. A narrative which, limiting itself to observing the Italian cinematographic panorama, perhaps has its main model in the diptych Welcome to the North/South by Luca Miniero. Story of the linguistic-anthropological misunderstandings produced by the meeting/clash between the “alien” and the natives, with nice little scenes in tow.

However, as long as the filmmaker’s spotlight remains on the Albanese-Raffaele couple – as well as on the protagonist’s integration process – the film essentially proceeds at cruising speed, devoid of particular ideas, but still capable of exploiting the talent of its main interpreters in reshuffling of more or less recognizable structures and gags.

If anything, the problems arise when the filmmaker, perhaps in an illusory attempt to broaden his fan base, clumsily attempts to bring into play a “new generation” sensibility. Venturing into discussions relating to integration on multiple levels which, far from being scathing – both in dramatic and satirical ambitions – instead end up defining the project as the worst nightmare of its own characters: a village of and for a few inhabitants, pleasant in its nostalgic-identity nuances, but destined to be forgotten.

Director: Riccardo Milani
Cast: Antonio Albanese, Virginia Raffaele, Sergio Saltarelli, Alessandra Barbonetti, Sergio Meogrossi, Corrado Oddi, Enzo De Sanctis, Donatella La Cesa
Distribution: Medusa Film
Duration: 112′
Origin: Italy, 2024