VIEWS FROM THE WORLD: PAOLO SORRENTINO

He is the most loved Italian director in the United States, often considered Fellini's only successor for his personal style and his ability to narrate and insert unusual characters into his films. 

He made his feature film debut in 2001 with The Man More, his first work set in his native Naples. Already from this film we can see some traits of what will be his poetics: about all the love for losers. The two protagonists are in fact men who lose their fame and money from one moment to the next. Despite the same name, but a profoundly different character, fate still leads them to hopeless social futility. 

The second film already entered the competition at Cannes. The consequences of love gets excellent reviews and establishes Sorrentino as an author to keep an eye on. Again with his partner Toni Servillo, he tells the story of a man who lives isolated in a hotel in the Canton of Ticino practicing without human contact. Dry direction, subtractive acting and the fundamental importance of the setting are other characteristics that stand out in his style. 

With The Family Friend, the second time in competition at Cannes, comes the first stop. The story of an ugly loan shark who shows up at the victims' house as a family friend struggles, despite being yet another outcast protagonist in the world. Ugly is everywhere in society and the once again aseptic setting of the Agro Pontino accentuates the cruel mediocrity of life. Decidedly snubbed at the time, it still remains a work to be rediscovered. 

With Il divo comes the Jury Prize at Cannes and the attention of the United States where the film arrives at the Oscars with a nomination for best make-up. For the first time Sorrentino dresses up as a scourge of the powerful and makes a work about Giulio Andreotti and his heavy presence in Italian politics in the nineties between the attempt to be elected President of the Republic and the mafia. The style becomes more frenetic and right from the opening credits the work appears more adrenaline-filled. There is no shortage of sharp jokes and aphorisms that blend well with the dry direction. It is certainly his most successful work even if not the most easily accessible. 

The American sirens lead him to shoot his first film in English: This must be the place, which stars Sean Penn. The now out of touch rock star, who must settle the accounts of his dying father's past, is less original than previous works and marks a slowdown in his rise, but allows him to solidify his international fame. Yet another competition in Cannes is nevertheless a good response at the box office. 

In 2013 he pulled the ace out of his sleeve and entered the competition at Cannes The Great Beauty. Wandering in a decadent Rome by Jep Gambardella leaves the festival empty-handed. The takings in Italy are good, but the criticism is not unanimous. However, their consecration came from overseas where they fell in love with the film that took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The style becomes more rarefied, the direction increasingly attentive to the madness of life and the increasingly inconsistent circus of modern existence. A protagonist and many supporting actors accompany you on a journey to the eternal city that hypnotizes and overturns. Probably not the best, but the most recognizable. 

With the following Youth, again in English and with two protagonists of world caliber such as Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel, returns to Cannes. The style becomes increasingly rarefied, the cold settings recall The Consequences of Love. Between reflections on love and death in an environment reminiscent of Mann's The Magic Mountain, the film heads straight for a touching, engaging and stylistically impeccable final scene. 

A short break from cinema follows with the series The young Pope, which marks a new record by becoming the first Italian-produced series to be nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. The power struggles in the Vatican fascinate Monfo and a few years later he produced a second season entitled The new Pope. 

2018 is the year of Loro the film released in two parts which tells the story of Silvio Berlusconi. Sorrento does not once again become the scourge of the powerful, but he does not give up talking about the loneliness that scene after scene comes to grip the fallen leader. The film intrigued Italy and caused a lot of talk even though it proved difficult for the general public both due to its duration and style. 

Penultimate effort It was the hand of God saw him in competition in Venice where he won the Grand Jury Prize. It is his most personal work, a sort of Amarcord in Neapolitan style which also enchants the world thanks to its distribution on the platform. It is his most sentimental work with the story of his parents and that of his cinematic father. He does not give up the follies of Naples and so the Sorrento opera is ready. 

In Cannes this spring and ready for theaters is the turn of Parthenope, a new film set in Naples which talks about youth, its cheekiness and indecision, freedom and social constraints. Visually intriguing, but more glossy than usual, it marks a step back compared to his previous works and his love letters to Naples limps a bit. 

Eclectic, visionary, inventive, loved by festivals and especially overseas Sorrentino is the greatest export product of Italian cinema. Capable of attracting attention to his films, he is certainly an all-round coherent author even at the cost of making a few slips. For a cinephile, when one of his films comes out, it's always time to go to the theater.