Nirvana (1997)

Director:

Gabriele Salvatores

Writers:

Pino Cacucci (writer)
Gloria Corica (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

24 January 1997 (Italy)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Jimi, a successful computer game designer, finds that his latest product has been infected by a virus...

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Virtual Reality | Cyberspace | Futuristic | Chase

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Christopher Lambert	...	Jimi Dini
Sergio Rubini	...	Joystick
Diego Abatantuono	...	Solo
Stefania Rocca	...	Naima
Emmanuelle Seigner	...	Lisa
Amanda Sandrelli	...	Maria
Claudio Bisio	...	Red Rover
Gigio Alberti	...	Dr. Ratzenberger
Antonio Catania	...	Paranoia Vendor
Ugo Conti	...	Sicilian Tourist
Leonardo Gajo	...	Gaz-Gaz
Silvio Orlando	...	Indian Desk Clerk
Paolo Rossi	...	Joker
Bebo Storti	...	Meditating man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Corinna Agustoni	...	Assistant to Guru
Daniele Auber	...	Young Man in Bar
Agostino Canepa	...	1st Policeman Game
Bed Cerchiai	...	Asli
William Chiu	...	Japanese Sushi Vendor
Eugenio Ciotola	...	1st Organ Hunter
Luisa Corna	...	The Goddess Kali
Alessandro Cremona	...	Policeman
Germaine Damar
Bachir Ahmet Diakhate	...	5th Organ Hunter
Rocco Di Gioia	...	6th Organ Hunter
Alessandro Eccelsi	...	Nude Man
Aminata Fall	...	1st Body Guard Psychologist
Avinash Ganesh	...	Avinash
Antonello Grimaldi	...	Pakistan Desk Clerk
Oreste Guidi	...	Killer
Pieter Jurriaanse	...	Young Man
Victor Kanu	...	2nd Body Guard Psychologist
Reynold Joh Kerr	...	Meek Man
Christine Krug	...	Prostitute in Window
Coco Leonardi	...	Jimi's Father
Lorenzo Loris	...	1st Terminator
Rosario Marino	...	Bum
Marcello Mazzarella	...	2nd Organ Hunter
Giuseppe Messina	...	Bartender
Adolfo Oltrecolli	...	Older Man
Dodo Oltrecolli
Michael Oyegunle	...	3rd Organ Hunter
Gianni Palladino	...	Trucker
Federico Pasquetto	...	2nd Policeman Game
Roman Pavlouchev	...	Soldier
Vincenzo Petrarolo	...	Indian who runs away
Elisabetta Riva	...	Virtual Prostitute
Suleyman Salmassi	...	Sid
Renato Sarti	...	Drugged Man
Fabio Sartor	...	Policeman
Giovanni Sorenti	...	Organ Vendor
Valerio Staffelli	...	2nd Terminator
Marialuisa Tadei	...	Woman Announcer
Luca Torraca	...	President
Stefania Ventura	...	4th Organ Hunter
Hal Yamanouchi	...	Psychologist Okasama Starr (as Haruhiko Yamanouchi)
Riccardo Zinna	...	Mafia Man
Loredana Zupanic	...	3rd Terminator

Directed by
Gabriele Salvatores

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Pino Cacucci		writer
Gloria Corica		writer
Gabriele Salvatores		writer

Produced by
Vittorio Cecchi Gori	....	producer
Samuel Hadida	....	co-producer
Rita Rusic	....	producer (as Rita Cecchi Gori)
Antonio Tacchia	....	executive producer
Maurizio Totti	....	producer

Original Music by
Federico De Robertis
Mauro Pagani

Cinematography by
Italo Petriccione

Film Editing by
Massimo Fiocchi

Production Design by
Giancarlo Basili

Set Decoration by
Giancarlo Basili
Mauro Venturini

Costume Design by
Patrizia Chericoni
Florence Emir

Makeup Department
Sabrina Bernard	....	makeup assistant
Bernadette Grampa	....	head makeup artist
Didier Lavergne	....	makeup artist: Mr. Lambert
Cristina Magliano	....	makeup artist
Patrizia Palimento	....	makeup assistant

Production Management
Stefano Dioguardi	....	unit production manager
Roberto Gallarati	....	unit production manager
Roberto Luvisotti	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Maria Raffaella Faggiano	....	second assistant director
Fabio Scamoni	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Ornella Baraldo	....	assistant set designer
Kristian Bikkeci	....	assistant props
Pietro Billeci	....	assistant props
Andrea Bonomi	....	assistant props
Giovanni Broggio	....	construction manager
Marco Caltagirone	....	assistant props
Carmine Canfora	....	assistant props
Elena Caponi	....	third assistant production designer
Marina Lubrano	....	second assistant production designer
Rita Rabassini	....	assistant production designer
Paolo Ricci	....	scenic technician
Paolo Vinci	....	scenic painter

Sound Department
Roberto Cappannelli	....	dubbing mixer
Jean-Christophe Casalini	....	sound designer
Josh Cramer	....	assistant sound editor
Mark DeSimone	....	adr mixer
Alberto Doni	....	sound re-recording mixer
Val Kuklowsky	....	supervising adr editor
Mauro Lazzaro	....	sound engineer
Clementina Luotto	....	adr coordinator
Tullio Morganti	....	sound
Sandro Pallottini	....	adr sound engineer
Angelo Raguseo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Federico Savina	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Luigi Tota	....	foley artist
Francesco Vallocchia	....	dialogue editor
Francesco Vallocchia	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Daniele Auber	....	prop designer and maker
Sergio Stivaletti	....	biomechanical prosthetic design
Victor Togliani	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Fabrizio Donvito	....	digital special effects
Louis Dunlevy	....	digital effects artist
Carlotta Fenati	....	digital coordinator
Luciano Igino	....	digital animator
Stefano Marinoni	....	digital effects: Digitalia Graphics
Andrew Quinn	....	digital compositor
Louis Dunlevy Russell	....	digital compositor
Paola Trisoglio	....	digital effects: Digitalia Graphics

Stunts
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Tommaso Anania	....	grip
Mario Bertolasi	....	grip
Bruno Bianchella	....	second assistant camera
Andrea Collepiccolo	....	assistant camera
Nicola Console	....	grip
Antonio Coppola	....	grip
Onofrio Coppola	....	key grip
Claudio Cordoni	....	assistant camera
Massimo Fossali	....	grip
Renzo Gamba	....	assistant Steadicam operator
Giovanni Gebbia	....	Steadicam operator
Filippo Guasco	....	assistant camera
Antonio La Barbera	....	gaffer
Fabrizio Marchesi	....	still photographer
Roberto Marchini	....	electrician
Giacomo Montalbano	....	grip
Sergio Rossi	....	electrician
Ursula Sigon	....	second assistant camera
Torquato Tessarin	....	grip
Leonardo Todisco	....	grip
Fabrizio Vicari	....	camera operator
Luca Villa	....	electrician

Casting Department
David H. Kramer	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carmen Agostinelli	....	wardrobe (as Carmelina Agostinelli)
Giorgio Armani	....	costumes: Christopher Lambert, Diego Abatantuono and Emmanuelle Seigner
Marinella Cioli	....	wardrobe assistant
Beatrice Corvo	....	wardrobe assistant
Antonella Gemignani	....	assistant costume designer
Maria Gentile	....	wardrobe
Filomena Pagnozzi	....	wardrobe assistant
Vincenza Tomaciallo	....	costume assistant
Antonietta Vino	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Pasquale Cuzzupoli	....	color consultant

Other crew
Franco Barratti	....	video coordinator
Paola Bonelli	....	script supervisor
Ferdinando Bonifazi	....	assistant production secretary
Carlo Calcaterra	....	production coordinator
Enrico Carozzi	....	crowd coordinator
Lorenzo Comolla	....	assistant production secretary
Francesco Gioia	....	video coordinator
Laura Lamanda	....	assistant to director
Attila Mancarella	....	production secretary
Roberto Pedicini	....	voice dubbing: Christopher Lambert
Tino Polenghi	....	production secretary (as Santino Polenghi)

Production Companies

• Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica
• Colorado Films
• Davis-Films

Distributors

• Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner (1997) (Germany) (theatrical)
• K2 Entertainment (1998) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Scandinavian Entertainment Group (1999) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Vitória Filmes (1998) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Cecchi Gori Home Video (2000) (Italy) (DVD) (uncut)
• Hilo Visión S.A. (Spain)
• Miramax Films
• PlayArte Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Digitalia Graphics S.r.l.

Other Companies

• Giorgio Armani  costumes
• Movie People, Milano  technical equipment
• Technovision  camera equipment

Also Known As:

Nirvana (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violence, drug use and some sexuality.

Runtime:

113 min | USA:96 min (DVD)

Country:

Italy | France | UK

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 (w) | South Korea:15 | Italy:T | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Hong Kong:IIB | Mexico:B | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Genoa, Liguria, Italy

Company:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

References The Deer Hunter (1978)

Soundtrack:

Chronotape

A masterpiece right under your eyes - but no one saw it....

Films generally carry a title for a reason. Salvatores's Nirvana's is the key to understanding it. Without the key, the film will look like rubbish, like many comments here testify. But, if you get that key and use it, it can become one of the most astonishing movie experiences you may make.

The title is not just the name of a videogame. That is totally incidental.

The movie is about the voyage towards Nirvana - the real thing - of two men (or maybe of one man and his own projection in a virtual world): how the two (or maybe the man and his own inner conscience) start to understand what Nirvana is and how they eventually reach it, in spite of all misadventures and (that is not casual at all...) the cycles of deaths and rebirths that the virtual self Solo (meaning alone, in Italian, not Star Wars' character - again not a coincidence) has to go through.

This is a movie about symbolisms. This is a movie about the deepest searches of the soul. Searches that cannot be disturbed by petty concerns (see Bebo Storti's apparently bizarre line after he appears in a flash for just a few seconds to shoot and kill a very unlucky henchman "I am MEDITATING [profanities deleted]!").

Science fiction is incidental to its aims, and provides a fabulously well used tool to unravel the story in what I regard as a cinematic masterpiece.

Blade Runner's climax ended on the recognition that replicants (and humans, maybe) were just "tears... in the rain". Nirvana's is about snowflakes that fall forever, and yet never fall.... Pity this is so far above the expectations of an average moviegoer that most viewers did not even recognize the genius in its simplicity. My congratulations to Cacucci, Corica and Salvatores!