Polvere di Napoli (1998)

The title deliberatly recalls the famous L'oro di Napoli (Napoli's Gold) by Vittorio De Sica (1954). Alike De Sica's film here Naples is the real protagonist: Naples and its dust, not its ... See full summary »

Director:

Antonio Capuano

Writers:

Antonio Capuano (story), Tonino Taiuti (story),

Stars:

Silvio Orlando, Tonino Taiuti, Lola Pagnani

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Silvio Orlando	...	Ciriaco / Ciarli
Tonino Taiuti	...	Gerri
Lola Pagnani	...	Rosita
Teresa Saponangelo	...	Teresa
Raffaele Musella	...	Gino
Antonino Iuorio	...	Bibberò (as Antonio Juorio)
Giovanni Ferreri	...	Sanguetta (as Gianni Ferreri)
Gigio Morra	...	Bilancione
Alan De Luca	...	Eugenio
Francesco Pennasilico	...	Pasqualo
Giovanni Esposito	...	Mimmo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claudia Cimmino	...	Hostess
Ninni Fornario

Storyline

The title deliberatly recalls the famous L'oro di Napoli (Napoli's Gold) by Vittorio De Sica (1954). Alike De Sica's film here Naples is the real protagonist: Naples and its dust, not its gold. Through five episodes expressing different aspects of Naples, we have a picture of the town that doesn't belong to the postcard stereotypes... Story 1. Four friends play a card game "scopa"; two of them keep losing and at the end they lose themselves. Story 2. Teresa and Gigino, a young couple, wander in town while quarrelling. Finally they make peace and decide to get married at the Church of Carmine, just the two of them. Story 3. Two Argentinean tourists of Italian origin come to visit the archaeological site of Pompei but they find it closed owing to a strike. They manage to convince the custodian to let them in. The three establish a sort of complicity... Story 4. Mimmo Pezzella, whose idol actor is Richard Gere, wants to become an actor himself and to be able to participate to a "general"...

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

June 1998 (Italy)

Filming Locations:

Naples, Campania, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.M.A. Film, GMF, Radiotelevisione Italiana

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References The Gold of Naples (1954)

User Reviews

DeSica has nothing to worry about

This is a disjointed mishmash of five unconnected vignettes which shows that Italian cinema is more or less beyond resurrection. It may be possible that their best does not reach our shores. It is also understandable that this film has not been distributed commercially. After the first day's showing word of mouth publicity would close it down forever. (I saw it a museum screening.)

It is pointless to use as a point of departure DeSica's "The gold of Naples" as the maker of this film is doing. The comparison only accentuates the huge difference between the two film makers.

The protagonists of all the stories are lost souls one way or another who have not future in Naples or elsewhere. The actors do the best they can with the material, but there is not enough to work with here.