Review

Reality

Rating: Two-and-a-half stars (out of five)

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Matteo Garrone, the Italian director who brought us the gut-wrenching crime drama Gomorrah, switches gears with a comedy-drama as shallow and surreal as the so-called reality TV that he strains to satirize. Flashes of Fellini-esque visual flair, notably in a ridiculously lavish, stunningly photographed fairy-tale wedding sequence, brighten Garrone’s diverting tale of Luciano (Aniello Arena), a delusional Neapolitan fishmonger whose obsession with getting onto Big Brother takes its toll on his despairing wife and massive (in more ways than one) extended Italian family. Their initial delight gives way to skepticism and anger, especially when this clownish would-be local hero starts giving their possessions away to appear more charitable, convinced producers have sent agents from Rome to spy on him. With a nod to Italian neo-realism, Garrone amusingly skewers celebrity worship, but his leisurely paced film is so superficial and predictable it fails to become a genuinely inspired satire on stardom. Its chief assets include Marco Onorato’s magnificent cinematography of eye-filling locations from ancient Naples architecture to Rome’s Cinecittà film studios.

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