Mortacci

Last updated
Mortacci
Mortacci.jpg
Directed by Sergio Citti
Written by David Grieco
Vincenzo Cerami
Ottavio Jemma
Sergio Citti
Produced byGioanfranco Piccioli
Giorgio Leopardi
Starring Vittorio Gassman
Malcolm McDowell
Mariangela Melato
Sergio Rubini
Cinematography Cristiano Pogany
Edited byUgo De Rossi
Music by Francesco De Masi
Release date
  • 1989 (1989)
Running time
110 min
Country Italy
LanguageItalian

Mortacci is a 1989 Italian dark comedy film, directed by Sergio Citti. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

The film is set in a cemetery, where the dead souls gather every night until they can be allowed to enter the afterlife. They recall their respective pasts and the circumstances of their deaths, while spying on the living people and witnessing their crimes.

Plot summary

In a small town cemetery, the deceased every night host a meeting. They are doomed not to enter the next stage of the afterlife, till the last living human who remembers them passes away. Through the recollection of their lives and deaths, the different characters are introduced: Alma, a theater actress (Carol Alt) who witnesses every night the futile attempt of her ex-lover (Malcolm McDowell) to commit suicide over her grave; Angelo, a womanizer (Andy Luotto) who died out of shame; Felice and Giggetto, two beggars (Eraldo Turra and Luciano Manzalini) who soon leave the group as the last woman (Mariangela Melato) who remembers them dies while visiting their grave.

The narration is interrupted by the arrival of Lucillo (Sergio Rubini), a soldier who was presumed dead in a military mission in Lebanon and who is forced by his fellow villagers to die for real, as they built a huge business on his hero status and fame. The cemetery warden Domenico (Vittorio Gassman) supervises all the operations, from opening the gates to stealing valuables from the dead, without knowing that the deceased see him and everything that happens in the small cemetery.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vittorio De Sica</span> Italian film director and actor (1901–1974)

Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vittorio Gassman</span> Italian actor and director (1922–2000)

Vittorio Gassman, popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italy men's national basketball team</span> Mens national basketball team representing Italy

The Italy men's national basketball team represents Italy in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP).

<i>Accattone</i> 1961 film

Accattone is a 1961 Italian drama film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was Pasolini's first film as a director and premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gian Maria Volonté</span> Italian actor (1933–1994)

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist, remembered for his versatility as a performer, his outspoken left-wing leanings, and fiery temper on- and off-screen. He is perhaps most famous outside Italy for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanna Mezzogiorno</span> Italian actress

Giovanna Mezzogiorno is an Italian theatre and film actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassano delle Murge</span> Comune in Apulia, Italy

Cassano delle Murge is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enzo Petito</span> Italian actor

Enzo Petito was an Italian film and stage character actor. A theatre actor under Eduardo De Filippo in the 1950s in the Teatro San Ferdinando of Naples, with whom he was professionally closely associated, Petito also appeared in several of his films, often co-starring Eduardo or/and brother, Peppino De Filippo, brothers who are considered to be amongst the greatest Italian actors of the 20th century. Petito played minor roles in some memorable commedia all'Italiana movies directed by the likes of Dino Risi and Mario Monicelli in the late 1950s and early 1960s, often appearing alongside actors such as Nino Manfredi, Alberto Sordi, Peppino De Filippo, Anna Maria Ferrero, and Totò.

<i>Commedia allitaliana</i> Italian film genre

Commedia all'italiana, or Italian-style comedy, is an Italian film genre born in Italy in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street in 1958, and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorce Italian Style (1961). According to most of the critics, La Terrazza (1980) by Ettore Scola is the last work considered part of the commedia all'italiana.

Vittorio Sodano (Victor) is an Italian make-up artist. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work in Apocalypto (2006) and for Il divo (2010). Born in Naples on 1 September 1974, at age 16, in London, he began his work as a make-up artist as a sculptor and prosthodontist in a laboratory for film special effects. In 1996 he made his début in cinema with the film Prima che il tramonto (Before the Sunset) by Stefano Incerti, for which he won an award for make-up and special effects at the Locarno Film Festival. With considerable knowledge in the field of special effects make-up and application of prosthesis he began to assert himself in the Italian and European cinema, becoming a personal makeup artist of Italian's actresses Margherita Buy, Laura Morante, Mariangela Melato and Valeria Golino. In 2023 he worked as Make-up supervisor in the film Joachim and the Apocalypse by Jordan River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco and Ciccio</span> Italian comic comedy duo active from 1954 to 1992

Franco and Ciccio were a comic comedy duo formed by Italian actors Franco Franchi (1928–1992) and Ciccio Ingrassia (1922–2003), particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Their collaboration began in 1954 in the theatre field, and ended with Franchi's death in 1992. The two made their cinema debuts in 1960 with the film Appuntamento a Ischia. They remained active until 1984 when their last film together, Kaos, was shot, although there were some interruptions in 1973 and from 1975 to 1980.

Specializing in the field of drama, with particular attention to the drama of its national heritage, the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico has played a key role in the Italian film and theater scene and is currently headed by Professor Luigi Maria Musati. It has prepared artists such as Margherita Buy, Vittorio Gassman, Luigi Lo Cascio, Anna Magnani, Nino Manfredi, and Monica Vitti. Other former alumni include Antoniano, Manuela Arcuri, Mino Bellei, Carmelo Bene, Dirk van den Berg, Giuliana Berlinguer, Alessio Boni, Alberto Bonucci, Giulio Bosetti, Renato De Carmine, Ennio Fantastichini, Gabriele Ferzetti (expelled), Scilla Gabel, Domiziana Giordano, Michele Placido, Luca Ronconi, Gian Maria Volonté and Lina Wertmüller.

<i>Lamore difficile</i> 1962 film

L'amore difficile is a 1962 Italian comedy anthology film. The film represents the directorial debut of the four authors, who were however all experienced in other areas of the film industry. The four episodes are based on short stories by well-known Italian novelists and share the themes of love and betrayal.

<i>Rossini! Rossini!</i> 1991 Italian film

Rossini! Rossini! is a 1991 Italian biographical film written and directed by Mario Monicelli. It depicts real life events of composer Gioachino Rossini. Monicelli replaced Robert Altman, who was experiencing differences with the producers. The film won the David di Donatello for Best Costumes.

The Nastro d'Argento is a film award assigned each year, since 1948, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.

<i>Petomaniac</i> 1983 film

Il petomane, internationally released as Petomaniac, is a 1983 Italian commedia all'italiana film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile. It is loosely based on real life events of Joseph Pujol, best known as "Le Pétomane".

<i>Happy Hobos</i> Film

Due pezzi di pane, internationally released as Happy Hobos, is a 1979 Italian comedy film directed by Sergio Citti.

References

  1. Roberto Poppi. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 2000. ISBN   887742429X.
  2. Sergio Toffetti (1993). La terra vista dalla luna: il cinema di Sergio Citti. Lindau, 1993. ISBN   8871800737.
  3. Maurizio De Benedictis (2008). Sergio Citti. Lo "straniero" del cinema italiano. Lithos, 2008. ISBN   978-8889604373.