PORTRAIT OF THE AUTEUR (THE HAND OF GOD)

  

Towards the end of Paolo Sorrentino's coming of age tale 'The Hand of God,' there's an impassioned plea for his lead character to find his voice as a filmmaker.

Over the course of the film, Filippo Scotti's teenager Fabietto Schisa has endured personal tragedy and reached a point in his life where the joy of his upbringing in Naples has become infused with pain.

Aspiring to one day becoming a director, he encounters Ciro Capani's cantankerous, famous filmmaker Antonio Capuano who has disrupted a play he is watching by haranguing the actress.

Stunned by Capuano's behaviour, Fabietto follows him out of the theatre and begs him for advice on how to become a director.

He spends most of the night talking to the director who is dismissive of his dream of moving to Rome to become a director.

Capuano passionately argues a filmmaking career can be built in Naples - a city bursting with stories.

'The Hand of God proves Capuano right.

Sorrentino's most personal work to date, it draws upon his experiences growing up in Naples in the mid to late 1980s around the time Argentina's footballing legend Diego Maradona joined the city's Serie A club.

Fabietto lives with his communist banker father, Toni Servillo's Savillo, his mum Teresa Saponangelo's Maria who loves playing practical jokes and his aspiring actor brother, Marlon Joubert's Marchino in an apartment block.

Above them lives Betti Pedrazzi's The Baroness who resides in an ornate apartment and gossips with Maria.

Thr Schisas spend a lot of time with relatives including Renato Carpentieri's disillusioned lawyer Alfredo and Dora Romano's grotesque, sweary aunt Signora Gentile who insists on wearing her fur coat in the height of summer while gorging on balls of ricotta cheese.

Another aunt, though, Luisa Ranieri's voluptuous Patrizia makes a huge impression on Fabrizio who lusts after her.

Dismissed for much of the film by the other characters as a deranged beauty, she cuts a tragic figure who longs to become a mother.

At the start of the film, Patrizia accompanies Enzo de Caro's San Genaro to meet a figure known as the Little Monk in the hope that it may help her conceive a child with her husband, Massimiliano Gallo's Franco.

Her husband, however, Is prone to bouts of jealousy and paranoia about her intentions towards other men and she calls the Schisas to come to her aid as they row.

Arriving in the aftermath of Franco's jealous outburst, they find Patrizia bleeding and Fabrizio's jaw drops when one of her breasts is accidentally exposed.

While Fabrizio dreams of losing his virginity to Patrizia, he and the city also fixates about the possible signing of Maradona.

When the Argentine does eventually join, Napoli's fans treat him like a God.

Attending the matches, Fabrizio befriends Biagio Manna's sea smuggler Armando who he later goes on a nighttime trip to Capri.

Fabrizio also begins to fall in love with cinema, thanks to a bizarre casting audition Marchino attends to be an extra in a Federico Fellini film, a VHS copy of Sergio Leone:s 'Once Upon A Time in America' and him also stumbling across the filming of a pivotal scene in Capuano's latest movie.

'The Hand of God' romanticises the forces that shaped Sorrentino through his surrogate, Fabrizio.

A huge admirer of Fellini, film connoisseurs will be struck by how much Sorrentino apes the great director's 'Amacord' in this movie.

Like Fellini's celebrated 1973 film, 'The Hand of God' revels in the quirkiness of all its characters - no matter how peripheral.

Wistful and occasionally bawdy, the film, like Fellini's masterpiece, is all about atmosphere.

It simply bursts with life and benefits from some stunning imagery from cinematographer Daria D'Antonio, capturing the jaw dropping beauty of Naples, Capri and the Amalfi coast.

From the grounded chandelier in the palazzo where Patrizia meets the Little Monk to the striking symmetry of the playground near the Schisas' apartment block to the opulence of the Baroness' dwelling to people diving into the sea after the departure of a nighttime ferry, D'Antonio and Sorrentino serve up one beautiful image after another.

The opening sequence involves a majestic sweep of the camera from the sea to a coastal road heading into Naples.

It is so gorgeously shot, it will have you pining within seconds for a return to that part of Italy if you've been lucky enough to visit there already.

While Sorrentino painstakingly reconstructs Naples circa 1986-87 safe in the knowledge that the city hasn't physically changed that much, he also relies heavily on his cast to give the film its vivacity.

Scotti's floppy haired Fabrizio is everything you'd expect from the teenage lead of a coming of age film - sensitive, confused, full of big dreams and deep sexual longing.

It is unquestionably a star making turn.

Ranieri too delivers a memorable, heartfelt performance as the object of Fabrizio's desire.

Patrizia is a muse in the mould of classic Italian cinema, conjuring up memories of Sophia Loren, Monica Vitti,  Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli and Virna Lisi.

Joubert delivers a touching portrait of a caring brother, while Pedrazzi is delightfully quirky as the Baroness who, like Patrizia, will have an unexpected influence on Fabrizio.

Servillo and Saponangelo make a huge impression as Fabrizio and Marchino's loving parents.

Acerbic commentators on the world around them and its characters, they affectionately share their own code  - a whistle - and enjoy a wicked sense of humour.

However the marriage is not all sweetness and light.

Savillo and Maria occasionally clash over his mistress.

Like Sorrentino's 'Youth,' the film has an appearance by a Diego Maradona lookalike and the shadow of the legendary footballer looms large over the movie.

From the disbelief of Napoli fans about his signing to their celebration of his two most talked about goals against England in the 1986 World Cup to his steering of the city's Serie A team to their first Scudetto in 1987, the talismanic Argentinian weaves a spell on the city which would worship him like a God.

Food, family, football, sex, cinema and beauty are the passions that fuel Naples and Sorrentino's characters thrive on it.

The director fashions an absorbing and quirky tribute to his home city that should delight most audiences.

Rooted firmly in his country's visual storytelling tradition, few films thus year have come close to matching the vibrancy of 'The Hand of God'.

Few films will come close in future years too 

That is why, even though it's a Netflix release, you should try to see it on the biggest screen you possibly can with the best sound system.

'The Hand of God' is a real treat 

Bellissimo.

('The Hand of God' received a limited theatrical release in UK and Irish cinemas on December 3, 2021 before being made available for streaming on Netflix on December 15, 2021)

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