Italian Race (2016)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Veloce come il vento (2016), literally "fast as the wind", is a beautiful film of the new Italian Cinematography that has started to re- emerge in the last few years with very good films. Italian Race, English title, is one of them.What made a lasting impression on me was how believable and genuine the story was and the relation between Stefano and Matilda, brother and sister, was faultless. Superb performances by these two. The soundtrack was fantastic throughout the movie.

Once upon a time there was the Italian Cinema: until the 90s they were able to make almost any kind of genre film with any kind of budget (or lack of).Then Berlusconi took over all the majors and faithful to the Latin Motto "panem et circenses" he filled all the theaters with mindless comedies with his pretorians Boldi and the De Sica and their fine humour based on big tits (usually silicon based, not natural), big asses, farts and various vulgarities. It worked well because for twenty years he could have directly or indirectly the control of the country.Now that his cinematographic dictatorship is almost over something starts to re-emerge: I can say for sure that this is the first Italian movie I have enjoyed since more or less Trauma and the last Italian horrors of the early 90s.The story is a sort of composition/homage of the real lives of a famous and unfortunate rally driver and a young teenage girl who tried to became a GT driver in the Italian championship.The movie starts from this premise making them estranged brother and sister that come together after the untimely death of their father, who left the girl with a Porsche 996GT but no money for the team. Plus, he also mortgaged their own house to fulfil her dream, but without money all her crew but the old chief mechanic (who is also the narrator of the story) leaves her. There is no other option but to accept the offer of help from his heroin addicted older brother, once a great racer in the early 90s/late 80s but now reduced to a pathetic figure due to his late stage drug addiction. Another threat derives by the presence of a third brother, six years old that might be taken by the social services as the sister is still underage, without work and the older brother and his girlfriend they can't evidently take care of themselves.Besides the mortgage and a Porsche with no team, their father also left them the older brother's Peugeot 205 GT Turbo Group B, a real monster for that era,that might be also of some use in the case the money runs out and some of them might need to participate to a clandestine race more interesting that the usual Fast and Furious BS....That's the plot in a nutshell, regarding the casting, they all make their job fine, especially the chief mechanic, Accorsi's portrait of a long term addicted is believable, the photography is nice but it shows a overuse of popularizing filters that saturate the colors in a disturbing way sometimes, and unlike many Italian movie it has a proper script that besides the boring "Italian style" ending is believable and not too corny.IMO the movie is recommendable for a larger (read international) audience as it does show very well a slice of Emilian/Romagnan (North-Central Italy) very different from the Roman "Grande Bellezza" (in reality Grande Bruttezza) or the degraded South of Gomorra: Italy is ALSO what you will see in this movie.8 out of 10 because I didn't like the ending.

How could be possible to be able to dedicate this movie to our dear friend and exceptional rally driver Carlo Capone it sounds to me shameful! Carlo Capone never got close to the drugs world or even expressed any approval about it! He always been an incredible talent and an European Rally Champion of in-discussed capacity and value, that some disagreeable company/business decisions could take /bring him down. His health conditions have no relations to drugs abuse or addiction.. the problem is of psychological origin. Problem originated by the non acknowledgement of his fantastic capability and authoritativeness driving top rally cars at the highest level. The movie is well far from paint an accurate image of the car racing world, that in the reality is serious minded and professional. The actors have done a very good job on a grey fantasy story that somebody have tried to corroborate/validated with a dedication totally out of place! Honor and friendship to our mistreated friend Carlo Capone.

Finally, Italian cinema is ACTUALLY starting to come out! From "Perfect Strangers", to "They called him Jeeg Robot" to this! Stefano Accorsi is absolutely fantastic and so is Matilda De Angelis. The music is really gripping, just like the story. It's very well developed without stupid "pushes" for the plot to go forward. The relationship between Stefano and Matilda (brother and sister in the film) is near perfect, and emotional at times. The contrast between a young girl and her brother, who is a drug addict, is portrayed in such a subtle manner that it outshines most big productions, and proves you don't need a huge budget to make a good film. It is, truly, a beautiful Italian film. The type we haven't seen for a very long time.