Nanni Moretti makes curiosity, irritation and self-mockery into absorbing cinema. We enjoy his company most when he can laugh at his own persistence, and less when he assumes every complaint deserves our undivided attention.
Fi1m perspective
In Caro diario (1993), Nanni Moretti rides a scooter through Rome and lets the journey hold our attention. We felt unexpectedly content watching those rides, because his curiosity gives us time to enjoy looking around. Playing himself, he allows irritation and pleasure in the cinema to decide where the film goes next. He is absorbing company, though some complaints continue after we have got the point.
The figure on screen was not always called Nanni. His alter ego Michele Apicella first appeared in Io sono un autarchico (1976), and returned in Ecce Bombo (1978). Caro diario and Aprile (1998) made the autobiography more explicit, building on a habit of writing, directing and appearing in his own films. The shift suits the diary format of Caro diario: a search for inspiration gives him a reason to change subjects whenever something else catches his interest.
Giuseppe Lanci photographed Caro diario, Aprile and The Son's Room (2001); producer Angelo Barbagallo also worked on the first and last of those films. The unadorned photography in Caro diario suits the emphasis on performance, dialogue and everyday observation. Its three-episode structure allows Moretti to change tone, moving between comedy and drama. It also leaves him space to linger over weaker observations, and the plainness of the filming cannot make those passages more interesting.
The emotional directness of The Son's Room makes it harder to dismiss Moretti as simply a man with grievances. Mia Madre (2015) again draws on his experience, but places a woman filmmaker at its centre. The comic self-scrutiny of Caro diario still matters: he lets us find his persistence ridiculous, even when he cannot stop it. Begin with Caro diario for the humour and the scooter rides, allowing for a director who does not always know when we have heard enough.
Biography
Nanni Moretti is an Italian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Born Giovanni Moretti on 19 August 1953 in Bruneck, Italy, he began making short films in Super 8 in the early 1970s before directing his first feature, Io sono un autarchico, in 1976. He frequently appears in his own films and founded the production company Sacher Film in 1987.
Moretti is best known for Caro diario (1993), which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, and for The Son's Room (2001), which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Other notable works include Ecce Bombo (1978), Bianca (1984) and The Caiman (2006). He has received three David di Donatello Awards for Best Film and served as president of the Cannes jury in 2012.
