In mid-March, the movie “Pinocchio” directed by Matteo Garrone based on the eponymous fairy tale by the Italian writer Carlo Collodi will be released. the main character in the film was played by the young actor Federico Ielapi.

Among Russian viewers, the story of a wooden boy with a long nose and a good heart is primarily associated with the free adaptation of A. N. Tolstoy's “Golden Key, or the adventures of Pinocchio” (1936) and its many adaptations, the most famous of which were “The Adventures of Pinocchio” ( 1959) the classics of Soviet animation Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Dmitry Babichenko, as well as a two-part television movie directed by Leonid Nechaev (1975) with the same name.

Despite the coincidence of some basic elements of the story, up to the appeal to the protagonist (in the Pinocchio book they often call simply burattino, which means “doll” in Italian), Tolstoy’s fairy tale is still significantly different from the original. Pinocchio until the end of the work remains a simple boy, and his biggest vice is frivolity, while Pinocchio develops and constantly makes mistakes, because of which he himself and those who love him suffer.

Pinocchio’s adventure - as in any myth about travel, starting with the Odyssey and ending with the Apocalypse Today - is primarily a story about the road to oneself. Here, the rebirth of the protagonist is literal: he falls asleep with a doll, and wakes up as a living boy. Moreover, Garrone allows herself a bold comparison - the final magic happens in a sheep’s stable.

The study of Italian folklore Garrone began back in 2015, staging "Scary Tales" - the first in the history of Europe collection of folk art. More precisely, only three out of fifty short stories were filmed, and this work became a kind of test for the director, who had never before filmed in a fantasy genre.

In a press statement, Garrone noted that “Pinocchio” was a personal story for him, and as a child he made the storyboard of the tale and still stores it on his desktop.

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Roberto Benigni, who played in the film Jepetto (who created Pinocchio), in the early 2000s already made an attempt to film Pinocchio, but then everything turned out to be a failure - a film in which at that time the 50-year-old Italian comedian also played the role of a wooden boy, became one of only 35 paintings - critics on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Benigny himself was awarded the Golden Raspberry for the worst male role. However, in the role of Jepetto, the actor looks much more organically.

From the very first shots of the new Pinocchio, where Jepetto scratches a jug in search of crumbs, it becomes clear that Garrone did not just want to retell the story familiar to everyone again, but to show how Italy looked and lived at that time (and at the same time draw parallels with our days ) The screen adaptation is flavored with black humor, which brings the picture closer to all generations.

In Gomorrah (2008), Garron has already explored the problem of adult child exploitation. In Pinocchio, the father’s sincere love for the protagonist is contrasted with the cruelty of the Lord, who turns the children into donkeys and sells them.

Some of the scenes in the film are Burtonian scary and funny at the same time, and the most terrible monsters are ordinary people. And if the "Soviet" cat Basilio and the fox Alice appear more charming adventurers than real villains, then the Cat and Fox at Garrone are really scared by their insatiable gluttony. However, the film still focuses on children's audiences as well (the director was so excited about the youth reaction that only schoolchildren were invited to the very first pre-premiere screening).

One of the main advantages of the film is its outstanding visual effects and plastic makeup. The work of Rachel Penfold and Mark Coolir promises to make them one of the main favorites of the award season in their nominations. The most complicated make-up, which was applied daily to the actors for several hours, as well as advanced graphics made the audience believe in the reality of on-screen puppets and fairy creatures. And thanks to the amazing full-scale shooting, Pinocchio once again reminded that Italy is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.