With: Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Marlon Joubert, Luisa Ranieri, Renato Carpentieri, Massimiliano Gallo, Betti Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna, Ciro Capano
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Written by: Paolo Sorrentino
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Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino
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MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use
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Language: Italian, with English subtitles
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Running Time: 130
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Date: 12/15/2021
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Body and Goal
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Director Paolo Sorrentino is Italy's go-to man when it comes to making the annual "official entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards." But he also loves copying the works of Federico Fellini. His last Oscar-winner, The Great Beauty, was modeled after Fellini's great La Dolce Vita, and his new one, The Hand of God, seems to be inspired by another Fellini masterpiece, Amarcord, with its coming-of-age story of tragedy and sexual longing. The wandering film tells of young Fabietto (Filippo Scotti), growing up in the 1980s with Walkman headphones permanently on his head, and a love for footballer Diego Maradona (whose hand the title refers to). His imagination is stirred when he sees his voluptuous aunt Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri) naked. For a long time, the movie meanders maddeningly, and, like Fellini, Sorrentino seems to have an unsettling taste for the grotesque, but things snap into focus when tragedy strikes, and we wind up with a vivid and loving portrait that stays with us.
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