When you think about Italian crime films, the chances are that you have something very specific in mind. As he told my colleague Paul Risker, director Alessandro Celli wanted to get beyond that and do something different when he made Mondocane. The name comes from the film’s young hero, played by Dennis Protopapa, a homeless teen who, along with best friend Pisciasotto (Giuliano Soprano) lives in a shipwrecked boat in a quarantine zone which has biohazard signs all over it. They’re watched over by an old man who sexually exploits them but at least makes sure they’re fed and relatively safe from other forms of violence. Having reached adolescence in reasonable health (Pisciasotto is epileptic) and without becoming addicts, they’re doing better than most of their peers, but that’s about to change.
The reason for the change is...
The reason for the change is...
- 6/5/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The year is sometime in the near future, apparently, and society has collapsed for vague reasons. Well, some of it has. Some of it hasn’t. Or maybe it only has if you squint really hard.
The Italian post-apocalyptic coming-of-age crime drama “Mondocane” is big on attitude but very short on details, presenting a world of violent gangs and oppressive police against a backdrop that’s so similar to what’s going on today, and so unexplored in all its sci-fi trappings, that one can’t help but wonder why it’s set in the future at all.
Dennis Protopapa, in his feature film debut, plays the title character, Pietro, who quickly earns the name “Dogworld” after he torches a pet shop to earn his place in a gang called “The Ants.” He’s grown up by the seashore with his best friend Cristian, and if you thought “Dogworld” was an unfortunate nom de guerre,...
The Italian post-apocalyptic coming-of-age crime drama “Mondocane” is big on attitude but very short on details, presenting a world of violent gangs and oppressive police against a backdrop that’s so similar to what’s going on today, and so unexplored in all its sci-fi trappings, that one can’t help but wonder why it’s set in the future at all.
Dennis Protopapa, in his feature film debut, plays the title character, Pietro, who quickly earns the name “Dogworld” after he torches a pet shop to earn his place in a gang called “The Ants.” He’s grown up by the seashore with his best friend Cristian, and if you thought “Dogworld” was an unfortunate nom de guerre,...
- 5/21/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
“I have very little to say except that I think it very charming and kind of you all to give us your Sunday night,” said a disarming Julian Fellowes at the NYC premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era last Sunday. Distributor Focus Features – and the broader industry — hopes audiences will give the film many more Sunday nights, and other days and dayparts, jumpstarting the return to theaters of older demos.
Downton opens this weekend on over 3,800 screens, not a specialty release but leading here as a bellwether for that elusive audience, a staple of arthouses, that had raised hopes briefly by turning out for No Die To Die last fall. Lingering Covid jitters or an entrenched streaming habit have kept the 45-plus crowd sparse in cinemas even as they flock to restaurants and other public activities. The hope is that the Downton franchise will prove beloved as Bond, as enduring as Spider-Man,...
Downton opens this weekend on over 3,800 screens, not a specialty release but leading here as a bellwether for that elusive audience, a staple of arthouses, that had raised hopes briefly by turning out for No Die To Die last fall. Lingering Covid jitters or an entrenched streaming habit have kept the 45-plus crowd sparse in cinemas even as they flock to restaurants and other public activities. The hope is that the Downton franchise will prove beloved as Bond, as enduring as Spider-Man,...
- 5/20/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The stakes at the center of “Mondocane” aren’t without importance or tragedy: two boys search in the rubble of civilization for wealth, safety, and friendship. Owing to the lineage began by “Lord of the Flies,” this dreary and distant tale, backgrounded by glittering seas and abandoned buildings, should follow in the footsteps of Kim Nguyen’s harrowing film “War Witch” or Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s shocking “Johnny Mad Dog” — two movies about wayward children navigating harsh environments rendered harsher due to their age. But
In his narrative debut feature, Celli and co-writer Antonio Leotti have clearly taken all of the notes: The messianic leader who’s far less virtuous than he appears to be is there, as are the common initiations requiring children to lose their humanity and innocence to harden them. There’s even the girl who comes between two friends. Those familiar pieces, however, are shaken up and jumbled,...
In his narrative debut feature, Celli and co-writer Antonio Leotti have clearly taken all of the notes: The messianic leader who’s far less virtuous than he appears to be is there, as are the common initiations requiring children to lose their humanity and innocence to harden them. There’s even the girl who comes between two friends. Those familiar pieces, however, are shaken up and jumbled,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
"We weren't meant to be here. We're Ants or have you forgotten?" Kino Lorber has revealed an official US trailer for a film from Italy titled Mondocane, which premiered at Critics Week at the Venice Film Festival last year. The title translates to Dogworld in English, describing this "proto-cyberpunk" post-apocalyptic film set in a city called Taranto. In the near future, Taranto is a ghost town surrounded by barbed wire that no one, not even the police, dares to enter. The poorest are left fighting for survival, while gangs compete for territory. Two 13-year-old orphans, who grew up together, dream of joining one of the gangs. "Recalling everything from Mad Max to Lord of the Flies to City of God, director Alessandro Celli's thrilling feature debut is a stylish post-apocalyptic vision and an inspiring testament to the power of friendship in an unjust world." This stars Dennis Protopapa, Giuliano Soprano,...
- 4/15/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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