Così ridevano (1998)

Director:

Gianni Amelio

Writers:

Gianni Amelio (writer) and
Daniele Gaglianone (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 October 1998 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Turin at the end of the fifties: two brothers have emigrated there from Sicily and the older works very...

Plot Keywords:

Turin Italy | Industrial Town | Immigrant | Violence | Sicily

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Francesco Giuffrida	...	Pietro
Enrico Lo Verso	...	Giovanni
Rosaria Danzè	...	Lucia
Fabrizio Gifuni	...	Pelaia
Claudio Contartese	...	Rosario
Domenico Ragusa	...	Simone
Simonetta Benozzo	...	Ada
Pietro Paglietti	...	Battista
Corrado Borsa	...	Teacher at Examination
Barbara Braga	...	Girl at Bar
Calogero Caruana	...	Giovanni's Friend
Edoardo Ciciriello	...	School Assistant from Naples
Valerio Contartese	...	Unemployed Boy from Calabria
Iolanda Donnini	...	Mrs. Verusio
Erika Doria	...	Alessandra
Pierfranco Ghisleni	...	Teacher at Examination
Massimo Greco	...	Carmelo
Giovanni Leoni	...	Soldier from Sardinia
Renato Liprandi	...	School Assistant from Turin
Antonio Madaro	...	Student from Lecce
Patrizia Marino	...	Mother from Foggia
Roberto Marzo	...	Giovanni's Friend
Luigi Mauro	...	Soldier
Francesca Monchiero	...	Girl from Foggia
Domenico Mungo	...	Cooperative's Director
Davide Negro	...	Giovanni's Friend
Fabrizio Nicastro	...	Student
Giorgio Pittau	...	Giovanni's Friend
Antonino Prestipino	...	Teacher at Examination
Salvatore Refano	...	Old Sicilian Man
Vittorio Rondella	...	Giovanni's Assistant
Rossana Rovere	...	Mother
Giuseppe Sangari	...	Boy from Foggia
Giorgia Scuderi	...	Assuntina
Paolo Sena	...	Prof. Rosini
Giuliano Spadaro	...	Father from Foggia
Ileana Spalla	...	Sister-in-law
Nanni Tormen	...	Brother-in-law
Irene Vistarini	...	Student
Pasqualino Vona	...	Giovanni's Friend
Giuseppe Zarbano	...	Giovanni's Friend
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clara Droetto	...	La zia
GianNicola Resta	...	Young guy

Directed by
Gianni Amelio

Writing credits
Gianni Amelio		(writer) and
Daniele Gaglianone		(writer) &
Lillo Iacolino		(writer) &
Alberto Taraglio		(writer)

Produced by
Vittorio Cecchi Gori	....	producer
Mario Cotone	....	executive producer
Rita Rusic	....	producer (as Rita Cecchi Gori)

Original Music by
Franco Piersanti

Cinematography by
Luca Bigazzi

Film Editing by
Simona Paggi

Casting by
Lorella Chiapatti
Nicola Conticello

Production Design by
Giancarlo Basili

Set Decoration by
Nello Giorgetti

Costume Design by
Gianna Gissi

Makeup Department
Giulio Pezza	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Stefano Benappi	....	assistant production manager
Fulvio Rossi	....	production manager
Lierka Rusic	....	production supervisor
Olivia Sleiter	....	production manager
Ladis Zanini	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lidia Biondi	....	assistant director
Elisabetta Boni	....	assistant director
Enzo Di Terlizzi	....	assistant director
Gianluca Greco	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Alessandro Zanon	....	sound mixer
Francesco Perri	....	assistant sound recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Eraldo Barbona	....	key grip
Salvatore Bognanni	....	assistant camera
Stefano Falivene	....	focus puller
Patrizio Marra	....	grip

Editorial Department
Patrizia Ceresani	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Alessandro Fiorito	....	payroll clerk
Daniele Gaglianone	....	assistant to director
Lillo Iacolino	....	assistant to director
Melissa Strizzi	....	script supervisor
Alberto Taraglio	....	assistant to director

Production Companies

• Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica
• Pacific Pictures

Distributors

• Alpha Filmes
• Cecchi Gori Distribuzione (Italy)
• Diaphana Films (France)
• New Yorker Films (2001) (USA) (subtitled)

Other Companies

• Cine Audio Effects  sound effects and foley design (sound effects)
• Solare Location & Casting  casting

Also Known As:

The Way We Laughed

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | France:U | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Company:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica

Trivia:

The title refers to the back page of a popular 1950s Italian magazine which had a section devoted to old jokes that were no longer funny but still evoked a sense of nostalgia. One such joke is repeated throughout the film: "How do you get four elephants in a Fiat?" The answer: "Two in front and two in back".

Quotes:

Giovanni: You think your children are your own, then they learn to walk and they leave you. Know what they say back home? "Raise hogs, 'cause then you can eat them"

Movie Connections:

References Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)

A Brother's Debt

Set in late '50's, early '60's. Brave emigrants from impoverished Sicily make their way in industrial Turin. This movie gives you time with a good-hearted Catanese, Giovanni (Enrico Lo Verso), a man who loves desperately, adoringly. The object: his teenaged brother Pietro (Francesco Giuffrida) who is urbane while Giovanni is elemental.

Giovanni's love and personal honor require that he believe no ill about Pietro. The older brother works like an ox to shield his Pietro-on-a-pedestal from the harsh world of manual labor, to give him better lodgings than he himself enjoys and to keep him in school (where Pietro actually is an inveterate hookey-player and a bored, listless daydreamer).

Though Pietro is detached he nevertheless feels guilt for his deceptions and he loves Giovanni for his sacrifice and natural goodness. ("Giovanni is far too good," he says to the whore-waif his older brother has taken under his protection. "He loves everybody").

But while the facile and literate Pietro drifts, the illiterate but intelligent Giovanni makes useful friends, exploits opportunities and rises in life.

Always Pietro remains at the center of Giovanni's heart. And one night Pietro is given the opportunity, finally, to repay Giovanni's selfless devotion.

If there is a "revelation" in this film, it is near the end when we see that the adoring Giovanni has an unexamined, unquestioned faith that his Pietro has the same devotion to him. As a given, he believes that brotherly sacrifice is a two-way street. The immense decision that his younger brother has made against himself and for Giovanni is merely the kind of thing brothers do for eachother. In a horrifying moment Giovanni opens to us: his great love is unselfconsciously, blanketingly possessive, devouring.

Palermo-born Lo Verso is a great actor. That his beautiful, movingly expressive face is not world-famous is a misfortune. But he is only forty now (early thirties in "Cosi Ridivano"). There is time. Jim Smith-----------------------