One Man Up

The double life of Antonio. In his debut, Sorrentino limbers up with the stories of two men who live different yet identical lives, told in parallel. Similarly as in Kieslowski’s mystical drama, the life stories of the two characters are strangely interconnected – one of them encourages the other to actively take control of his passively lived everyday life. Emptiness, loneliness and abandonment characterise the existence of both men, two endlessly defeated players who vainly search for a suitable (playing) position. Sorrentino shares with Scorsese not only an interest in frustrated men whose (self-)destructive behaviour stems from their inability to fulfil their ambitions (the climax is roughly reminiscent of Taxi Driver), but also stylistic mastery. He doesn’t need to obviously quote his more famous American inspiration (breezing into the club à la Goodfellas) in order for us to understand that he, like Scorsese, dislikes static compositions, traditional camera angles and hackneyed combinations of music and images. The soundtrack, which not only creates incongruous audio-visual combinations, but also directly connects the two protagonists, is one of the strongest components of the film, which otherwise undeniably has problems with pacing and with the inconstancy of the utilised fantastical exaggeration. At the beginning of his career, Sorrentino was not yet skilful enough in stylistic contamination to elegantly combine Scorsese with Fellini. In his later films, he has been able to better tame the many artistic influences on his work and, mainly, he doesn’t try to use every decent idea at all costs. Nevertheless, it would be nice if more debuts excelled with comparable craftsmanship. 75% (30.10.2015)

Someone is being looked for at first, then someone is found, and then only the details are lightly filled-in. Sorrentino has a lot on his mind and in fact it is quite clear that he is a debuting screenwriter. But there are a lot of scenes here whose emotional equilibristics and the connection of music / image are intoxicating. Servillo and Renzi are great opposites - a hedonistic loser vs. a melancholic dreamer. The energy of the two characters is gradually born in the film, to finally mature in a duet of futility and resilience of existence. It hit me harder than I expected. Definitely more than the over-aestheticized reflections on similar topics that Paolo has been filming in recent years. (06.08.2019)

I probably prefer Sorrentino's later work, but his debut is still great. Toni Servillo, now the director's court actor, delivers an impressive performance as the bankrupt musician. It is no wonder that this film was the start of their future collaboration. Although it was more of a drama overall, the few jokes that appeared kept me on my toes and I even laughed a few times. The connection between the visuals and music is also excellent, as is customary with Paolo Sorrentino. (75%) (14.03.2020)

I'm sorry, Paolo, the great charm of your work eluded me in the past in terms of content, but I couldn't help but appreciate the refined excellent form. However, this is the first piece from your workshop that leaves me shrugging my shoulders and saying that neither the content nor the execution impresses me - in fact, it openly bores me. Neither the motive nor the resolution captivated me. Your fans will probably support you, but for me, this time it won't even give the film an average score. I didn't find a way to connect with your characters, and I don't consider Antonio a victim of circumstances but more so a weakling. Overall impression: 40%. (17.04.2018)