Open Roads ’14: The Referee

How did a socially repressive inferno with no great football-soccer tradition to speak of land the 2022 World Cup? It absolutely, positively could not have been corruption, so who’s to say? Nevertheless, a controversial real life referee-turned heroin smuggler has inspired an unflattering depiction of crooked sports officiating that makes you wonder. The grudge match will not be played on an even field in Paolo Zucca’s The Referee (trailer here), which screens during the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.

The top-ranked Montecrastu team and its wealthy captain have always manhandled the cellar-dwelling team from hardscrabble Pabarile without resorting to bribery. However, their respective fortunes turn around when the naturally gifted Matzutzi returns from Argentina. Suddenly, he is leading the ragtag Pabarile squad to victory and might just catch Montecrastu in the Sardinian standings.

Such provincial games should be well beneath Cruciani, a rising star amongst the fictional FEFA’s corps of referees. He is determined to call the championship match, but his shady mentor might not be offering him the best advice. Needless to say, games at both levels will be decided by some questionable calls, before the two storylines intersect.

On paper, The Referee sounds like the perfect salve for fans nursing a “we-was-robbed” grievance, but it is so overstuffed with quirky rustics, it never fully establishes the central rivalry. Likewise, Patrizio Patrizi’s balck-and-white cinematography is pretty as heck, but might be too stylized for Zucca and co-writer Barbara Alberti’s scrappy underdog story.

Still, Jacopo Cullin is likably earnest as Matzutzi, the awkward sad sack in all aspects of life not involving football. Stefano Accorsi’s Cruciani is also strangely effective combining broad physical humor with self-defeating pathos. Nor could anyone accuse Francesco Pannofino (the Italian Nero Wolfe) of holding back as the outrageously partisan referee Mureno.

The Referee earns a lot of style points, but it often substitutes odd physical details for deeper characterization. Yet, you have to admire the satirical broadside Zucca unleashes against the offending Ecuadoran referee. He certainly gets his money’s worth. Recommended for Italian soccer fans, but falling short of its universally transcendent potential, The Referee screens this Tuesday (6/10) and Wednesday (6/11) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s Open Roads.

Open Roads ‘14: The Human Factor

You know whenever a movie cop takes on one last case before retirement it is bound to get complicated. It becomes especially uncomfortable for Inspector Adriano Monaco when he investigates the lurid murder of a highly connected contractor, while trying to repair his relationship with his daughter in Bruno Oliviero’s The Human Factor (trailer here), which screens during the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.

As a cop and as a parent, Monaco goes strictly by the book. That has made it difficult to bond with his daughter Linda, even after the untimely death of his wife three years ago. Since then, Monaco has buried himself in desk work, but his captain insists his tact and insight are needed for the murder of Mirko Ullrich. A good friend of Milan’s political power-brokers, Ullrich was discovered by his wife in a highly compromising and most certainly deceased condition.

Initially, suspicion falls on the not-too-terribly-broken-up Mrs. Ullrich, but Monaco and his junior partner Carlo Levi soon follow a trail of clues to Milan’s underworld of drugs and under-aged procurement. Meanwhile, Monaco continues to neglect and inadvertently push away the oversensitive Linda, until her rebellion precipitates a family crisis.

Essentially, Oliviero employs the elements of film noir to tell an acutely personal family drama, but the Ullrich case is still as serious as a heart attack. One cannot help wonder what levels of tragic gravitas Toni Servillo might have brought to Monaco, but Silvio Orlando rather deftly takes him in the completely opposite direction. His Monaco is just a haggard shell of man, who barely has sufficient force of will remaining to walk across the room.

There is indeed something undeniably compelling about Orlando’s emotionally desiccated performance. In contrast, Alice Raffaelli’s petulant Linda can be tough to take, but that is probably rather true to the reality of late adolescence. For some welcome added color, Giuseppe Battiston brings to mind a young, salty Depardieu as the more pragmatic Levi, which is a good thing.

Oliviero and cinematographer Renaud Personnaz maximize the seedy nocturnal vibe for all its worth. Even though most viewers will probably guess exactly the general direction it is headed, the stylish execution and distinctive performances still make Factor a trip worth watching. Recommended for fans of film noir and Italian cinema, The Human Factor screens this Thursday (6/5) and Friday (6/6) at the Walter Reade, as part of Open Roads 2014.