Never a movie has been so famous in the country it was released in,while so completely 100% unknown abroad. Poor Fantocci!
shareWell, I've actually seen this film and "Il secondo tragico Fantozzi" on a russian channel few years ago, and couldn't understand what was all the laugh about. It's just gag after gag after gag, and the character goes through all the forms of humiliation he could ever get. For the first 30 minutes it's funny, but then starts to get boring, like I've been watching a really long Duffy Duck cartoon or something.
Maybe, I'm too serious or kinda don't get the Italian culture in some ways, but Fantozzi is purely a childish comedy with little thought in it.
Well, I believe at least 90% of today's comedies("funny movies", how do you say it in English????) is: gag after gag after gag etc..., with no story (or a silly one) under that.
Fantozzi at least is based on the characterization of "an Italian human type very popular in the 70's" (well, maybe it could be explained better), of course very forceful.
Watching it today is a bit harder, because the cultural context (not only in Italy) has radically changed, and the movie making aswell.
If you are not italian dont even bother watching this movie, you'll end up thinking like this guy. Fantozzi is a caricature of the italian worker in the 70s, you have to be italian to really appreciate and understand it.
shareI watched this film on a russian tv too like "that guy", but I really enjoyed the movie. The scene of aquarium with floating workers is my favorite! =)
shareI think you should approach Fantozzi in the same way you would approach Clerks.
Clerks can be seen as "gag after gag after gag" but it is much more than this, it is the portrait of a category of persons, and more widely of an entire society.
Of course the gags make you laugh but in the end I hope you empathise with the poor clerk or the exploited Fantozzi.
Well, in former USSR countries people were lucky to see all the series too. Though maybe not 10 times :)
shareINdeed is a movie made by an italian just for italians..cause if you aren't you can't understand 100% that kinda of humorism and surely is impossible to enjoy it : Fantocci Rulezz!!!!
shareYea, you're right Serena.
Fantozzi is an italian movie for italian people, others wouldn't appreciate nor understand its humor, a bitter/sweet 70's hunor.
To me, as an italian guy born in 1974 and who lived childhood in the late 70s/early '80s, this movie is a masterpiece, a classic.Its gags are history amongst my generation's folks. Sadly, the new italian generations seem to pay no attention to it or, much worster, they don't even know a movie such this exists.
This movie is immortal...uacciuuariuari uacciuuariuari.
Bye bye evryone
Ciao Serena :-)
Dario
In Romania, everybody seems to know and love Fantozzi (we used to watch Italia Uno a lot around here) ...
I was talking in a local forum yesterday, and over 100 people in my city alone, have the entire Fantozzi collection...
WOW! This is so cool!
As an Italian I really LOVE this movie, I can't stop laughing, even if I've seen it so many times!
Viva Fantozzi (Not Fantocci).
shareFantozzi is really good movie with lots of meaning that goes beyond comedy. However, there was this one movie with Paolo Villaggio that I really liked and I can't seem to remember the title. In this movie he lives in a basement, sells weird toys, and somehow falls in love with a blind girl. I was 7 or 8 when I saw that movie so my memory is blurry. If by any chance any one knows the title of it, please let me know. Much appreciated.
shareMaybe you're looking for "Sogni & Bisogni" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090040/).
Actually it's a "episodic film" a really common way to make movie, generally comedies, in italy around 60's,70's and 80's and the episode that you were talking about is the first one.
I didn't figure out that "Fantozzi" is so popular in many countries outside Italy.
Well....WTF...apart from that, I guess if you folks out there (for exemple, the folks from Romania) have noticed the bitter irony of some situations (i.e. the scene in which the Bosses of the Firm get rid of Fantozzi's daughter because she's ugly. They do it because she's actually the daughter of an employee, read a sub-human person, in their opionion).
Many apparently funny situations in this movie have a sub-text, or a parody of everyday's working life in the nearly the majority of public and private offices.
According to my father, when the movie premiered in 1975, it had a huge success among working class, because it was maybe the first movie who dared to show with ferocious tones the servility of average workers, the overbearance of managing class, and the hipocrisy between colleagues.
But, all in all, the best chapters of this saga are the first two, IMHO.
The rest is reprise of the first gags, marching through time.
So, keep the first two movies, avoid the rest!
ciao ciao
Dario
Italy
Italians and Romanians are very similar, latin origins....
shareAnd I bet the western Slovenia also knows Fantozzi 100% too, my dear friends!!! This movie is fantastic! I grew up in Nova Gorica and when I went to school back in 1987 all my friends knew and watched Fantozzi... and we talked about him for hours! For weeks! For months! Anyone who talks about how the "cultural context" has changed is right. But if you are at least 28 years old, then I guess you get the point which is always hidden behind the gag... that is a fierce critique of the 70's italian society.
The Dukes, the CEO (era il "megadirettoregallatico in persona del quale si diceva che non esistesse davero, ma che fosse soltanto una entita astratta..." on one side, and the poor mediocre worker on the other side. And of course... the second best masterpiece of characters is ragonier' Filini... hahaha.
Thank you Paolo Vilaggio for making these movies about Fantozzi... I agree that the first 3 are probably the best... and it is very unlikely that anyone who does not speak italian can really appreciate this movie, because I cannot translate the jokes in Slovene... to others Slovenes who don't speak italian... because I know they wouldn't have the same effect. However - this man is a true genius. PURE GENIUS!
Cheers!
ragazzi,sto facendo un tour de force,chiamato piu ufficialmente la fantozzata,praticamente tutti i sabati e le domeniche da un mese a questa parte,sto vedendo tutti e dico tutti i fantozzi,meno uno(del quale nn ricordo il nome) vi giuro che nn ho riso tanto nella mia vita!
è troppo un grande paolone villaggio e la sign. mazzamauro!hihi
certo,mi mette angoscia,perche capitano tutte a lui,ma le situations sono davvero ben fattte,a volte pero si cade spesso nella banalita e nella ripetizione!pero è un cult tutto italiano!altro che american pie e teen-movie americani!ce ne passa!comè umano lei!
ma quello non è congiuntivo!ah venghi dichi,si accomodi fantocci!
>I grew up in Nova Gorica and when I went to school back in 1987 all my friends knew and watched Fantozzi
not a surprise, Nova Gorica is sticked to Gorizia...
BURLANDO DIMETTITI SUBITO!
http://tinyurl.com/yolnuu
Boycott France
I'm an Argentine filmgoer. I saw FANTOZZI for the first time in 1982 and inmediatly fell in love with the wonderful character. So did all the friends I showed the film. I agree that Fantozzi -what a pity- is not known by everybody here, but those who have seen his films understood them very very well. I have the complete Fantozzi film series, I have seen FANTOZZI more than ten times, and even have read some of Villaggio's books. Maybe, the Italian roots of my Argentine culture could explain such empathy. Not all of the film series are at the same level, but FANTOZZI, FANTOZZI CONTRO TUTTI e FANTOZZI VA IN RITIRO are excellent by all means. Please, do excuse my uncouth English.
shareOK. I think this is an underestimation.
Fantozzi movies are (or were, at least) quite popular in Russia (and in other ex-USSR countries, as far as I know). They portrait a life of a rather common man with a low-paid job in a big enterprise company and a small and devoted family, and depicts situations that might happen in an every-day life of a typical man in a modern capitalist world (although sweeten with a bunch of humor). That's what make it so familiar and close to many people.
The first four movies were officially released in Russia in 2007 (I've bought all of them as soon as I've found it out). Still waiting for other releases of Villaggio movies (including Signor Robinson, which I enjoyed watching so much when I was young).
Its funny as hell!When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...