Tavarelli’s small, everyday problems
Congested metros, crowded bus stops, overflowing sidewalks; looking at someone from a distance, without getting involved, brushing past someone for a second, sharing a moment, then going on your way. These are elements behind the interweaving micro-stories on forty-somethings that make up Non prendere impegni stasera (lit. “Make No Plans For Tonight”) by Gianluca Maria Tavarelli.
"I wanted to talk about that period in life when you’re ‘too old to rock’n’roll, too young to die’, as Jethro Tull sang", saw Tavarelli. "You saw yourself as young but discovered that you weren’t anymore. I didn’t want to depict the generational crises of forty-somethings, but a world of characters suffering from small problems that can be overcome”.
Produced by Pietro Valsecchi and Camilla Nesbitt for Taodue Film, the film’s structure is reminiscent of Silvio Soldini’s The Peaceful Air of the West and although it reveals the television background of the producers and filmmaker, who directed for various TV series (including Distretto di polizia, Uno bianca and Ultimo), its cast includes some of Italy’s best 30-40 year-old actors: Valerio Binasco (our favourite), Luca Zingaretti, Giorgio Tirabassi, Alessandro Gassman, Michela Cescon, Paola Cortellesi, Francesca Inaudi, Donatella Finocchiaro, Giuseppe Battiston, Rocco Papaleo and Andrea Renzi.
"The casting for this film was both important and fun,” said the director, “because it allowed me to use many actors, even those working on other projects, in small roles. I gathered together all of the actors I like. The first one I thought of was Giorgio Tirabassi, with whom I’d already done Borsellino. He seemed like the right actor to portray a tragic character with delicacy and without overdoing it".
The €2m film, made without state financing, still has no distributor because, according to Valsecchi, "We haven’t received any satisfactory offers. I’d rather it come out first abroad. This is film that could work in France, where there is a greater sensibility for films that talk about existential problems and the difficulty in loving".
(Translated from Italian)
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