13/01/2012

You Tube viewings of teasers and trailers of the film have soared to over 500,000. In cinemas from January 18 with over 800 copies, Welcome to the North [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will however have to bear comparison with the results of its predecessor Welcome to the South [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the loyal remake of France’s Welcome to the Sticks [+see also:
trailer
film profile] from 2008: takings of 3,792,099 € in the first week of programming from October 1-3, 2010 and closure with 29.868.000 €, in 5th place in the rankings of Italy’s biggest takings of all time.

Same director, Luca Miniero, same production, Cattleya with Medusa, same cast: Claudio Bisio, Alessandro Siani, Valentina Lodovini and Angela Finocchiaro. There is a change in screenwriter: Massimo Gaudioso passes the pen over to Fabio Bonifacci who, together with the director, reverses the situation of the first episode. It is the young postman from Campania who goes to work in the North, in Milan, and who will have to confront the cliches of the locals, or their efficiency, punctuality and a certain prejudice towards southeners.

As the screenwriter himself admits, "the prejudices about the North are less funny than those about the South". Writing the sequel must have been harder and therefore not all the gags work as well as in the first episode, plus the element of novelty is missing. The bullet-proof vest worn by Claudio Bisio when he arrives in the "land of camorra", becomes a less funny vest equipped with fog-lights and so on. The actors’ likeability and professionalism however manage to convey the humanity of the characters in what the director Luca Miniero defines as "not a simple reversal of stereotypes but differences coming head-t- head". Memorable in the film is the scene in which the old Milanese lady Erminia (Angela Finocchiaro in disguise) and theold man from Campania (Salvatore Misticone) discuss in their respective dilects and understand each other perfectly.

(Translated from Italian)