12/09/2023 - VENICE 2023: Through its many testimonials and extraordinary editing, Giorgio Verdelli’s documentary gives new life to an exceptional musician who passed away 10 years ago

Paolo Conte described him as “The greatest Italian singer-songwriter”. Without a doubt, he’s been the most versatile and creative, with an extraordinary, sensitive and profoundly human talent. In Giorgio Verdelli’s new film, Enzo Jannacci Vengo anch’io [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was presented Out of Competition in the 80th Venice Film Festival, the Milan-born musician - who died in 2013 after forging a path, over the course of fifty years-plus, through the worlds of rock’n’roll, jazz, singing-songwriting, cabaret, theatre and cinema – forms the focus of a celebration, courtesy of illustrious colleagues and travelling companions.

The documentary moves between the districts of Jannacci’s city on board an old tram. Everyone talks about Jannacci, each offering their own anecdotes: Roberto Vecchioni, Paolo Conte and Paolo Rossi (who remembers a phrase uttered by Enzo which has stayed with him ever since: “A triumphant fiasco is better than a cordial success”), Diego Abatantuono, Cochi Ponzoni, Claudio Bisio, Dori Ghezzi, Ranuccio Sodi (who authored a biofilm about him) and, first and foremost, his musician son Paolo, seated at Jannacci’s pianoforte. Paolo makes a fundamental contribution to this documentary, not just with his vibrant instrumental version of “Vengo Anch’io”, but also by giving the director access to copious material belonging to the family. Giorgio Verdelli – one of the greatest music experts in Italy and the author of Pino Daniele. Il tempo resterà, Ezio Bosso. Le Cose che Restano and Paolo Conte, Via con me – uses Vitaliano Murdocco’s editing approach as an extraordinary instrument to allow Jannacci to talk about himself in the first person - “If you understand everything I say, it means that I’ve broken character” – exploring his friendship with Giorgio Gaber (“they were polar opposites. Gaber was very rigorous; Jannacci inventive and brilliant”, Paolo Rossi testifies) and with Novel Prize winner Dario Fo, not to mention his life spent travelling between concerts, theatres and wineries, and his forays into film (L’udienza by Marco Ferreri, That Night in Varennes by Ettore Scola). An as-yet unseen interview, released to Verdelli himself in 2005, also plays a key role.

As the director himself has stated, Jannacci the artist was inseparable from the man, and this film isn’t a biography but an exploration of his world, in the company of his friends and his “students”.

Enzo Jannacci Vengo anch’io is produced by Sudovest Produzioni and Indigo Film with the involvement of Ala Bianca Group and Jando Music. The movie is screening in Italian cinemas on 11, 12 and 13 September, courtesy of Medusa Film.

(Translated from Italian)