In Italian cinemas from 25 January, Made in Italy ratifies the return of the singer Luciano Ligabue behind the camera, after several years of hiatus.

Riko has been married for twenty years and worked in a sausage factory. His marriage seems to go downhill, as well as his work. Rebuilt torque serenity and suddenly finding himself unemployed, humans will struggle to find a new job. The only solution seems to be to leave Italy for good.

The story here staging is the same as told by many other contemporary Italian films: the crisis, the love for their country and for the family, the job insecurity are issues that occur quite frequently, to the present day. But the thing itself is not a problem, if the product in question was a valid feature, and well done. The problem with a movie like Made in Italy, But, is that, despite initial good intentions, Despite the obvious empathy of director / singer to history, due to a script that makes water from all sides and interpreters – though undoubtedly valid – They do not seem to feel particularly at ease in the shoes of the characters here personified, It has inevitably ended up giving birth to a job and almost botched, at times, even unintentionally comic, where embarrassing dialogues are the setting for a frayed script and dangerously disorganized.

And now that the initial conflict of the protagonist – ie its marital unhappiness – It is solved in less than no time after just a few minutes, to give way to other issues such as job crisis or the death of a friend, however leaving in suspended elements previously brought in (see, eg, the lover figure that Riko, once discharged, She threatens to tell everything to his wife).

Even from a purely directorial point of view, Made in Italy leaves much to be desired. A directed at times cumbersome and rather clumsy he can not give ad hoc scenes studied pathos necessary. And this, eg, the case of the sequence in which we see Riko and his friends running at night through Rome on electric scooters for tourists – with in the background, rigorously, the singer's voice – or when we see the protagonist and his wife organize a kind of fake marriage, definitely act to crown their love.

And so, although the previous work of the singer – Radiofreccia e From zero to ten – after all they had not proved to be completely despicable products, this Made in Italy just it failed to make the center. Who knows what will happen with the next feature!

marina fears