The musical side of Paolo Conte an artist at 360 °

Presented out of competition at the 77th Venice Film Festival, the no fiction film is coming to Italian cinemas, produced by Sudovest Produzioni, Indigo Film in collaboration with Rai Cinema, only the 28, 29, 30 September distributed by Nexo Digital in collaboration with the media partners Radio Capital, MYMovies.it, Rockol.it and with Concerto Music.

“On the amaranth mouse it goes which is a charm” sang Conte in the 70s. And the same amaranth mouse guides us through Piedmontese landscapes and narrow streets of Asti in one “long journey through the passions and songs of Paolo Conte” – says the narrator of Luca Zingaretti. In reality, But, on this journey we only retrace the songs, the great stages of Conte's musical development, from the partnership with Jannacci to the collaboration with Celentano, from participation in the Tenco Club to the great success beyond the Alps, from friendship with Benigni to international duets. There is no room for other passions although Conte's artistic complexity is repeatedly affirmed: music is the only protagonist of this journey, not his artistic interests, let alone Conte himself, who simply defines himself as the defense attorney of his songs, that forcefully conquer the scene, making us smile a few times, making us move others.

After all, Count, as Veronesi states, “goes on for sensations” and these his songs always manage to make us live them fully.

Within the film, who alternates songs with interviews with colleagues and friends, the great importance that Conte had in the Italian artistic panorama is well expressed, Vinicio Capossela even goes so far as to affirm that Conte is “the summary of Italian music“. And it is precisely on this point that the film wants to insist: greatness in music is rendered perfectly, but doing so leaves the real artistic complexity almost entirely, the versatility of the Asti lawyer, singer, lyricist, musician, tragedian and painter. There is only room for the singer-songwriter Paolo Conte and, then – following the line drawn by the director – we just have to close with his own verses: “Long live the music, that goes into your soul”.

Maria Vittoria Battaglia