海角大神

The adoration of celebrity is, of course, not confined to America. Neither is the desire to become one. 鈥淩eality,鈥� the new film from Italy鈥檚 Matteo Garrone, is ostensibly about a working-class fishmonger with delusions of making it big on a hit reality TV series, but it casts a wide net. It鈥檚 really about the ways in which celebrity worship deranges all of us. (Like Garrone鈥檚 previous movie, 鈥淕omorrah,鈥� it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival.)

Garrone doesn鈥檛 make the mistake of turning his protagonist, Luciano (Aniello Arena), into a bland Everyman. He never loses his singularity. He鈥檚 too avid for that. A family man with a big, buzzing circle of relatives, he lives in a rundown section of Naples and runs an illegal mail-order scheme on the side.

We first see him and his brood at a wedding where he plays a cross-dressing clown, in full greasepaint, and strikes a glancing connection with the wedding host, Enzo (Raffaele Ferrante), who made it big as a contestant on the hugely popular reality TV show 鈥淏ig Brother.鈥�

Pushed by his family into trying out for the show, Luciano leaves the audition in Rome believing he鈥檚 a shoo-in for a callback. He convinces everybody that he鈥檚 only one phone call away from fame. He tells his wife, Maria (a marvelous Loredana Simioli), that they will be 鈥渟et for life, all our problems will be solved.鈥� Maria is the only hard-line skeptic in the bunch, but she鈥檚 no match for Luciano鈥檚 charm offensive.

Luciano is deluding himself that his imminent 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� celebrity is his apotheosis. He believes he is anointed. When the call doesn鈥檛 come, he holds out anyway. His Neapolitan neighbors want a celebrity in their midst, so they become part of Luciano鈥檚 not-so-grand illusion. (A wide-eyed bartender tells Luciano he鈥檚 pouring him a last drink before he becomes famous.)

Michele (Nando Paone), his hawk-faced business partner, genuinely cares about Luciano, who is descending almost imperceptibly into deeper states of delusion. A fierce Roman Catholic, Michele tries to impress upon his friend how much people already care about the noncelebrity in their midst. He gets Luciano to assist in handing out food for the poor at the local church.

This last gesture is almost superfluous, since Luciano, who had earlier harshly spurned a beggar, has become a great giver of charity. For the indigent he begins to empty his apartment of its imitation designer furniture until a furious, disbelieving Maria steps in. Luciano may have initiated these deeds to attract favorable notice from the 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� producers he鈥檚 convinced are covertly covering his actions, but he soon begins to believe in his own sanctity. He becomes a holy fool. (Michele reminds Luciano that God is watching him even if 鈥淏ig Brother鈥� isn鈥檛.)

Garrone doesn鈥檛 play up Luciano鈥檚 story as an occasion for sniping or social satire. He doesn鈥檛 condescend to Luciano鈥檚 fantasies even though that would have been easy enough to do. 鈥淩eality鈥� isn鈥檛 patronizing toward anybody, not even Enzo, whose motto is 鈥渉old on to your dreams鈥� and who is presumably living for real the life Luciano covets beyond measure.

Luciano鈥檚 descent (which he would term an ascent) could have been more richly demonstrated, and there are meandering interludes in disco clubs and at Good Friday services that seem off the mark. But the loose ends are knitted by Arena鈥檚 live-wire presence.

It was something of a shock for me to discover that Arena is a convict serving a long sentence for organized crime activities. He was discovered in a prison theater workshop and was let out of prison by day for filming.

Coming on the heels of the Taviani brothers鈥� quasi-documentary 鈥淐aesar Must Die,鈥� about the staging of 鈥淛ulius Caesar鈥� in a maximum-security lockup, 鈥淩eality鈥� gives credence to the notion that Italian prisons are hotbeds of acting talent. Grade: B+ (Rated R for some language.)