LaCapagira

Coarse and entertaining portrait of the life of clumsy crooks on the seamy side of the Italian port of Bari. The gloom and greyness of the location is augmented by the sombre winter weather. However the touching way the protagonists try to be bad and merciless brings a lot of warmth. They may be growing old, but they play the criminal game just like real mafiosi, although they lack the talent and real unscrupulousness needed to be successful gangsters. They just can’t get their house in order and consume too much of their drug wares. Hence the title, that in the dialect of Bari means ‘my head’s exploding’ and `it makes me dizzy’.The failed crooks are looking for a package that has been sent from somewhere in the Balkans, but never arrived. Apparently it is very important to them, but for the viewer it is only the key that opens the door to a remarkable underworld with a language of its own and above all codes of its own. The film-maker, who spent his childhood in Bari, uses the story of the quest for the package (a pure McGuffin) to show a very specific side of the shadowy port of his youth. With little means at his disposal, he shot a vital black comedy on video (that was later transferred to film, but in this way still contributes to the grubby mood of the film) and worked with non-professional actors (some of whom are reputed to be real (?) gangsters). (GjZ)