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Gorbaciòf - The Cashier who Liked Gambling

Gorbaciòf - The Cashier who Liked Gambling

GORBACIOV-IL CASSIERE COL VIZIO DEL GIOCO

Stefano Incerti

  • Country: Italy
  • Year: 2010
  • Language: Italian
  • Producer: Luciano Martino, Edwige Fenech, Massimo Vigliar, Angelo Curti, Sergio Pelone
  • Executive Producer: Sergio Pelone
  • Screenplay: Stefano Incerti, Diego De Silva
  • Runtime: 87
  • Programmes:

A compulsive gambler who works in the petty-cash office of the Poggioreale prison falls in love with Lily, an illegal immigrant, and tries to free both of them from their dead-end lives. The film stars Toni Servillo, Mi Yang and Nello Mascia.

Drama,  Europe

screening times

    • Tuesday September 14
    • 6:30:00 PM
    • SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4
    • Wednesday September 15
    • 9:00:00 AM
    • VARSITY 7
    • Friday September 17
    • 9:30:00 PM
    • Tiff Bell LightBox 2

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

Toni Servillo is fast becoming one of the finest screen actors of his generation. His extraordinary portrait of Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti in Paulo Sorrentino’s Il divo, and his equally nuanced performance in Matteo Garrone’s Gommorah, alerted us to his impressive range. His multifaceted skills are again on display in Stefano Incerti’s remarkable portrait of a prison cashier, a role tailor-made for someone of Servillo’s dexterity. Incerti not only provides a structure in which a genius like Servillo can soar, he does so while displaying a total command of the medium.

Gorbaciòf has dialogue, but it is sparse and used only when necessary. Servillo plays a lonely but cocky prison official who banks bribes on behalf of the prison staff, money from prisoner’s families to secure extra perks for their relatives behind bars. His name is Pacileo, but he goes by the nickname Gorbachev due to a large birthmark that mars his forehead. He’s a habitual gambler and makes up his losses by dipping into the money in his charge. But when he befriends a lovely young Chinese waitress, his habit turns deadly as he struggles to give her gifts while still managing his debts.

Tough, unshaven, ill-mannered and almost mute, Gorbachev starts to bloom as his relationship with the girl grows and he allows himself to dream. Neither speaks each other’s language, a beautiful and realistic touch that forces Incenti to paint their relationship in gestures and innuendo, making for moments of sheer magic. As the film moves achingly towards its conclusion, we watch in wonder at the range of emotions that filmmaker and actor bring to the screen in this breathtaking piece of filmmaking bravado.

Piers Handling

director bio

Stefano Incerti was born in Naples, Italy and began making Super 8 short films as a teenager. After graduating with a degree in law, he moved to Rome and began working in film as an assistant director. His feature films include Il verificatore (95), The Vesuvians (97), Prima del tramonto (99), La vita come viene (03), L’uomo di vetro (07), Complici del silenzio (09), and Gorbaciòf (10).

full credits

Principal Cast: Toni Servillo, Mi Yang, Nello Mascia
Producer: Luciano Martino, Edwige Fenech, Massimo Vigliar, Angelo Curti, Sergio Pelone
Executive Producer: Sergio Pelone
Cinematographer: Pasquale Mari
Editor: Marco Spoletini
Sound: Daghi Rondanini
Music: Teho Teardo
Production Designer: Lino Fiorito
   
International Sales Agent: Rai Trade
Production Company: The Bottom Line
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