By Filiberto Molossi
When I told Michele I was going to make a movie about him, that didn’t impress him that much; it was as if he had been waiting for that moment his whole life. We could say he was just waiting for that: becoming a legend. His name is Michele Bravi (yes, like the popstar), he’s almost fifty years old and he has three unbridled passions: alcohol, women and Torino F.C. And a forth one, ping – pong, that he used to play in the past.
The director Filippo “Feel” Cavalca, born in Parma in ’83, met him while he was being kicked out of a bar and someone was pushing him in the middle of the street.
I helped him and we started talking. I was impressed by his eloquence and his passion for tennis table along with his degree in Economics with full grades. He told me he was friend with Emanuele Asti, who wrote the hit "The summer is magic" and Pietro Vescovi, the organist who created the movie’s soundtrack. When he told me about his weird misadventures I was struck by his straightforwardness and his lack of shame, he didn’t care at all about other people’s judgement. He’s a romantic anti-hero: the perfect protagonist for a movie».
A movie that Cavalca, back in Parma after 7 years spent in the United States (and previously in Rome), shot in our city: the docudrama "based on incredibly real facts", "Hollywood is a whole other thing” was made thanks to the contribution of Pietro Pizzarotti, Metalparma, Vincenzo Zanichelli and Itas Assicurazioni – and its movie premiere will be held next Thursday at Cinema Astra, where the spectators will meet the director and the cast at the end of the film screening.
Who is Michele in your movie? A survivor, a wreck, the result of our society, someone who understood everything or maybe nothing ...?
“Mostly, he found himself living a life where things were not that bad, but he doesn’t realize that life goes on without him. Someone who lives inside an existential bubble and who seeks comfort in alcohol, in drugs, in real and imaginary friendships. But on the other hand, he feels some kind of security, of great awareness, about who he is. He is one of the "losers", he lost his job, he lives day by day (especially at night) with no plans for the future: but he has many worlds within him. You may find him drunk inside a bar, but then you find out he was a tennis table player, even a bad one, but iconic for sure, everyone knows him, even in St. Petersburg. Definitely an interesting subject from a cinematographic point of view. By hanging out with Michele, I realized he never lies to you. If he doesn’t want to tell you something he simply doesn’t tell it, he is very honest and aware about himself, and he’s not violent, he knows his limits”.
But how did it occur to you to make your second movie about him?
“During the lockdown, I meant to make an observational documentary, like Rosi. Actually, I was more interested in creating something hybrid, suspended between reality and imagination. Maybe with a nouvelle vague soul, à la Godard, to whom I wanted to pay homage. A life like Michele's suited my project ».
And how did he face this challenge?
“The first clapper board he was completely lost, shy: but then it went very well. He was extremely professional, polite, he really had a transformation during the making: he lost his bewilderment and started giving advice to experienced and known actors. But mostly, he told his personal life with great honesty: everything that is told is true. And in the end the movie was good for him: it gave him some self-esteem ».
The film begins in Via Corso Corsi, the plot takes places in small villages, the Square, the Parco Ducale: however, in your movie you show hidden parts of Parma…
«It’s Michele’s Parma, the city is shown through his gaze: it’s surreal as an “hidden”city, as Michele always looks down. The locations match the protagonist’s soul. As I hadn’t lived in Parma for many years I wanted to make a comeback movie. This is why I show the city I left and some protagonists from the 90s, such as Aldo Piazza and Lufer and many other characters who play themselves. I must say that Parma’s people helped this movie a lot ».
During the last years you have worked in the United States, where your short film «The Pandas Syndrome» has been awarded…
Yes, he just got an honorable mention in New York. It’s the short movie from which my next feature film will be based; it will be dedicated to a pediatric disease hoping to spread awareness. As for "Michele", it is curious how Americans see my protagonist as a sort of "Big Lebowski". Actually, Michele Bravi is interesting for me because one way or another we all felt like him, maybe just for 5 minutes or for a whole day: it shows a state of mind that we all know.
