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Oscar 2022, Paolo Sorrentino did not win (but the greats like him always win)

A new miracle was expected from Maradona, perhaps an intercession of San Gennaro or, more simply, help from Monaciello. But none of the outstanding protagonists of the film It was the hand of God (now on Netflix) served to give the second Academy Award for best foreign film to Paolo Sorrentino.

Would he have deserved it? Absolutely. But the five of the Academy Awards they are not an exact science and, in addition to the invoice of a project, many other factors are taken into consideration. Each season presents a favorite and this year the intimate, personal and poignant tale of thedenied adolescence of the Neapolitan filmmaker it wasn’t enough. It was the winner the Japanese Drive my car.

On the one hand, it must be said that international critics love the most majestic and baroque version of the film maker, that of The great beautypreferring it perhaps to an unprecedented emotional universe, such as the one he traced in the film presented and awarded at the last Venice Film Festival. During a masterclass at the Zurich Festival, Paolo Sorrentino candidly admitted that he did not write the film with any ambition or strategy. He just wanted his children to know the roots of his pain and understand some of his behaviors. The artist, in fact, lost both parents at the same time in a gas leak in the mountain house. He was just a kid at the time and survived the tragedy by accident (or miracle, you name it).

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His torment was born there, but his delicacy also dates back to that episode. Exploring cinema as a personal therapy, Sorrentino then decided to share that painful journey, perhaps to exorcise it, to give it a name, to look it in the eye. The tone of the story changes in the middle of the film and in the blink of an eye you go from comedy to drama, with many references in Neapolitan and Neapolitan culture (not just football). And yet, those initial doubts about the «lost in translation» were immediately dispelled, already in the Lagoon. But it’s not his time, it’s not his year, at least not in Hollywood.

Disappointment aside, one imagines him somewhere in Los Angeles thinking of other things, designing future shots and observing the colorful humanity of the star system to draw inspiration for future works. Still in the Swiss capital, in fact, he confessed to being intolerant of the promotion process for prizes. He hates the occasional talk of lunches, dinners and aperitifs to sponsor his work. If it were up to him, she would also be alone on set. Which seems counterintuitive, given that – being the director – he must have someone to direct in the takes. In those cases he pretends to have fun, to be a social animal, but if he could, he would hole up at his desk all the time, alone, thinking.

After all, those who have their artistic genius know what to expect, even if out of modesty or modesty they say the opposite, and Paolo Sorrentino is too intelligent not to know that this time he had to step aside. Even though he was honorably discharged. And, just before the start of the ceremony, Paolo Sorrentino wrote his most true and heartfelt Instagram post ever: «Today, after two years of work, with the Oscars ceremony, the cycle of this film ends. For months I have been asked why I made this film and I have never found an authentic answer. Today I found it: I wanted to go back, if only for a moment, to this photo. To my mother”.

The greats always win.


Source: Vanity Fair

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