Unable to accept the loss of his wife in a tragic road accident, Ciro is desperate and adrift, spending his nights on mostly deserted streets, often lit only by headlights, on the outskirts of a dark, miserable Naples, as he searches for the hit-and-run driver responsible for her death. Every night, for a year, he takes his thirteen-year-old son Luigi to search for the red car driven by the person responsible for that fatal accident.
The fixed camera focusses with tight shots on the faces of the protagonists (Francesco and Mario Di Leva, father and son in real life) to capture their emotions and fragility, trying to avoid explanation.
The film was shot in areas of wider Naples, mostly the eastern outskirts of the city and San Giovanni a Teduccio, which is home to the NEST Theatre where director Giuseppe Miale di Mauro works and whose bridges interact with the narrative of his feature film debut, alternately shielding or dominating the characters or offering them the option of a different perspective. These are all locations chosen to show a Naples that is much colder than its usual representation, darker and gloomier, echoing the characters’ state of mind, brightened only in some sequences such as a rare moment of levity when Ciro dances on a terrace. The Port of Naples, a place of universal passage, also serves as a backdrop: "I realised that I wanted to tell the story of Naples as a universal city where I could place my protagonist and his human story," said the director. "Have him wander in a nocturnal city, full of harbour cranes, the noise of forklifts in action, containers ready to leave, black sand from the volcano and grey winter sea, isolated overpasses and dark peripheral roads. And then a car, Ciro's, drives through them. In the background: Christmas lights up other people's homes and makes those who have nothing to celebrate sad."
The new headquarters of Federico II University in the former Cirio area of San Giovanni a Teduccio provide the exteriors for the hospital where Ciro returns on his personal nocturnal Via Crucis, retracing the crucial moments of the fatal accident that killed his wife; the intimate, intense scene where his friend Rosario (Giuseppe Gaudino) tries to help him start living again by offering him a job, was filmed outside a church in Ponticelli. In addition to Naples, filming also took place in the city of Portici.
Unable to accept the loss of his wife in a tragic road accident, Ciro is desperate and adrift, spending his nights on mostly deserted streets, often lit only by headlights, on the outskirts of a dark, miserable Naples, as he searches for the hit-and-run driver responsible for her death. Every night, for a year, he takes his thirteen-year-old son Luigi to search for the red car driven by the person responsible for that fatal accident.
The fixed camera focusses with tight shots on the faces of the protagonists (Francesco and Mario Di Leva, father and son in real life) to capture their emotions and fragility, trying to avoid explanation.
The film was shot in areas of wider Naples, mostly the eastern outskirts of the city and San Giovanni a Teduccio, which is home to the NEST Theatre where director Giuseppe Miale di Mauro works and whose bridges interact with the narrative of his feature film debut, alternately shielding or dominating the characters or offering them the option of a different perspective. These are all locations chosen to show a Naples that is much colder than its usual representation, darker and gloomier, echoing the characters’ state of mind, brightened only in some sequences such as a rare moment of levity when Ciro dances on a terrace. The Port of Naples, a place of universal passage, also serves as a backdrop: "I realised that I wanted to tell the story of Naples as a universal city where I could place my protagonist and his human story," said the director. "Have him wander in a nocturnal city, full of harbour cranes, the noise of forklifts in action, containers ready to leave, black sand from the volcano and grey winter sea, isolated overpasses and dark peripheral roads. And then a car, Ciro's, drives through them. In the background: Christmas lights up other people's homes and makes those who have nothing to celebrate sad."
The new headquarters of Federico II University in the former Cirio area of San Giovanni a Teduccio provide the exteriors for the hospital where Ciro returns on his personal nocturnal Via Crucis, retracing the crucial moments of the fatal accident that killed his wife; the intimate, intense scene where his friend Rosario (Giuseppe Gaudino) tries to help him start living again by offering him a job, was filmed outside a church in Ponticelli. In addition to Naples, filming also took place in the city of Portici.
Mad Entertainment, Rai Cinema, Leocadia
Ciro is a man adrift after the loss of his wife. He desperately wants to find the hit and run killer who left her for dead on a night-time street. He goes out every night to search for the culprit and in the process loses himself, his sense of time and the chance of providing a normal life for his thirteen-year-old son Luigi, who has been forced to grow up quickly to stop his father descending into hell. It is a via crucis, as they process a grief that is difficult to accept. Their destiny is already written, however, and they must face it on the last "Nottefonda".
