Review of Where's Picone?

In MI MANDA PICONE ("WHERE'S PICONE?" in the U.S.) Giancarlo Giannini has one of his better roles following his work for Visconti in THE INNOCENT. Here he plays a small-time scrounger who ekes out a living as a consultant in matters of red tape at the Naples city hall. For a small fee he assists unfortunates who come for help and don't know where to turn. When a man sets himself on fire in a courtroom, supposedly out of desperation because he is unemployed, Giannini helps the wife find out what happened to the man's body. In helping this woman (played by talented first-timer Lina Sastri), he becomes involved in a series of discoveries about the dead husband's petty racketeering activities. This all leads Giannini into a Dante-esque underworld that is bizarre, fascinating, and never what it seems. The film is an insider's view on Naples. Both producer Gianni Minervini and actress Lina Sastri came from that city as did director Nanni Loy, whose classic FOUR DAYS OF NAPLES was a stunning achievement. This is the Naples of hidden streets of the "bassi", back alleys, cheap rooms, the unromanticized landscapes of the poor.