Massimo Troisi

It is futile but understandable to speculate how the career might have turned out of one who died much too young. The Neapolitan papers this week spent some time doing that, true, but generally just paid heartfelt tribute to Massimo Troisi, from San Giorgio (near Naples), who died in 1994 but who, this week, would have turned 50.

Troisi made his first film, in 1981, Ricomincio da tre (a pun on the expression Ricomincio da zero —I'm starting over— (thus, roughly, I'm Starting Over Somewhere in the Middle), and his last film, shortly before his death, Il Postino (The Postman, probably his best-known film abroad. Perhaps only Roberto Benigni, among recent Italian comics, strikes you the same way Troisi does, as having that quality of comic genius worthy of mentioning in the same breath as the great Totò. (Benigni and Troisi appear in one film together, in 1984: Non ci resta che piangere (There's nothing left to do but cry) where they are transported in time back to the 1400s and even meet Leonardo da Vinci and give him some pointers.) Troisi generates the same type of “Do you remember that episode…?” —stories that characterize conversations about all great comics. (Do you remember that scene of Laurel and Hardy moving the piano up the long flight of steps? Of course you do.) There are scores of those about Totò and, by now, a lot of them about Troisi. Yes, I remember that scene where Troisi plays the wrong Mary (!), not the mother of Jesus, but another Mary in “a city of Galilee named Nazareth” whose daily routine gets interrupted by an inept Herald Angel who keeps barging onto the stage with “Hearken! Mary…the Lord is with thee…thou shalt conceive…” Troisi spends the skit trying to convince the angel that he/she/ it has come to the wrong house and the wrong Mary. Joseph’s wife is over on the next street. There is not the least sense of irreverence in the performance, either. Troisi’s language was that of Naples, with virtually no attempt to modify his difficult native dialect to a more standard Italian for the benefit of those who might have difficulty understanding him —audiences in northern Italy, for example.

It was the 4 June 1994, the next day he shot the last scene of “The postman", He left us Massimo Troisi. for 25 years after his death Rome dedicated a fond memory. Over 80 photo retracing his private life and his artistic career, offering a trip full of emotion capable of telling the sensitivity and artistic genius of one of the most beloved players in the history of Italian cinema.

Troisi’s language was that of Naples, with virtually no attempt to modify his difficult native dialect to a more standard Italian for the benefit of those who might have difficulty understanding him —audiences in northern Italy, for example. With Totò, Troisi is a living language lesson and one more reason why almost all Italians now like to think they speak a little Neapolitan.

In dedicated spaces, that follow chronologically the life and artistic production, we find posters, images, new videos, awards and interviews where you feel how much I miss a figure like Massimo Troisi to art and to the public. In the first room we start with childhood and family life with unpublished photos and manuscripts and type- scripts of poems, that from an early age showed his vocation for writing. He goes to his early experiences in the show in Center Theater Space, a garage of San Giorgio a Cremano adapted to theater, where the first farces written will see the light; that address sensitive issues such as religion, politics and the church; and where he will meet his friends grimace. The group is dedicated photo, posters and documents of a very intense period which will lead the trio to national success.

Exciting are, then, the first multimedia spaces where you can see and hear interviews created especially for to show of friends and colleagues. There is the memory of his nephew and collaborator Stefano Veneruso, Enzo De Caro, Gianni Mina, Massimo Bonetti, Marco Risi, Carlo Verdone, his partner and co-screenwriter Anna Pavignano and many others, that reveal curious and affectionate aspects of Troisi.

In another multimedia station you can listen to his youth songs written by Troisi and music by Enzo De Caro. They remained for many years in his personal archives and in the 2008 De caro recorded in "Poet Max" disc. Disco, which houses the value of musicians such as Paolo Fresu, the Solis String Quartet, Rita Marcotulli, Daniele Sepe, Ezio Bosso, Lino Cannavacciuolo, Cecilia Chailly, James Senese.

In the second room there is the TV experience. Gives The grimace, in the mythical program Non Stop, where he launched many artists first floor of the Italian cinema and theater, including Carlo Verdone that tells us how the presence of Massimo Troisi had the feeling of attending a top and unusual artist. At appearances in programs Renzo Arbore, Gianni mina, Pippo Baudo, Roberto Benigni, friends and colleagues with whom he created historical performance remained. The presence of multimedia totems gives us the atmosphere of that season.

In the third room is the turn of cinema. Photo sets, papers and posters, along with footage of interviews with actors and directors, describe the evolution as an author, director and actor. In his film of civil commitment, he never dealt with pride, essential and simple, with perfect timing, It has shown that continuous research is behind the growth of his artistic depth. Even in acting, Ettore Scola called him: “Our feelings actor”.

Troisi is not only what he has accomplished, intelligence and tenderness that he emanated, caused an empathy with the public contagious, up to create that aura of magic around him, gift that only a few artists are allowed. Years later, one wonders how, seeing him or listening again to his voice, you can still laugh and be moved immediately, and this exhibition admirably evokes the miracle of an extraordinary artist.