Il Sorpasso
1962 · Directed by Dino Risi
Original language: Italian
- drama
- comedy
- adventure
The story
Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.
What it’s like
Black-and-white widescreen photography with bright, hard Italian summer sun: white roads shimmering under open skies, sea glare off the Tyrrhenian coast, dusty piazzas and sun-baked villages, and the rattle of a open-top sports car in motion. Camera work is loose and mobile, often following the car from the roadside or sitting close in the cramped front seats, so the frame stays bouncy and intimate. Sound is vivid and busy: engine roar, horns, radio pop, Italian voices talking over one another, with a light jaunty score that never quite sits still. The mood is sunny and mischievous at first, then slowly shadowed by a sense of bittersweet unease, a melancholy that creeps in beneath the bravado. The pacing is brisk and episodic, a sequence of detours, cafés, and impromptu escapades that builds toward a late turn. It suits a lazy afternoon, a comedy-minded evening, or a warm-weather watch with a glass of something cold. Violence is absent; sexual content is light and suggestive; tension comes from quarrels and disappointment rather than danger. It is for viewers who enjoy character-driven comedy with a bruised heart, and for anyone drawn to the bittersweet romance of the Italian road movie.
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