Tolo Tolo
Directed by Checco Zalone
- comedy
- drama
- family
The story
Checco is a young Apulian entrepreneur dreamer who has opened a sushi restaurant in his Apulia. However, after one month, the restaurant went bankrupt and he chose to emigrate to Africa to escape from debt. Here he adapts to being a waiter in a resort in Kenya, but at the outbreak of a civil war he decides to embark on a stowaway trip on a boat for migrants to Europe and chooses to do it with his African friends. However, he would not like to return to Italy, but rather to go to Liechtenstein where banking secrecy is in force and there is a lower tax burden than in Italy.
What it’s like
Bright, sun-drenched daylight dominates, from the whitewashed Apulian streets and seaside to the wide, dusty Kenyan savanna and resort lawns, all shot with a straightforward, unfussy camera that favours medium shots and reaction faces over stylised framing. The score is light and bouncy, with pop-inflected cues that undercut the seriousness of the scenes around them. The vibe is brisk, satirical and warm, a comedy that tips into melancholy in its quieter stretches, especially where it turns to the hardships of migration. Pacing is episodic and fast, with broad set-pieces and sketch-like gags giving way to occasional sincere pauses. The protagonist's arc follows a self-absorbed man slowly confronting his prejudices as the people around him prove more generous than he assumed. Its intensity is mild: crude humour, some peril and distressing images of the crossing, but no graphic violence or gore. It suits a lazy afternoon or a light evening with friends, and fits people who want satire with a humane heart and do not mind jokes that push against political correctness.
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