Gorbaciòf - The Cashier Who Liked Gambling
* Gorbaciov-il Cassiere Col Vizio del Gioco
What a face! What a guy he portrayed. What a job of acting.
Saw this movie last night at the Admiral Theatre. Loved it. So powerful. The professional review is below. My new most favorite movie line was spoken in Chinese to a man who only spoke Italian, and of course translated to me via sub titles. It WAS the main point of the movie, and the fact that the star of the movie could not understand the words, only highlighted that he couldn't understand his life, his problems and his own looming tragedy.
"when the tigers are away, the monkeys will act like tigers,..... but they are still monkeys. You are a tiger."
Compulsive gambler and petty thief Pacileo works as a cashier in Naples’ Poggioreale Prison, taking bribes from inmates’ families to secure extra perks for their relatives behind bars. Nicknamed “Gorbaciòf”—pronounced “Gorbachev”—because of a large birthmark on his forehead, Pacileo’s swagger and ill manners hide his inner turmoil and loneliness. He spends his off-hours playing high-stakes poker in the back of a Chinese restaurant, where the attractive young Lily works as a waitress. A surprisingly tender relationship develops between the illegal immigrant and the gruff, greasy-haired Gorbaciòf, despite her inability to speak Italian. To feed his addictions and to buy Lily small gifts, he occasionally dips into the prison funds, but his “borrowing” habit turns deadly serious when he covers the massive gambling losses of Lily’s father, the restaurant’s owner. Italian film and theater star Toni Servillo (Il Divo, Gomorrah, A Quiet Life) once again shows remarkable depth as the nearly mute Gorbaciòf. In fact, dialogue is used sparingly throughout the film; instead, director Stefano Incerti (The Man of Glass) relies on innuendo, subtle gestures, and Servillo’s rubbery facial features in this nuanced portrayal of two dead-end lives transformed through love.
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