Passione 2010

‘Naples has long held a fascination for me – for its beauty, its danger and above all its music’, says John Turturro. It’s more than fascination: his highly pleasurable tribute to Neapolitan song pulses with desire. The film presents a series of mini-dramas, staged largely in the streets and piazzas, showcasing contemporary Neapolitan singers in a variety of styles, from the traditional to the jazz or hip-hop inflected. It’s a passionate counterblast to the bad press the city has been receiving for the last several decades. In place of clichéd assassins lurking in decaying alleys, flaxen-haired women stalk the same streets, their hearts full of vengeance, their voices fit to thrill recalcitrant lovers into submission. And there is the handsome roué whispering sweet imploring tunes of regret; another crying out his righteous distress while feckless old ladies out for a stroll stand by unmoved. Embraced enthusiastically all over Italy, this valentine to their city has made Sicilian-American Turturro a Neapolitan hero. — BG