THE STORY – A childhood home where you no longer live. A city you left behind. A balcony, an emptiness, the voices of the street rising up with their obscene vitality – and then the challenge between a grandfather and his young grandson. The grandfather, Daniele Mallarico, is over seventy. A renowned illustrator, now widowed, he lives alone in Milan. His grandson is Mario, five years old: a little rascal who speaks like a grownup, knows everything, can do everything, and has an explanation for everything. His parents are immensely proud of him. It was Betta, Daniele’s daughter, who asked him to return to Naples, to the family home, to look after Mario for a few days while she and her husband Saverio attend a conference. But she could never have imagined what would happen… Between four walls and a balcony, a true duel unfolds, forcing Daniele to confront his own ghosts.
THE CAST – Toni Servillo, Lorenzo Perrotta, Serena Rossi, Leonardo Lidi, Giovanni Ludeno & Gianluca Di Gennaro
THE TEAM – Mario Martone (Director/Writer) & Ippolita di Majo (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
Sometimes, it can feel like those of a different generation have nothing in common with us. In an era when the world is advancing at an unprecedented rate, with life-changing innovations arriving every decade or so, this dissonance between generations feels more expansive than ever. Perhaps the older generation resents the younger for their dependence on the Internet and social media, or the younger generation resents their elders for outdated views on certain social issues. There is a marked difference between groups defined by their age, but “Trick” proposes that we may not be all that unfamiliar with each other after all.
Mario Martone’s latest film stars Toni Servillo as an acclaimed illustrator named Daniele, who works alone from Milan. When he returns to his childhood home in Naples, where his daughter and grandson are now living together, Daniele is immediately flooded with memories of the life he’s left behind and outgrown. When his daughter is forced to leave for a few days, Daniele is placed in charge of his grandson, Mario, but quickly learns that childhood may not be exactly how he remembers it.
Servillo’s performance is the highlight of “Trick,” and it’s hard to discuss any of the film’s other strengths without first noting that nothing about this film would succeed without a dedicated, empathetic figure at its core. Servillo occupies that space perfectly, letting the audience into his headspace through a unique emotional vulnerability that very few actors could accomplish. His on-screen chemistry with young actor Lorenzo Perrotta is the film’s clearest selling point – the pair bounce off each other perfectly, creating a playful dynamic that sucks the audience in and keeps them engaged as their relationship slowly takes a fascinating turn throughout the final act.
Beyond these two brilliant performances, “Trick” mostly thrives due to its fascination with nostalgia and our tempting ability to view the world in a way that may not objectively mirror reality. The story is driven by the relationship between Daniele and Mario, who are clearly separated by multiple generations and yet, crucially, manage to share their varying experiences of the world with each other. For the most part, “Trick” is a celebration of familial duty, nostalgia, and above all, memory. Our memory is the most powerful tool we have for keeping our history alive and sharing it with the next generation, and “Trick” is a call to arms for exactly that.
Unfortunately, Martone and Ippolita di Majo’s screenplay doesn’t always present this idea in the most straightforward, focused way. There are countless scenes that work excellently individually, whether that’s Mario impressing his grandfather with his modern education, or Daniele taking his grandson to spots in the city that he used to frequent. But the story as a whole doesn’t feel quite as holistic. It takes a very unexpected turn in the third act that undermines a lot of the character-driven storytelling that precedes it, opting instead to spoon-feed the audience with conflict where previously there had been a charming sentimentalism.
As a result, the final 30 minutes of “Trick” feel very jarring and scattered in comparison to the rest of the film. It feels as though Martone and di Majo are concerned their screenplay doesn’t resolve in a concrete, exciting enough way, but that carefree atmosphere is exactly what worked about the first two acts. There are admittedly hints throughout the screenplay that we’re heading towards a more intense conclusion, such as Daniele’s fascination with the ghosts of his past and the way they manifest physically for him, but it simply doesn’t feel like a natural story progression.
This is a massive shame, because there’s huge untapped potential in “Trick” that works really well when its seeds are on display. The dynamic between Servillo and Perrotta’s characters is lightning in a bottle, but the screenplay doesn’t always seem interested in exploring it as deeply as it could. Instead, Mario’s character is often sidelined for a more insightful, critical examination of Daniele, but the real magic of the story is in their relationship and the glaring differences in their attitudes about the world.
