Branchie

Branchie (transl. Gills) is a 1999 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Francesco Ranieri Martinotti and starring Gianluca Grignani and Valentina Cervi. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Niccolò Ammaniti.^[1][2] The film was released on 12 November 1999^[3] to mixed to negative reviews.^[4][5]

Branchie
Poster
Directed by	Francesco Ranieri Martinotti
Screenplay by	Fulvio Ottaviano Francesco Ranieri Martinotti
Based on	Branchie by Niccolò Ammaniti
Produced by	Fulvio Ottaviano
Starring	Gianluca Grignani Valentina Cervi
Cinematography	Marco Cristiani
Edited by	Mauro Bonanni
Music by	Andrea Rocca
Production companies	Alia Film Iterfilm Ministry of Culture
Release date	12 November 1999 (1999-11-12)
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Plot

Terminally ill with cancer, Marco Donati only has three months to live and decides to work in an abandoned aquarium in Rome. He receives a letter from India from a mysterious person named Mrs. Margareth, who asks him to build the largest aquarium in Delhi.^[6] While in India, he has strange encounters with a new group of friends.^[7]

Cast

• Gianluca Grignani as Marco Donati
• Valentina Cervi as Livia
• Tomas Arana as Valery Subotnik
• Christopher Buchholz as Olivier
• Gianluca Gobbi [it] as Gogo
• Andrea Bove as Franco
• Enzo Limardi as Gabriele
• Malvika Singh as Mila
• Michael Muthu as Sarwar
• Nandana Sen as Eugenia
• Aditya Kamalapurkar as Deuter
• Mithran Devanesan as Maggiordomo
• Gulshan Grover as John Paul
• Paola Quattrini as Eugenia

Production

Gianluca Grignani made his acting debut with this film.^[7][8] The film was shot for around four weeks in Madras and Genoa.^[9]

Reception

The film was reviewed by La Stampa.^[10] A critic from Mymovies rated the film one out of five stars.^[11] A critic from Film UP wrote that "The character of Marco is an attempt to describe what is commonly believed to be today's young people with a sense of malaise and existential discomfort, which are manifested by the disease. The trip to India is in a certain sense the liberation from all those constraints that this stereotype would feel from the society that surrounds it. In these places you breathe differently, it is a world where spirituality is felt more than the material sense that is experienced in the West".^[9]

References

1. Comand, Mariapia (2008). Sulla carta: Storia e storie della sceneggiatura in Italia (in Italian). Lindau. p. 250. ISBN 9788871805856.
2. "Ammaniti diventa regista di una serie tv a sei mani: 'Il miracolo'". la Repubblica (in Italian). 7 July 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
3. Chiti, Roberto; Poppi, Roberto; Lancia, Enrico (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano (in Italian). Gremese Editore. ISBN 978-88-8440-085-7.
4. "Prime Visioni". La Stampa (in Italian). 12 November 1999.
   - "Prime Visioni". La Stampa (in Italian). 12 November 1999.
5. Branchie (in Italian), retrieved 26 February 2024
6. Frigerio, Laura (29 May 2018). "Il Miracolo di Niccolò Ammaniti termina stasera. I 5 film per consolarsi" [The Miracle of Niccolò Ammaniti ends tonight. The 5 films to console yourself]. GQ Italia (in Italian).
   - "Niccolò Ammaniti, i film e le serie tv tratte dai suoi libri" [Niccolò Ammaniti, the films and TV series based on his books.]. Sky TG24 (in Italian). 20 April 2021.
7. "Trame" [Frame]. La Stampa (in Italian). 12 November 1999.
8. Giangrande, Antonio. ANNO 2022 LO SPETTACOLO E LO SPORT QUARTA PARTE (in Italian). p. 65 – via Google Books.
9. "Branchie". FilmUp (in Italian).
10. Tornabuoni, Lietta (14 November 1999). "Branchie". La Stampa (in Italian) – via Mymovies.
11. Farinotti, Pino. "Branchie (1999)". Mymovies (in Italian).

External links

• Branchie at IMDb