Ratataplan, the 1979 film directed by Maurizio Nichetti, was the starting point for this new edition of Alla Carta. A metropolitan fable poised somewhere between the grotesque and the surreal,…

Ratataplan, the 1979 film directed by Maurizio Nichetti, was the starting point for this new edition of Alla Carta. A metropolitan fable poised somewhere between the grotesque and the surreal, where the protagonist, Nichetti himself, utters not a single word for the entire duration of the film. A candid antihero who tells his story and happy ending, letting his body do the talking. He prefers to fall back on the ancient silent art of the gag, mixing it with mime and clownery. In doing so, Nichetti unmasks the world and its cruelty with the grace of innocence and the kindness of irony. Dazed, dreamy and clumsy, he handles difficult themes such as work, marginalisation, theatre and love through ‘fantastic realism’.