One Man Up

Colour, 35mm
Italy, 2001, 100 min
Section: Another View

About the film

Popular singer Antonio Pisapia, known as Tony, discovers that he has a young namesake – the rising star of a local football club. It is 1980 and both men appear to be at the peak of their careers. For the cynical and selfish Tony, however, adventures with an under-aged girl and a subsequent rape charge change his life overnight. The unassuming and gentle Antonio injures his leg during a training session and has to give up active football. He hopes instead to become a coach but it seems that the club owners have written him off. The years pass and, while the lives of both men have continued independently of one another, one day their paths finally cross. The defeat of one brings the hope of a new start for the other.

About the director

Paolo Sorrentino (b. Naples, 1970) has written several screenplays for film and television. In 1997 his script for Dragons of Fire (Dragoncelli di fuoco) won the distinguished Premio Solinas; in 1998 he directed the short film Love Knows No Bounds (L’amore non ha confini). The script for Redundant Man won the RAI International Award in 1999.