Pinocchio review: Gritty live-action reboot is suitable for goths of all ages
In 1883, Carlo Collodi wrote a novel about an intrepid puppet whose foes hang him and leave him for dead.
He meets a young fairy who says SHE is dead (she can’t come to his aid, because she’s “waiting for a hearse”). You can see why Disney, when making their cartoon classic, dispensed with such grimly fiendish details, but with this live-action version, Italian auteur Matteo Garrone takes us back to the story’s roots. His film (starring Roberto Benigni as Geppetto and uncannily intense child star, Federico Ielapi, as Pinocchio) is whimsical, gritty and suitable for goths of all ages.
With Garrone at the helm, the story makes much more sense. As a child, watching the Disney version, I could never understand why the puppet didn’t stick like glue to his cuddly creator. In Disney’s planned live-action adaptation, Tom Hanks will star as Geppetto. This is madness — who in their right mind would walk away from Hanks? Benigni — talented yet helplessly OTT here — instantly solves that problem. His character’s love is just too hot and heavy. From the minute Pinocchio has legs, he wants to escape his neurotic and needy “babbo”. As he makes his first dash for freedom all you can think is, “Run, boy, run!”
Pinocchio has the sweetest voice, the brightest eyes, gives soft little kisses and has a face which, thanks to prosthetics and makeup magician Mark Coulier, resembles a fresco by Filippino Lippi. Our hero is beautiful. What’s interesting is that, despite this, he never seems “cute”. Impatient and perverse, he’s hard to control, yet easy to manipulate. He’s also a quick learner, who’s incredibly dumb. In other words: unlike most fairytale protagonists, he’s complicated.
The exquisite production design adds to the sense that, in this universe, nothing and no one is spotless. Pinocchio meets two baddies — a fox (Massimo Ceccherini) and a cat (Rocco Papaleo) — who use his money to eat a meal that leaves their fingers dripping in grease (our noses are rubbed, so to speak, in every repulsive droplet). The goodies, however, are just as icky. Though the aforementioned fairy (who, half way through, turns into a woman, played by Marine Vacth) is conventionally pretty, her adorable side-kick is a corpulent snail who leaves a trail of horrible, undulating, gloop.
Note, too, the treatment of Pinocchio’s defining characteristic. When his nose grows, it provides entertainment for birds, who peck happily at the wood. Over and over again, the line between wayward and wonderful is blurred.
Garrone, clearly, is out to make political points. Poverty isn’t made to look cosy, the hungry appear famished and when Pinocchio meets a corrupt judge (who spares criminals and imprisons the innocent) it makes you realise why Garrone and Collodi are such a good fit. They’re both satirists at heart.
The film, admittedly, is a bit long. Still, Ielapi’s turn is star-making and the tense set-pieces dig themselves into your brain. Right from the start, Garrone’s Pinocchio seems like a real boy, which makes it even more disturbing, and delightful, when the wood becomes flesh.
In cinemas
