Synopsis
A dark comedy centering on the lives of a Neapolitan based family whose father, a fish merchant, is so infatuated with the reality TV show "Grande Fratello" (the Italian version of "Big Brother") he starts living his life as if he were on it.
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Cast
- Aniello ArenaLuciano
- Loredana SimioliMaria
- Nando PaoneMichele
- Graziella MarinaMamma di Luciano
- Nello IorioMassimone
- Nunzia SchianoZia Nunzia
- Rosaria D'UrsoZia Rosaria
- Giuseppina CervizziGiusy
- Claudia GeriniPresentatrice Grande Fratello
- Raffaele FerranteEnzo
Recommendations
- 91
IndieWire
The reality-show aesthetic pervades the movie as well. Garrone's roaming camera style draws you into each moment with extreme close-ups and long takes that wander through each scene and get lost in it. Luciano's plight is crushing because Garrone renders it with such detail. - 90
Village Voice
Garrone's film grows in your head afterward, making royal hash out of a cultural paradigm we'll be loath to remember years from now—if, by then, everything hasn't become "reality." - 90
The New York Times
Reality is a story about one man’s desire to make it big on the small screen, and something of a familiar exploration of the blurring between reality and its simulations. More elliptically and more interestingly, it is also a look at an Italy engrossed with rituals and spectacle, in watching and being watched. - 83
The A.V. Club
His outrageous, self-destructive journey lands him in a place just as ironic as Rupert Pupkin’s in "The King Of Comedy," but it’s haunting and mysterious, too, reflecting the dream that consumes his life. - 67
Portland Oregonian
Spoofing the pernicious effects of television, especially the so-called reality genre, doesn't require pinpoint aim, and at times Luciano seems as much a target of ridicule as the superficial, oversexed entertainment served up on the tube. - 63
Slant Magazine
Matteo Garrone has a sure eye for outlandish set pieces that exhibit the expansive outlines of his ideas, but these spectacles are sporadic, and the spaces between them tend to lag. - 60
The Guardian
It's a likable film played with gusto and heart — though fundamentally a little sentimental and predictable. - 60
New York Daily News
There is enough here — including the gifted Arena’s barely believable backstory — to keep your head spinning.
