Where Am I Going? (Quo Vado?) (2016)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 4 for other Palace Films releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2016
Running Time	84:03
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Gennaro Nunziante
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Checco Zalone Eleonora Giovanardi Sonia Bergamasco Ludovica Modugno
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Luca Medici

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Checco (Luca Medici in his acting alter-ego Checco Zalone) has the perfect Italian life. He has a cushy, stress free permanent government job in a small provincial town and is doted upon by his mother (Ludovica Modugno), his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s mother! But his secure life changes when a new government promises to cut down on bureaucratic waste so employees such as Checco are forced either to relocate to other cities or to resign and accept a payout cheque. Checco has no intention of resigning and rejects the payout offered by government bureaucrat Dr. Sironi (Sonia Bergamasco); as a result she relocates him to various unattractive positions in rural Italy to force him to resign. However Checco is adaptable and resourceful; he makes the best of his postings and refuses to resign despite Sironi offering ever increasing payouts. So Sironi sends Checco to the most isolated place she can think of; the Italian research station in the Arctic where Checco is supposed to protect the research staff from attacks by polar bears!

     Checco is ready to give up until he discovers that the researcher he is supposed to protect is the beautiful Norwegian scientist Dr. Valeria Nobili (Eleonora Giovanardi); Checco falls in love, moves in with Valeria and her three children (from three different fathers) and starts to learn Norwegian customs and the language, even though he finds the endless night depressing. But he will still not resign so Sironi has him transferred back to rural Italy. Valeria and the kids go too, and although for a while things seem to be going fine Valeria cannot cope with Italian customs and inefficiency. The choice for Checco is between a permanent position or keeping true love; and clearly the choice is not going to be easy.

     Where Am I Going? (Quo Vado?) on its release had the distinction of matching the ticket sales in Italy of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it currently stands as the highest grossing Italian film ever, having recently overtaken another Checco Zalone film comedy Sole a Catinelle (2013). Comedy often does not translate successfully between cultures but this is not the case with Where Am I Going? which is a very funny, laugh out loud film with good physical jokes and some delicious dialogue with digs at Italian attitudes and culture. Clearly, an Italian audience would get more of the jokes, but even for non-Italian speakers many are hilarious.

     Where Am I Going? is not malicious or nasty in any way; it is a feel good, very funny comedy that will put a smile on your face.

Video

     Where Am I Going? is in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     Filmed using Arri Alexa XT Plus cameras Where Am I Going? looks sharp. Colours are bright and glossy, blacks and shadow detail very good, skin tones natural, contrast and brightness consistent. I noticed some aliasing on ties and checked clothing but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

    The layer change at 55:46 occurred during a scene change.

    White English subtitles are burnt in. They were error free.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio choice is either Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     Where Am I Going? is a film with little action so there was nothing much in the surrounds and rears except for music, ambient sound, voices and engines. Dialogue was clear and the subwoofer added a little depth to the music. The original score by co-writer / actor Luca Medici was fine and included a some catchy songs.

     Lip synchronisation seemed fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (2:13)

More from Palace Films

     Trailers for God Willing (2:06), Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2:17), Mia Madre (1:38) and The Mafia Only Kills in Summer (2:27).

     Only a Region 2 Italian release of Where Am I Going? is currently available on Amazon.com. It is not English friendly, with only Italian subtitles.

     Where Am I Going? is a very funny, good natured film that is almost certain to put a smile on your face. It has laugh out loud jokes as well as sly, and not so sly, digs at Italian culture and customs and so is an antidote to cold winter evenings or doom and gloom.

     The video and audio are fine, a trailer and trailers for other films are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall