Monday interviews: Gennaro goes to Venice (with “ More like an artist ”)

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 19:13

I've never eaten well in Venice during the Venice Film Festival, on the other hand I've always spent a lot. If you happen to be there during the 68th edition of the Festival, use the survival manual for inexperienced cinephiles that we compiled a few days ago. Or Wednesday 7 September you could take a tour of the Lido, destination La Pagoda. There you will find the 2 Michelin star chef Gennaro Esposito who perhaps prepares you a pasta. Did the Biennale also succumb to the song of sirens dressed as chefs? Not really, because Gennarino at the festivàl, called Neapolitan, goes there as an actor. All the staff of her restaurant, the Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense (NA), is in fact the protagonist of the docufilm by Elisabetta Pandimiglio, writer and director who participates in the Venice Days with "More like an artist". Before the brigade leaves the Sorrento Coast for the Lagoon, let's have a chat with the multi-starred chef.

Are you ready for the Gennaro tuxedo for the Red Carpet?

Do not even mention it! The red carpet is for famous actors playing roles, my kids and I were just ourselves. But I'm curious, it's the first time for me. A part of the brigade and my wife will come with me. We go home the same evening.

Not even a bit of emotion?

Yes, but not so much because we will be there, but for Elisabetta's work and for this intersection of arts that always leads to something interesting. The director was very good, she managed to bring out the soul of each of us. He did it without artifice, no pre-assembled sets, only direct contact in the places where we work.

How did the idea of a docufilm about you come about?

I met Elisabetta in Rome from Settembrini. You had a completely different project in mind: to tell about the recovery of the inmates of the Opera prison in Milan through projects related to cooking. My participation would have been secondary. Then she came to visit us in Vico and realized that there was enough material to make a film about it. It ended up being with us for forty days.

40 days with a camera on in the kitchen, not the most natural thing in the world …

At first there was an embarrassment, especially for the boys. Then something happened: that camera became "familiar" and everyone began to tell each other endlessly. The kitchen has become a means to talk about motivations, passions, social redemption and also a way to make up for wrong choices.

Not exactly a "one man show", in short.

On the contrary, it is an ensemble film. Well, thinking about it there is one thing that excites me. My reality as seen on a screen, I thought about how true it was and I liked it.

If you come home in the evening you won't even have time to see a movie. Do you like cinema?

To Vittoria (his wife ed) not so much. To me very much. I like the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Ron Howard, Francis Ford Coppola. I am not, however, a lover of Italian films.

And if I asked you a film inspired by the world of food, which one comes to mind?

Very little in truth. I believe that a film has not yet been made in which the kitchen is the absolute protagonist. I have only pathetic titles in my head, with the culinary art as a background.

And how can it be remedied?

And who knows that I don't think about it! I've been working on a script for a while. I have so many pieces to assemble, but writing is not my forte. I should find someone to help me put my ideas in order

Directed by….and starring….?

The Coen brothers would be perfect. For the protagonist I would like a worker face, not a "cool", someone like Javier Bardem. I think of a comedy where cooking is the healthy part of a society that instead disappoints.

I must say that I was not expecting the cinephile Gennarino

My uncle ran the buvette in the Vico Equense cinema and I, with the excuse of helping him, saw twenty years of programming.

And "More like an artist" what do you say about that boy who became a two Michelin star chef?

It is always difficult to tell about oneself frankly. I remember childhood and adolescence with nostalgia, but I can't say that they were easy years. I started working when I was nine, and work, already at that age, for me was synonymous with liberation, but I quickly understood what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still don't know how many years I'll go on. The morning I wake up with no desire to cook, I'll stop.

In Venice, perhaps they will give you the opportunity to cook something. I'll bring you the diners. What are you preparing for George Clooney?

A Milanese risotto, a dish that seems easy, but which plays all on the wisdom of balance

For Madonna

For me he is an icon, I grew up with his music. Just a few days ago I bought a collection of his old hits. I would say a lemon sorbet in a chocolate soup. First acidity then sweetness, a bit like her.

Final in beauty, Monica Bellucci

It annoys me that she married a Frenchman, she is my ideal woman. I try to impress with my mixed pasta soup.