I ’ve never been drawn to humour built on exaggerated mishaps. Roberto Benigni’s Italian comedy Johnny Stecchino is the exception. Yes, it’s farce, but it’s also sly social commentary, ridiculing the mafia without sanctifying its opposition, and playing with the gap between how things are and how they appear.

Six years before his Oscar-winning role in Life is Beautiful introduced him to a global audience, Benigni wrote, directed and starred in this 1991 box office hit that instantly became a national classic. Stecchino is Italian for toothpick, and mafia boss Johnny Stecchino always has one between his lips, a prop that defines his swaggering persona. ‘The energy is infectious’: why Bride and Prejudice is my feelgood movie Read more

I first saw the comedy on TV a few months after mo

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