The Icicle Thief
Director Maurizio Nichetti is invited on TV to introduce a screening of his neo-realist classic 'The Icicle Thief'. He is horrified to discover that his black-and-white tale of life in poverty is constantly interrupted by garish color commercials, and even more horrified when a power cut in the studio causes film and commercials to mix up – a glamorous model finds herself in the arms of an unemployed pauper, while his wife finds herself in consumers' heaven. Nichetti has to break into the film to try to sort everything out.
A delightfully meta romp that skewers consumer culture and the artifice of media. It’s a playful, witty, and visually inventive commentary on the clash between gritty reality and glossy advertising, wrapped in a charmingly absurd premise.
