Song 'e Napule (2013)

Paco Stillo, a young Neapolitan who graduated in piano from the conservatory, is very talented but unemployed. At his mother’s insistence, and thanks to a recommendation from a well-known local politician, he manages to get into the police force after a very amusing interview with Police Chief Vitali, and is assigned to the department that stores and sorts confiscated goods. One day, he is noticed by Commissioner Cammarota of the anti-crime squad while playing a piano that was part of a haul confiscated from the Camorra. A practical, action-oriented man who doesn’t beat around the bush, Cammarota manages to transfer him to his squad, intending to have him join the band of neomelodic singer Lollo Love, replacing the keyboardist who has been arrested. Cammarota plans to take advantage of a concert Lollo is giving at the wedding of Camorra boss Gennaro Scornaienco’s daughter to capture the fugitive, bloodthirsty hitman Ciro Serracane, known as “O’ fantasma” because no one has ever seen his face, using Paco as an undercover agent. So Paco is forced to become the band’s new keyboardist, under the stage name Pino Dinamite, and plunge into the world of neomelodic music, which is far removed from his tastes. Though uncomfortable at first, he learns to engage with a Neapolitan way of life that doesn’t feel like his own, and forms a close friendship with Lollo Love, the ultimate neomelodic singer, who is nevertheless good-hearted and honest. He falls in love with Marianna, Lollo’s sister, who seems to like him from the very first moment. They meet by chance before he joins the band, while he is buying Lollo Love records at a Feltrinelli store where she works as a cashier. Marianna confides to Paco that her brother’s manager does nothing but exploit him and stifle his artistic flair, restricting his performances to weddings thrown by wealthy bosses, which bring in a lot of money. After a strange audition conducted through a game of table football, Lollo, who at first seems uninterested in Pino’s musical abilities because he wants someone who plays with his heart rather than his head, takes a liking to Pino Dinamite and hires him for the band. Over time, Paco grows increasingly attached to his new friends and persuades Police Chief Vitali to change the commissioner’s plan: the boss will be arrested only after Paco has identified him and the wedding celebration is over, because Paco fears that a likely shootout during the wedding could draw his friends—and everyone else present—into a massacre. But, as the commissioner explains, this means that if anything goes wrong, Paco will not have the necessary backup. The day of the concert arrives, and Lollo and his band show up at Boss Scornaienco’s house. Before they go in, everyone is asked to hand over their cellphones. During the concert, Paco identifies the fugitive and tries to find a way to contact the commissioner, who is keeping watch outside the boss’s villa with his squad. Paco gets someone to help him—a person playing with some children, recording their voices on a cellphone—and borrows the phone on a pretext. He alerts the commissioner that the suspicious man has just left the villa by car. The commissioner gives chase, but to his great surprise discovers that the man is a councillor in league with the Camorra, not the fugitive they are hunting: he is missing the unmistakable sign of Serracane, the severed middle finger on his right hand. Meanwhile, as the band is leaving, Pino Dinamite is lured away on a pretext by the same person who lent him the phone, having heard the recording of Paco’s call to the commissioner. As they are about to enter a room, Paco realizes that this person is none other than Serracane—known as “O’ fantasma” because all trace of him had long since been lost—when he notices his mutilated finger. Paco manages to escape, but Scornaienco’s henchmen corner him. The boss is determined to kill him and Lollo Love’s entire band, but fortunately Lollo realizes something is wrong and decides to intervene. In the ensuing confusion, Scornaienco is accidentally killed by Serracane himself, who then flees in a car. Lollo steals another car, gets Paco inside before the henchmen can kill him, and together they race through the streets of Naples after the fugitive, chasing him into an alley where the two friends split up. Lollo is taken hostage. To save him, Paco throws himself at Serracane, and they both fall from a great height. Serracane is killed in the fall. When Police Chief Vitali arrives at the scene, he congratulates Paco, who, however, resigns shortly afterward, intending to continue his musical adventure with his new friends. The film ends with Lollo, Marianna, and Paco outside the singer’s manager’s house. Paco had gone there shortly beforehand to terminate the contract that forced Lollo Love to submit to the record executive’s demands. The three walk away together, talking about the future and happy about the friendship that now binds Paco and Lollo, as well as the love that has blossomed between Paco and Marianna.