The Craft

Sauro Cantafame is “the techie”: he drives solo through a lunar southern landscape in his Ape Car, in a borderland between the real and the absurd. His mission? Implant mechanical hearts in deceased oldsters, so their families can pretend they’re still alive and cash their pension checks. He offers a ride to a fragile kid in danger, whose name says it all, as far as his prospects are concerned: Giocondo Infelice. But that gesture raises the hackles of Vito ‘a scimmia, the crime lord who has full control over the territory. Cantafame teaches the kid his strange trade in death, craft, and discontent; while Giocondo breaks out of his shell and finally finds the father he never had. But Cantafame has a few skeletons in his closet and a negative karma to fulfill, which will goad him to defy Vito in order to save his young charge.

Directed by Beppe Tufarulo, The Craft leans on a strong ensemble — Luigi Lo Cascio, Claudia Potenza, Ricardo Aiello — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 0.