''Red Wood Pigeon'' () is a 1989

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

written, directed, produced and starred by

Nanni Moretti Giovanni "Nanni" Moretti (; born 19 August 1953) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His films have won accolades, including a at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for ''The Son's Room'', a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize ...

. The film won the

Nastro d'Argento The (plural: ''Nastri d'Argento''; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani'' (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in ...

for Best Original Story.

Plot

Michele Apicella, an MP for the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

, is involved in a car accident and consequently loses his memory. Michele is also a player for the Monteverde

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

team; he joins the team on a trip to play an important match in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

which will decide who wins the league, despite being uncertain of his own identity. The match lasts all day and well into the night, and throughout, Michele engages in conversations with other players, a trade unionist, the referee, a Catholic, a journalist and his daughter, in an attempt to reconstruct his sense of self. It becomes apparent that earlier in the week, he had given a momentous speech, the content of which he cannot remember. As the match drags on, the spectators and players become increasingly engrossed by the film '' Doctor Zhivago'', which is playing on a TV screen in the bar. Michele misses a penalty and the match ends; he is left feeling disappointed not just with the match, but with life. Driving back to Rome with his daughter, he loses control of his car and the film ends with a dream-like sequence as a crowd gathers on a hill, looking up to the sun.

Cast

as Michele Apicella *

Silvio Orlando Silvio Orlando (born 30 June 1957) is an Italian actor. Orlando was born and raised in Naples, where he started acting in theatre in 1976. He made his film debut in 1988 with a supporting role in the comedy '' Kamikazen: Last Night in Milan'', ...

as Mario * Mariella Valentini as the journalist *

Marco Messeri Marco Messeri (born 15 December 1948) is an Italian actor, comedian, stage director, singer-songwriter and voice actor. Life and career Born in Livorno, Messeri studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and acting at the drama ...

as Michele's father * Luisanna Pandolfi as Michele's mother *

Asia Argento Asia Argento (; born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with ...

as Valentina *

Fabio Traversa Fabio Traversa (born 17 November 1952) is an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Naples, a real life friend of Nanni Moretti, Traversa appeared in Moretti's debut medium length film ''Pâté de bourgeois'' (1973) and made his feature film ...

as Michele's friend *

Raoul Ruiz __NOTOC__ Raoul is a French variant of the male given name Ralph or Rudolph. Raoul may also refer to: Given name * Raoul André (1916–1992), French director and screenwriter * Raoul Anglès (1887–1967), French politician * Raoul Aragon, ...

as the guru *Eugenio Masciari as the referee

Legacy

In 2025, a 4K restored print was screened in the ''Cinéma de la Plage'' section of the

78th Cannes Film Festival The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2025. French actress Juliette Binoche served as jury president for the main competition. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

, anticipating the film's re-release in Italian theaters by Malavida on September 3, 2025.

References

External links

* 1989 films Italian comedy-drama films Films directed by Nanni Moretti 1989 comedy-drama films Water polo films Films scored by Nicola Piovani 1980s Italian-language films 1980s Italian films Italian-language comedy-drama films {{1980s-comedy-drama-film-stub