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ZORAN, IL MIO NIPOTE SCEMO

ZORAN, MY NEPHEW THE IDIOT

By Matteo OLEOTTO

POLYFILM VERLEIH / FILMCASINO & POLYFILM BETRIEBSGMBH - as DISTR Theatrical

First film - Completed 2013

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- First film
- Countries
- ITALY
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 106 mn
- Director(s)
- Matteo OLEOTTO
- Synopsis
- He has thrown the towel since he was born, never had particular dreams and if he did he has no memory of them. His marriage wrecked (or rather, never set sail), he works as a cook in a rest house and almost no one can stand his impossible character and his caustic jokes. The only people who can stand him are the customers of the tavern, not because they have a better character, but because they are perennially dazed with wine. This is Paolo, a man weighing one hundred and forty kilos who has remained a child, irritating and irresistible, who passively slides away in the province of Gorizia like a big and motionless tree trunk carried away by the slow and blue waters of the Isonzo river (that flows by his house). He tries to avoid drawing the attention of the policemen who should distrain even upon his soul (because of those 127 fines he never paid), he continuously and ridiculously stalks his ex wife and drinks glasses of white wine one after the other, under the resigned eyes of Gustino, the innkeeper and his only friend who acts as his only voice of conscience that, of course, he never follows. One morning, two traffic policemen turn up to give him some good news: an old Slovenian aunt of his – whom he didn’t even remember – died, and apparently Paolo is her only heir. Full of hopes for that unexpected money, Paolo travels to a remote Slovenian mountain village. But his hopes shutter into pieces against the wall of a cruel reality: no money there, just an orphan boy called Zoran, who is apparently mentally retarded. He used to live with Paolo’s old aunt and now, being her only heir, Paolo will have to take care of him until the day he joins a care home. Paolo gets him into the car and takes him home, with the enthusiasm of a man who hates animal and has just won and old stinking dog at the lottery
  For Paolo, who is even unable to live with himself, to live with another person is almost a nightmare, and furthermore with that strange boy who speaks using archaic and sophisticated words. One day that Paolo left him at the tavern like a parcel, the boy takes a dart out of his pocket and hits the bullseye of an old dartboard that’s been hanging on the wall for decades and left abandoned by the old alcoholic customers who never dedicated themselves to playing darts. Zoran hits the bullseye once, twice, three, ten, one hundred times. The little Zoran has got talent. Paolo’s eyes brighten up for the first time: the old stinking dog can turn into a ruthless Pit Bull and excels at dog fighting. So he takes him to the most remote and decaying taverns to challenge dangerous guys and makes the boy join the fray. Thanks to little Zoran, Paolo wins salamis and demijohns full of wine; it’s the first time in his life he has ever won something and wants to keep on winning. Suddenly, Paolo seems to have found in Zoran all those hopes that ordinary people have and starts to consider that phenomenal boy as his own personal redemption. In that land that has always excluded him, he finally feels himself centered, just like a target.
  Paolo has ambitious goals: the world dart championship in Glasgow, where the winner takes home 60,000 euros. Zoran can make it. And also Paolo can make it, now that the province has finally noticed his existence (even his ex wife is impressed for the special relationship between her unreliable ex partner and his nephew) and the future is a downhill road paved with glory. Paolo is ready to go any lengths to get the boy fosterage, and during a meeting with the social workers he even pretends to have ridiculous paternal inclinations. Will it be that easy? Will Paolo be prepared to care for a special boy who’s becoming an ordinary boy? A little human being who instead of a trainer, who considers him like the goose that lays the golden egg, should have a father who treats him like a son. What is certain is that Paolo has woke up from an everlasting lethargy; his habits have been disrupted; he has started to look for his redemption and found a responsibility. Will our Paolo be able to change once and for all? In the province of Gorizia, next to a river that’s too blue and flows too slow, amongst bottles of wine that get empty too quickly, will Paolo the unreliable, Paolo the unbearable, Paolo the alcoholic, be able to defeat himself prior to win any dart game?
- Beginning of shooting
- Sep 01, 2012