| The Big Fake is an Italian true story about an artist in the 1970s who becomes one of the greatest forgers of all time. How good this movie is hinges on exactly one thing: how interesting you find the main character and his crime world. Toni (Pietro Castellitto) is an artist from a small town who grew tired of painting fog, so off he moves to Rome and meets an art dealer. A match made in heaven and history. | | 2026
Directed by: Stefano Lodovichi
Screenplay by: Lorenzo Bagnatori, Sandro Petraglia
Starring: Pietro Castellitto
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Italians who know this true story, or at least familiar with parts of it, are likely to enjoy it a lot more than the rest of us. The story is told very choppily, with a lot going on and most scenes seem random. The filmmakers spent more time crafting the look of the movie than the actual story of the movie. There is definitely an interesting story here but it is hard to find, so viewers who already have some knowledge and interest in it are going to get a lot more out of it.
But let’s talk about the visuals and artistic craft of this movie. The production design is impressive. Every scene is a work of art, which is fitting for a movie about art. While it is set in the 1970s, sometimes it looks more like the 1870s, and when one character literally makes a remark about his “19th century bed”, it’s clearly on purpose. But why? Is it to evoke some of the artistic masters from that period that he sometimes forges? Perhaps, but when the filmmakers are going for a specific look that the audience isn’t privy to understanding, then there is a disconnect.
There is further disconnect in the story. Toni quickly gets caught up in crimes much bigger than the forgeries he’s working on; there is also very little painting for a guy who is an artist. Personally, I’d be more interested in the art forgeries, but the real life crimes clearly have a bigger draw for the film.
I love the flamboyance of the 1970s Italian art culture. Girls wearing glitter like it’s going out of style, men wearing gold sparkling shirts and dancing to American pop music under disco balls. While I’m usually not a fan of historically-set movies flooding everything in yellows or oranges, the lighting in this movie is fantastic. The dance clubs are one small example of that, but every scene is extremely well photographed.
The cinematography is excellent. Whether it’s scene transitions as Toni’s girlfriend walks out of the room in her night gown and as the camera passes through the wall, it’s then a night-time scene of Toni and friends walking along a cobbled street with lanterns. Or it’s impressive camera work where a crowd is forming after news of a national emergency breaks, and as the camera zooms out, it finds Toni hanging on a wall, but as it keeps going back, the crowd grows larger including other guys hanging on a wall. The camera allows the scene to develop without a word being said. It’s easy to just let this movie glaze over you, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.
The Big Fake is a visually compelling movie, but it’s not a compelling story. I say that as partly problematic and partly complimentary. Creating a visually compelling movie is hard to do and an important part of filmmaking, but it’s not the only part. The story just isn’t as strong or coherent as it should be.
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