One Man Up (2001)

The debut feature by acclaimed Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (La Grande Bellezza) is a stylish and blackly comic look at the dark side of fame. Evocatively set during the eighties, the film charts the decline of two men both named Antonio Pisapia who lead entirely separate yet strangely parallel lives. One (Toni Servillo, Gomorrah) is a pop singer who finds himself washed up after a sex scandal ends his run of success; the other (Andrea Renzi) a football hero whose playing career is abruptly cut short by injury. Sharply observed and featuring excellent performances from the two leads, Sorrentino's compelling film explores the personal consequences wrought by cruel reversals of fortune.—Anonymous