L'Ispettore Coliandro
Encyclopedia
L'ispettore Coliandro is a series of Italian tongue-in-cheek television movie
s directed by Marco Manetti and Antonio Manetti (collectively Manetti Bros.), and written by the crime writer Carlo Lucarelli
and starring Giampaolo Morelli
in the title role of the Inspector Coliandro. According to the actors and the directors, Coliandro is an Italian crime television series aimed "at young audiences." In fact this is probably so.
The policemen in Italian fiction and shows like Il Commissario Montalbano
are stalwart servants of the law, and usually save the day.
Inspector Coliandro saves the day also, but mostly by a combination (according to one of the actors) "of luck and [his younger partner's] intuition." He is ignorant, crude, and despised by all his colleagues except this partner, who is the only one who view him the way he views himself: as a hero worthy of the good guys in American cop movies.
The humor of the series is manifest in the difference between the way Coliandro sees himself and the way the rest of the world sees him. Coliandro's very name is a play on the Italian word coglione - a word literally meaning "ball", but most usually used with the meaning of "asshole
" - and he must continually correct its pronunciation.
One notably characteristic of the "Coliandro" series is that all its episodes are shot in the city of Bologna, or its immediate surroundings. This has led to some criticisms in Italy as, although it's a quite important city in the country - mostly due to its university and its role as a cultural center, it is too much a reduced stage to be credibly involved in some of the events depicted in the show.
(Coliandro), Alessandro Rossi (commissioner De Zan), Veronica Logan
(prosecutor Longhi), and Giuseppe Soleri
(agent Gargiulo, Coliandro's partner) reprised their roles in the second season; the rest of the cast was rotated.
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s directed by Marco Manetti and Antonio Manetti (collectively Manetti Bros.), and written by the crime writer Carlo Lucarelli
Carlo Lucarelli
Carlo Lucarelli is an Italian crime-writer, TV presenter, and magazine editor. He was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger in 2003 for the novel Almost Blue.-Biography:...
and starring Giampaolo Morelli
Giampaolo Morelli
Giampaolo Morelli is an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is particularly known for his television work; among his roles is as the titular character in the L'ispettore Coliandro series.-References:*...
in the title role of the Inspector Coliandro. According to the actors and the directors, Coliandro is an Italian crime television series aimed "at young audiences." In fact this is probably so.
The policemen in Italian fiction and shows like Il Commissario Montalbano
Il commissario Montalbano
Il commissario Montalbano is an Italian television series....
are stalwart servants of the law, and usually save the day.
Inspector Coliandro saves the day also, but mostly by a combination (according to one of the actors) "of luck and [his younger partner's] intuition." He is ignorant, crude, and despised by all his colleagues except this partner, who is the only one who view him the way he views himself: as a hero worthy of the good guys in American cop movies.
The humor of the series is manifest in the difference between the way Coliandro sees himself and the way the rest of the world sees him. Coliandro's very name is a play on the Italian word coglione - a word literally meaning "ball", but most usually used with the meaning of "asshole
Idiot
An idiot, dolt, or dullard is a mentally deficient person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way. Archaically the word mome has also been used. The similar terms moron, imbecile, and cretin have all gained specialized meanings in modern times. An idiot is...
" - and he must continually correct its pronunciation.
One notably characteristic of the "Coliandro" series is that all its episodes are shot in the city of Bologna, or its immediate surroundings. This has led to some criticisms in Italy as, although it's a quite important city in the country - mostly due to its university and its role as a cultural center, it is too much a reduced stage to be credibly involved in some of the events depicted in the show.
Production
The series has hitherto consisted of three seasons of four episodes each, plus a fourth series whose production was stopped in its run after the second episode. The first season was aired in 2006, the second in 2009, the third in 2010. Giampaolo MorelliGiampaolo Morelli
Giampaolo Morelli is an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is particularly known for his television work; among his roles is as the titular character in the L'ispettore Coliandro series.-References:*...
(Coliandro), Alessandro Rossi (commissioner De Zan), Veronica Logan
Veronica Logan
Veronica Logan is an English-Italian film and television actress.-Early life:She was born to English musician Michael Logan and a mother from Naples, Italy.-Career:...
(prosecutor Longhi), and Giuseppe Soleri
Giuseppe Soleri
Giuseppe Soleri is an Italian Television actor.-Biography:He began to acting in 2004 with the Television Crime mini-series La omicidi. Soleri started his cinema acting with Action Comedy film The 17th Floor and worked besides as producer on them. Among his roles is that of Gargiulo in the...
(agent Gargiulo, Coliandro's partner) reprised their roles in the second season; the rest of the cast was rotated.
Second season (2009)
- La pistola (The Gun): Jelena from MontenegroMontenegroMontenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
(Xhilda Lapardhaja) escapes with her brother from the clutches of Darko Tomić, a "Balkan mafioso" established in Bologna, after her brother, Tomić's truck driver, falls ill. In the course of her escape she runs into Coliandro, who tries to arrest her, but by dint of his ineptness loses her—together with the gun she snatches off his belt. He spends two days looking for her, fruitlessly; he is about to despair when she suddenly appears in front of his apartment, points his gun in his face, and tells him that Tomić is in league with the Neapolitan CamorraCamorraThe Camorra is a Mafia-type criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating to the 18th century.-Background:...
and about to conclude an immense deal with the same. She promises to lead him to Tomić—if he agrees to kill him. Coliandro proudly tells her she's lost her mind and is locked in the bathroom for it—that is to say, put at square one. Angry and even spiteful at having lost not only his target but also the other pistol she stole from him, Coliandro enlists the help of trusty Gargiulo, and together they dig through the records and discover that Jelena's cousin is living on the outskirts of the city. They find her there, thanks to Gargiulo's sharp eye, hiding in a niche in the floor made by her cousin's husband, who was a Partisan during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Coliandro agrees to kill Tomić, though with his fingers crossed, and Jelena leads him and Gargiulo to the meeting-place. There everything that can go wrong does, and a car chase ensues, at the end of which Jelena kills Tomić herself. The story ends, as always, with Coliandro lamenting to the stars that he cracked the case and no one will remember him for it.