Mixed by Erry 2023 Movie Review
The epic story of Enrico Frattasio, the king of the “false original”. Sydney Sibilia is passionate about another true story and tries to establish a dialogue with generations accustomed to another type of digital and non-analogue musical enjoyment
There was a time, not too far away, when we spent afternoons, nights, creating compilations, pouring our favorite songs, the albums of the bands of the moment, the entire discography of sacred monsters of the past or, again, the alternative proposals from radio stations that opened up worlds of scenarios yet to be discovered, such as techno and idm. The more adventurous then produced themselves in the artistic act of drawing up the tracklist on the leaflet contained in the holder’s case with refined handwriting and burst of colours.
Among the declarations of love of the time there was also this gesture, after all, taking one’s time to make a compilation to give to the loved one, with the hope that then – listening to it – he would think of us.
And upon closer inspection, the rapid, unexpected climb that Mixed by Erry narrates takes its cue from an audiocassette made for third parties, but still out of love.
Born in 1981, already creator of the Smetto quando voglio trilogy , Sydney Sibilia is once again passionate about a true story, after The Incredible Story of Rose Island , and returns to the Neapolitan lowlands of the 80s: it is here, in Forcella for the precision, which brings to life the saga of a young boy, Enrico Frattasio (the semi-newcomer Luigi D’Oriano), middle of three brothers, passionate about music with the ambition of becoming a DJ. A dream that in a certain sense it will fulfill, but through a different path than that of the “classic” live performances in clubs.
Produced as usual from Matteo Rovere’s Greenland, Mixed by Erry takes its cue from the book of the same name by Simona Frasca (ed. Ad est dell’Equatore), which in turn bears the same name as a trademark – “Mixed by Erry”, in fact – certified of the “false original” with which Frattasio and his brothers, as well as an increasingly expanded network of “collaborators”, ended up scaling the sales of the entire national recording industry. And not only.
The film starts at the end, from the 90s, with the entry into prison of the three, welcomed by the other prisoners with the honors that are reserved only for a select few: “I’ve been in here for twenty years, but you can find out who the fuck are you to have all this money?”. At this point, the story goes back to the beginnings of the Frattasio family, in 1976, with the three little boys who help their father (Adriano Pantaleo, the Vincenzino of I hope that I manage) to bottle tea in empty whiskey bottles to be resold as such to tourists arriving at the station in Piazza Garibaldi or on the stalls of some local market. “Are we poor, dad?”, asked Peppe, the eldest (who will later be embodied by Giuseppe Arena): “Remember that in addition to a dish on the table, the other thing that will never be lacking in the Frattasio house is the honesty”, the answer. And it is a waste that makes you smile, of course, but which at the same time knows how to restore the human side of an art, that of counterfeiting, which from the fake paternal whiskey leads to the dozens of laboratories that would later keep the secret of a “technical reproducibility ” capable of bringing the most varied compilations to the market, including those of Sanremo at festivals still in progress, well before the official release (and how they managed to do it is the secret that the film will reveal only in the middle of the end credits): basically “I just wanted to be a dj”, Erry will repeat several times, which in Sibilia’s story is dashed – him and all the attached sideshow – more with the benevolence that is given to the pioneers bearers of revolutionary utopias than with the moral of a judgment on the illegal aspect of the question. Which is in any case ridden, embodied by the figure of the financier played by Francesco Di Leva, as is the question of the underground links with figures of the companies producing magnetic media and recording equipment (the character of Fabrizio Gifuni). which in Sibilia’s story is outlined – he and all the attached sideshow – more with the benevolence that is given to the pioneers who are bearers of revolutionary utopias than with the moral of a judgment on the illegal aspect of the question. Which is in any case ridden, embodied by the figure of the financier played by Francesco Di Leva, as is the question of the underground links with figures of the companies producing magnetic media and recording equipment (the character of Fabrizio Gifuni). which in Sibilia’s story is outlined – he and all the attached sideshow – more with the benevolence that is given to the pioneers who are bearers of revolutionary utopias than with the moral of a judgment on the illegal aspect of the question. Which is in any case ridden, embodied by the figure of the financier played by Francesco Di Leva, as is the question of the underground links with figures of the companies producing magnetic media and recording equipment (the character of Fabrizio Gifuni).
“I brought you Napster into the analogue era”, sang rapper Andre a few years ago in the song that paid tribute to Erry (while in the film the title track is signed by Liberato), and the heart of the matter is all here: Mixed by Erry takes us back to a sort of prehistory where piracy was something that did not yet provide for any legislation (it is no coincidence that the FPM – Federation against musical and multimedia piracy was born in 1996…) and the advent of the compact disc (support which Frattasio did not fail to handle anyway…) was observed on this side of a shop window in the same way as a mysterious artifact from another planet.
Agile in terms of aesthetics and narration, Sibilia’s work works best in the first part, with games not yet defined, but the real challenge of the film will be knowing how to dialogue with generations who in all probability have never seen or touched a cassette tape. accustomed to a different type of relationship with musical enjoyment, to jump quickly from one song to another, to have immediate access to any listening.
Once, in a not too distant time, legally or not, it wasn’t like that, the “effort” of that time was directly proportional to a sedimentation of notes and words that today’s speed, perhaps, no longer contemplates. And isn’t it the exact same thing with movies?
