Il sorpasso 4K – Dino Risi's Desperate Race

Bruno Cortona drives through the deserted streets of Rome in mid-August 1962 as if the world were his own personal racetrack. Behind the wheel of his Lancia Aurelia, he honks his horn, provokes strangers, and drags Roberto, a shy and awkward university student, into an improvised vacation. For the young man, it's an opportunity to escape his orderly existence; for his companion, driving seems the only way to avoid stopping to reflect.

Dino Risi thus constructs a bittersweet comedy, fueled by the uncontainable energy of a colossal Vittorio Gassman. Bruno is irresistible precisely when he becomes unbearable: his exuberance hides a fierce selfishness, while his apparent freedom increasingly resembles a directionless escape. Jean-Louis Trintignant acts as his counterpoint, following a path that progressively erodes his certainties.

A Laugh That Leaves a Bitter Taste

The journey proceeds through grotesque encounters and stops that open glimpses into the contradictions of Italian prosperity. Risi never abandons the light tone, but allows a solitude difficult to ignore to emerge behind Bruno's bravado. His direction prefers immediacy and contact with the street, in stark contrast to the melancholic contemplation of Antonioni, even evoked through a scornful remark by the protagonist.

When Roberto's family past resurfaces and Bruno is forced to confront the affections he left behind, the race loses some of its carefree nature. The ending brutally shatters the illusion of freedom without consequences. Il sorpasso entertains, amuses, but does not absolve its protagonist. Beneath the surface of the comedy lies a bitter reflection on a country hurtling towards the future but unable to understand what it is leaving behind.

In 2016, the Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce-Cinecittà oversaw the 4K restoration at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. The work began with the original camera negative and the soundtrack negative, but the condition of the material required specific interventions: some shots showed damage caused by molds and tears, making it necessary to use a first-generation vintage positive print to recover the compromised sequences. This intervention breathed new life into Dino Risi's film, a cult and central work of Italian cinema.

Original image format 1.85:1 (3840 x 2160/23.97p), HEVC encoding on a BD-66 dual-layer disc. This restoration is convincing for its compactness and overall rendition, with a black and white that is almost always remarkable for its element prominence and wide grayscale. Some fluctuations result in slightly less solidity and a sense of three-dimensionality, particularly in low-light transitions. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 monophonic track (16 bit) offers excellent listening for music, sound elements, and dialogue. An acceptable Dolby Digital 2.0 track (192 kbps) with an overly high volume is also present. Compared to the 2K Blu-ray edition, the approximately 80 minutes of extras focusing on the production have been excluded.