Once more, Gabriele Mainetti succesfully creates a movie you wouldn't expect from an Italian production. "I don't want to feel comfortable", says the director, after dealing in a very personal way with superheroistic themes in two highly unusual and powerful movies, Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (2015) and Freaks Out (2021). In order to stay far away from his comfort zone, with La città proibita he challenged himself with an Italian-made effective kung fu movie, deeply faithful to the genre, while maintaining all the elements that have become typical of his work: human feelings, engaging characters, unconventional bad guys and... the city of Rome, which is always much more than a setting.
Kung fu movie lovers remember The Way of the Dragon with Bruce Lee - who also directed it - fighting young Chuck Norris in a Concord/Golden Harvest production unusually set and filmed in Rome. Lee's character Tang Lung arrives in Italy to protect the family restaurant from a local gang. Memories of this 1972 movie (released in Italy in 1974, six months after Lee's death and two years before Mainetti was born) might have somehow inspired La città proibita, although - says the director - when he suggested a martial arts movie in Rome, the producer thought he would do something like The Karate Kid. Absolutely not: Mainetti has a deep knowledge of the genre and how to deal with it.
First of all he needed real martial artists, including expert fight coreographer Liang Yang, who would sometimes need to take over direction and photography. And stars who could both fight and act, such as Shanshan Chunyu and the film's big surprise, Yaxi Liu. Some viewers might think that choosing a strong female main character is just a tribute to contemporary film rules, while Mainetti simply follows a long tradition of heroines in kung fu movies. Italian roles are filled by well known stars such as Sabrina Ferilli, Marco Giallini, Luca Zingaretti (internationally famous for the Montalbano tv series) and young Enrico Borello as the main male character.
The story: due to China's one-child policy (1979-2015) Mei always had to stay hidden at home, till her older sister Yun emigrated to Italy so she could stop living her claustrophobic existence. But Yun fell into mr. Wang's prostitution ring, hidden under his Chinese restaurant called "Forbidden City", in Rome's Esquilino neighbourhood.
Mei follows all the way the clandestine immigration path in order to find her sister and set her free, but discovers Yun has become the lover of Alfredo, owner of a nearby Italian restaurant, who left his wife and life for her.
Both Wang's gang and local boss Annibale, Alfredo's long time friend, are looking for the mysterious kung-fu-fighting Chinese girl to get rid of her. Meanwhile Mei joins forces with Marcello, Alfredo's son and cook in the family restaurant, to find the missing couple. A darker truth is about to be discovered. Mei nearly gets killed and soon she'll be out for revenge, while doing her best to preserve Marcello's innocence.
Written by Mainetti with Stefano Bises and Davide Serino, the movie balances perfectly staged action, comedy and noir, transplanting the rules of classic Hong Kong movies into the colourful, multiethnic setting of today's Rome. The result is both an Italian story and a Chinese story, with hints of William Wyler's Roman Holiday, Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars, Lo Wei's Fist of Fury and Bruce Lee's Game of Death, and a kitchen fight reminding of Jackie Chan.
Undoubtedly, it's an author's approach to martial arts films that doesn't betray the soul and spirit of the genre - which the director clearly knows and loves - but might appeal to audiences that are not familiar with a kind of movies viewers of the 70's grew up with.
Meanwhile, due to her impressive presence on the screen, martial arts film lovers in Italy start regarding Yaxi Liu - previously known as Yifei Liu's stunt double in Disney's 2020 live-action Mulan - as the next Michelle Yeoh.
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