Vip, mio fratello superuomo

The unprecedented success of Bozzetto's WEST AND SODA ensured a more ambitious follow-up with the aid of American financiers. Biting the hand that fed him (Bozzetto had primarily been involved in making animated commercials), he came up with a sharply satirical narrative about the perils inherent in incessant commercial spoon-feeding to Italian TV audiences. Supervip is the latest in a long line of strapping superheroes while Minivip is his inept 'accidental' twin brother; the latter – short, bespectacled and saddled with an inferiority complex – is a splendid caricature of Woody Allen. During a psychiatrist-imposed vacation, the latter stumbles onto a massive brainwashing conspiracy instigated by Happy Betty, the head of a chain of supermarkets, intent on controlling the worldwide market through missiles lodged into her customers' brain that turn them into compulsive buyers! Every superhero has to have a sweetheart: the intrepid red-headed Lisa is Supervip's girl while the diminutive Nervustrella is the one that loves Minivip in spite of himself; conversely, Happy Betty's minions include a strongman dubbed "The Colonel" and the pint-sized, monocle-sporting Schultz. The film is driven by a superb song score courtesy of Franco Godi that includes a mournful lament by Happy Betty's imprisoned, unsuccessful experiment subjects and a climactic production number performed by the villains themselves when hoist in their own petards. Comic highlight: the "day in the life" demonstration of Happy Betty's assembly-line workers.