Marrakech Express

A road film that goes from Italy to Morocco. A group of friends who were close at university are brought together years later by news: one of them, Rudy, is in prison in Morocco. They collect the money for his bail and set out. The group has scattered. One is doing well in advertising, one is an actor who never took hold, one is married and stuck. Sitting side by side in the car, the distance between them comes out as much as the shared past. Along the way the mishaps of the road, money trouble and old scores get mixed together. In the Moroccan sections the narrative slows and the group starts to think about what they are actually looking for. The film belongs to the wave of generational pictures made in Italy at the end of the 1980s; the same director made two more films on similar themes and the three are spoken of together. Diego Abatantuono, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Giuseppe Cederna and Cristina Marsillach are in the cast. Gabriele Salvatores directed. A warm production for anyone who likes films about friendship and the road. For a viewer expecting a tight plot, the narrative is loose and arrival is not the point.