FYC: "Pinocchio" for Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 7:15PM 
Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio has been adapted countless times to the big screen, from the time of the silent shorts to today's world of streaming services and opulent CGI. However, it should be noted that, throughout the majority of film history, the most famous adaptations of this literary nightmare have been rather unfaithful to its source material, its sharper edges indiscriminately sanded off. A tale of cruel moralism full of ghoulish characters, Pinocchio's story is often mellowed until its hellish visions are more enchanting than terrifying.
When it was time for Matteo Garrone to shoot his version of the narrative, the Italian director went back to Collodi's original tone…
This Pinocchio for the 21st century frightens more than it amuses, and there's little fairy tale whimsy to be found in its twisted misadventures. Instead, a team of master craftsmen created an unnervingly tactile cosmos of fleshy impossibilities. Not only is the main character an abomination of enlivened anthropomorphized wood, but most of the other players are similarly fantastical. In this universe, there are other human-like marionettes and a myriad of animals with a person's face emerging from folds of fatty skin, matted fur, and glassy scales.
One feels the impulse to recoil from the screen. Something prevents that, though. It's the wondrous detail that attracts the eye, sequesters its attention even as it feeds our brains with the raw material for newfangled night terrors. Such examples of beautiful ugliness can be found in every aspect of the movie, from Massimo Cantini Parrini's ahistorical costumes to Dimitri Capuani's ruinous scenography. That being said, one specific achievement demands attention, applause, and, indeed, Oscar gold. I'm referring to the makeup effects that transfigure human actors into inhuman creatures.
To undertake this mighty challenge, Garrone put together a team capable of doing what most Hollywood productions would relegate to digital artists. Makeup artist Dalia Colli, hair designer Francesco Pegoretti and prosthetic and special effects makeup designer Mark Coulier are the masterful artisans behind Pinocchio's unique look. At the center of all of it is the titular character, the boy carved from a magical tree stump whose appearance is as miraculous as his origins. Little Federico Ielapi is covered in prosthetics painted to look like mobile wood, both flexible enough to be expressive and rigid enough to maintain the illusion.
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A touching detail can be found on the roughness of his ears, almost as if Geppetto spent all his attention on perfecting his child's emotive face and ignored other, less sentimental, features. Such nuances allow the story to feel lived in, its madness grounded in human reality, all its twinkling idiosyncrasies. The opposite is also true, with the makeup highlighting the non-humanness of its kid hero. As the film's narrative takes Pinocchio from plot point to plot point, his body reflects the hardships of the picaresque journey.
The wood starts to deteriorate, cracks deepening and the texture breaking apart. Water rots him, fire burns him, and each tumble leaves another mark, chisels away another carving into his frame. Coulier's imagination and technical precision are enough to catapult the movie far from the territory of child play and into the land of body horror. No wonder the artist singles out the protagonist as one of his favorite looks from the movie. There are other, more outwardly spectacular, edifices of prosthetic wizardry but Pinocchio is the one whose sturdy makeup job carries the entire production.
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Honestly, one could spend ages pouring over every grotesque feat of cosmetic illusionism. The Cat and the Fox, for instance, have their maws delineated by the actors' facial tics, animalistic lines sprouting from the clownish mugging. A gentle caretaker appears as a massive slug whose body is a monument of foam latex. Her gelatinous membranes shaping themselves into a face express such kindness that the viewer doesn't even balk at her mutated monstrosity. A lonely tuna is a Munch-esque vision of despair, his twisted visage fusing to the aquatic body with gross materiality.
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As far as Pegoretti and Colli are concerned, their work isn't any less awards-worthy than Coulier's. Their craft immerses the audience into a dream of 19th century Italy where misery is a plague spread far and wide. Skin blemishes and dirt cake most human figures, and even the pompous wigs of the have a ruinous quality to them. The Blue Fairy is the apotheosis of the despondent aesthetic, her cold pallor and powdered hair evoking an image of Death rather than wonderment. She's an Angel from Hades in this iteration, a haunting apparition, so ethereal as to be beyond our natural conceptions of life.
In the 21st century, AMPAS' makeup branch has shown an openness to non-English cinema that's remarkable within the context of the Academy. Some pundits may joke around about the makeup people's obsession with European oddities, but those have been some of the most inspired Oscar nominees of the recent past. I, for one, would love to see Pinocchio's vertiginous transformations be part of the same elite group that includes Border and Il Divo, among others. To be honest, I might even root for its victory. One thing's for sure, there's nothing else like it in this year's race for the gold.
Pinocchio is available to rent from most services, including Amazon, Youtube, and Google Play.
Reader Comments (8)
It definitely sounds like you were mightily impressed by the makeup, but what about the overall film? Is it worth a watch?
Is this real? I’ve never heard of this version.
Beautiful article. The movie is wonderful; my favorite of the year. It’s a smart adaptation (touching, with some genuinely funny lines) and, as you lovingly point out, it creates a complete and fascinating world. It feels like a Jim Henson/Terry Jones movie from the 80s. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a movie like that — a movie unafraid to scare, challenge, even weird out kids (and their parents). I think I needed that at the end of this content-filled, pandemic year where everything started to feel the same.
Collodi's book is a masterpiece and so very different from Walt Disney's take. The "Jiminy Cricket" gets killed by Pinocchio; Pinocchio is lynched; the Blue Fairy commits suicide...
Garrone's version is truer to the tone of the original, as this article points out. However, the best version is Luigi Comencini's incredible 5+ hour long version made for Italian television. It features some true stars of Italian cinema (Gina Lollobrigida as the Blue Fairy; Nino Manfredi as Gepetto; Ciccio Ingrassia and Franco Franchi as the Fox and the Cat). A true classic.
Claudio you FYC pieces almost convince me i'd vote for the contenders. Please use you extraordinary skill about the asian academy neglect so that a groundswell for the Minari Grandma can derail Close. Only you and other journalists can prevent an egregious Close win. As /3rtful correctly states she is one of The Inevitables, so she can win for something deserving soon! Help us Alves, you're our only hope!!!
@BVR-the film is okay. There's a delicate balance between this marvelous candy-eye world while the narrative style is quite sober.
I hope Claudio will use his noteworthy talent for a much more noble cause than write something against Glenn Close. It’s awesome that Academy could nominate a film by Matteo Garrone, possibly the most interesting Italian working director
Great make-up! I hope this movie can win.