Abstract

Gabriele Mainetti is regarded as one of the most prominent Italian directors in contemporary genre cinema. Rather than replicating the American style, Mainetti’s films embody a distinct aesthetic that blends «modern» elements within the present milieu, as he engages in a dialectic between reality and imagination that challenges its own reference models, particularly superhero movies, in order to explore profound questions about human experience, societal dynamics, and personal struggles. In the face of a genre-driven aesthetic, his cinema seems to primarily revive a typically neorealist ethic in the contemporary context, exploring the human condition and its vulnerabilities through the lens of the superheroic imaginary