Cinema Ambra [English translation]

A shirt with a cigarette hole,

and these trousers that nobody ever ironed,

a clumsily-tied necktie,

and a wristwatch running back and forth.

I’m wearing an overcoat that’s losing its buttons,

and leather shoes, but made of bollock’s hide.1

I’m wearing a perfume that I bought at the agricultural consortium

and a bracelet that I won with boeri.2

However, I have my wallet and I have my money,

and it’s Friday at last.

Here’s the ticket to enter the shadow,

and look at the screen… at cinema Ambra.

Cinema Ambra. Hey, hey.

Cinema Ambra.

Cinema.

And the film is spinning fast,

and the eyes move to try and keep up with it.

The light comes from the hole in the little room,

it brushes against the ceiling and then explodes on the canvas.

The music starts, and the title appears,

where the wall was, now there’s another world.

I’ve forgotten my dull day,

I’ve forgotten my tomorrow, which needs mending.

I want to drive on the streets of San Francisco3

in the car that Steve McQueen had,4

Together with Inspector Callahan, I want to shoot down5

those days that I don’t want on the calendar anymore.

If I can’t dance with wolves,

I’ll dance with rats, that’s better that dancing alone.6

Jessica Lange on the kitchen table,7

my heart is pounding beneath my underwear’s waistband.

However, I have my wallet and I have my money,

and it’s Friday at last.

Here’s the ticket to enter the shadow,

and look at the screen… at cinema Ambra.

Cinema Ambra. Hey, hey.

Cinema Ambra.

Cinema.

My girlfriend hasn’t gone with the wind,8

she’s gone on a Ducati with a guy from Cinisello.9

I have to bend over backwards to make ends meet,10

even Spider-Man takes lessons from me.11

I want to heal from any wound

lightning fast, just like Wolverine.12

I want to get to the end of every challenge,

balancing like Karate Kid.13

To Ringo, Rambo, Fitzcarraldo, Django,14

and Comencini, Fellini, and Tarantini,15

a sambuca drunk in Casablanca,16

the spaghetti party at the Overlook Hotel.17

I have my wallet and I have the money

that I’ve saved to get to this point.

And life, life is no longer what it seems

when the lights go out

at cinema Ambra.

1. pèl means both “skin” and “leather”.2. boero is a bonbon made of a liquor-soaked cherry covered in dark chocolate.

The most famous producer of boeri is Zàini; the Zàini boeri that you can buy at the cinema or in a bar, have always come with a prize draw, so that people who find the winning note inside the bonbon wrapping will get a prize (among the most disparate ones — a wristwatch, jewellery, a home utensil, …).3. The Streets of San Francisco is a crime TV series from the 1970s.4. Steve McQueen was a US actor and race driver. Among his most famous movies are Le Mans (featuring a Porsche 917) and Bullitt (featuring a Ford Mustang).5. Inspector Callahan is the main character of the eponymous series of crime movies from the 1970s-80s; he was played by Clint Eastwood.6. Dances with Wolves is a 1990 movie with Kevin Costner playing a Union Army Lieutenant who ends up living with Native Americans, and learns to appreciate and respect them.

Stealing Beauty (in Italian Io ballo da sola {I dance alone}) is a 1996 movie about an American girl who’s sent to Siena, Italy, and there she finds her own way and become a woman.

It might also be a reference to the proverb “Quando il gatto non c’è, i topi ballano” {when the cat is away, the mice dance} = when the cat’s away, the mice will play.7. In The Postman Always Rings Twice (the 1981 movie), there’s a famous, rough sex scene between Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson, on her kitchen table.8. Gone with the Wind is a 1939 romance film.9. Ducati is an Italian motorbike manufacturer.

Cinisello Balsamo is a municipality of Milan, northern Italy, not far from lake Como, around which gravitate many of the stories narrated by Van de Sfroos’s songs.10. Literally “[I have to make] such acrobatics to get to the end of the month”.

Salaries are usually paid at the end of the month, so your salary needs to last till the end of the next month, or you’ll run out of money.11. Spider-Man, is a comic books superhero who has great acrobatic skills, which he uses to move through the city and chase after criminals, aided by the synthetic cobwebs he can shoot from his wrists.12. Wolverine is a comic books superhero who possesses an “X-gene” allowing him to heal almost instantly from wounds and mutilations.13. The Karate Kid is a movie series whose main characters are teenagers learning a martial art through the lessons and challenges of an old teacher (for instance, a balancing challenge while standing on a boat).14. A Pistol for Ringo and The Return of Ringo are Italian western movies.

Rambo is an action movie series.

Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 movie whose protagonist goes on an epic journey on the Amazon River.

Django is a series of Italian western movies (the original one by Sergio Corbucci, in 1966; then other “unofficial” ones, as well as Django Unchained by Tarantino, in 2012).15. Luigi Comencini is an Italian director; among his works are the movie Bread, Love and Dreams and the TV series The Adventures of Pinocchio.

Federico Fellini is an Italian director; among his works are La dolce vita and Amarcord.

Michele Massimo Tarantini is an Italian director; among his works are the “Italian-style sexy comedies” L’insegnante al mare con tutta la classe {The teacher at the beach with the whole class} and Confessions of a Lady Cop.16. Sambuca is an Italian anise-flavoured liqueur.

Casablanca is a 1942 romantic-drama film in which various key scenes take place in the protagonist’s club in Casablanca, Morocco. Among them is the one when Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart) is having a drink in his club, after the closing hours, while Sam is playing the piano; the drink was actually a gin, not a sambuca.17. The Overlook Hotel is the mountain hotel where the horror movie The Shining takes place.

The movie features no spaghetti party, nor any other eating scene; so, it might be a reference to the Italian-style western movies, which were called “spaghetti western”.

• Artist:Davide Van de Sfroos