"Sconfort Zone" is uncharted terrain for Maccio Capatonda

Sconfort Zone, the new series by Maccio Capatonda on Prime Video from March 20, will make you uncomfortable because the comedian himself is. Marcello Macchia, the birth name of the actor and author from Chieti, is experiencing a creative block while he must deliver a project to an important producer. He decides to think outside the box to complete his work. The show is different from what Maccio has offered his fans and enthusiasts so far because he metaphorically kills off the characters that made him famous, just as he demonstrated in the promotional trailer with his usual sharp irony. In the series, the protagonist-showrunner agrees to follow the unconventional advice of a well-known therapist, played in fiction by Giorgio Montanini. To regain inspiration, Maccio must do everything he was never used to—or rather, things that even scare him. From the idea of death to failure, from professional disappointment to sentimental disillusionment, the psychologist urges the character/real person to step out of his placid and cushioned existence in order to rediscover, indeed, discomfort. The only and authentic fuel for the comedian’s artistic sustenance, which he will do anything to regain.

Addicted to the need to fill the blank page, the protagonist takes the viewer on a journey that even introduces a double narrative level, going beyond the simple concept of meta-television and becoming a story that writes itself as it unfolds on the screen. A journey into oneself that, at times, can feel like a descent into hell—the same hells that Capatonda must face during the trials assigned to him by the eccentric doctor, while a subplot keeps the audience on edge. Nothing is as it seems, and Maccio transports the audience into an uncomfortable and unusual dimension that his fans were not accustomed to. Yet, there is something equally familiar in the show, especially when the character opens up, baring his soul directly to his audience, perhaps intrigued and suspicious in front of such a hybrid and imperfect object. It is incredibly close to the sharp and surreal comedy of the public figure, who this time draws from his private life to tell a story about himself and his art.

Sconfort Zone is a project not to be underestimated. Maccio Capatonda’s classic humor blends with writing that, while blocked for the character on screen, is more vibrant than ever as it expands episode after episode over six installments. It features recurring elements that shape a linear narrative, and it is this continuity—as well as the constant revisiting of clues scattered throughout the episodes—that makes the show as intriguing as its comedic flair. The narrative structure of Sconfort Zone is the strongest and most solid aspect of a product with an innovative yet almost phantasmagorical cinematic essence, worthy of cult status. It is no coincidence that Maccio/Marcello’s favorite movie is Back to the Future, which he knows by heart, having even redubbed all the characters himself in the past. Back to the Future also appears in one scene where we enter the childhood bedroom of the young protagonist, revealing ten VHS tapes of Robert Zemeckis’ film—because they didn’t have the rights for the poster. Absurd, incomprehensible, yet ultimately crystal clear: a nonsense and therapeutic self-analysis session. Sconfort Zone is the series that will make you uncomfortable. Because sometimes, discomfort simply needs to be embraced.