#joe morelli

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: Goncharov

Sample Size: 755 stories

Source: AO3

[lukia26]

You’re a damn fool, Katya. There is no escape. | Goncharov (1973) 

[icepick-jackalope]

The fact that Joe Morelli is so minor that every poster identifies him by his weapon and yet his themes ARE the films themes, the fact that he's playing the stereotypical 'one last job' career killer but with actual depth because dammit he loves and is fundamentally unable to say no to goncharov, the fact that his theme has leitmotifs from katyas and andreys because he, on the basest level, mirrors their unwillingness to say no to the beastly man that made them all who they are (for better and for worse, in sickness and in health), the fact that he - as one of our two actually italian characters in this italian mob film - is killed on the steps of the cathedral he was married in (cmon you guys why are you sleeping on the intersection of faith and deceit), the fact that it was his father in laws fucking ice pick-

[superbeans89]

More Goncharov Valentine’s cards, this time featuring Ice-Pick Joe

[friendofthecrows]

I made playlists for the Goncharov characters btw (some of them anyways)

(Not soundtrack playlists just normal playlists based on vibes and such)

[bossboo]

[inlovewithquotes]

"From the look on your face, I'd say you know him."

I nodded. "Sold him a cannoli when I was in high school."

Connie grunted. "Honey, half of all the women in New Jersey have sold him their cannoli."

-One For The Money

[limegreenmonkey]

I know I’m late to the party, but I couldn’t not draw Icepick Joe.

[ya-boiiiii]

[alpacinoinheat]

the question about how ice pick joe got his nickname has finally been answered.

[beelzeebub]

May I humbly request more about Joe and Mario's relationship?

Sorry for the late reply! I'm little busy with commissions rn so I didn't have time to expand the lore yet. I'm just gonna copy what I already wrote (you've probably read it though). More lore is def coming in the future! :))) Mario and Ice Pick Joe grew up together in Sicily and were both very poor. They are not related but share somewhat of a brotherly bond. Joe’s darker side started to show from a very early age. He loved to kill and dissect small animals which sometimes freaked up Mario (although he never judged him for his impulses). Joe also talked about joining mafia from an early age, it seemed like a natural thing to do. He never imagined himself as anything else than a criminal. Mario is academically very smart. Joe often said to him that someone this smart could go study and make something of himself through honest job. But Mario was a very cynical person from an early age and thought that the only way people like them can escape poverty is through dishonest means. Also, Joe is just a joy to be around (if you’re not the animal or a person he’s dissecting), he’s funny, great cook, loves music, unassuming but charismatic. And it’s not just a front, he really is like that, he has two sides, one of them is very dark. Mario, as smart as he is, lacks the charisma and is aware of that. He is brooding and sulking and cynical. Lacks the social capital … and friends (except for Joe of course). He also likes to go to casinos and gamble, not because he needs the money, but he likes winning and he likes the fact that other people’s social status can’t help them there. He’d never admit this to you but he secretly wants friends and wants to be liked but he is just so goddamn unlikable to the majority of people that no amount of wealth can help him with that. Mario was also always ashamed of his humble origin. When the two of them joined the crime world, they joined Andrey’s crime ring. Joe is very loyal to Andrey because he sees him as someone who gave him a chance and saved him from poverty. Joe became Andrey’s best hitman and is free to act on his darkest impulses. Mario became Andrey’s accountant, handling money. But unlike Joe, Mario resents Andrey because Andrey is a big classist and often and not so subtly lets Mario know that he would be nothing without him. In the story, Mario befriends Goncharov (the met in a casino) and will have to decide whether he betrays his boss or not. And will he be able to convince his best friend Joe to work against a man he is very loyal to?

[the-lions-mouth]

in my mind, ice pick joe and sophia are siblings who were semi-adopted by mario’s family when they were children, a la tom hagen and sonny coreleone. but less adopted than tom hagen was. more employees. and now sophia works for mario as the honey trap lmao and ice pick joe is the hitman. also mario and sophia are fake dating to make mario seem older and like he has his life together (he doesn’t) 

[cvnningboy]

ice pic joe is transmasc is just was never mentioned bc it wasnt relevant to the story

[friendofthecrows]

You see, having multiple script writers really helps balance the script out because MY specialest blorbo is Ice Pick Joe, but he's supposed to be a side character, but thankfully I do not write all the scenes.

(And I can show self restraint. But only a little. Thankfully I'm also the type to make my favorite poor little meow meows suffer so he doesn't get special treatment (positive) from the narrative.)

[korkiekenobiconfirmed]

Okay so I found a casino deleted scene between Andrey and Katya on youtube (here) and the whole thing is just...perfect. I can't express enough how frustrated I am that it never made it into the final cut. (I suggest watching the scene before reading this post btw, it'll make more sense)

The way the opening shot is a roulette game?!? Because the visually a roulette table is similar to a clock but it's still so different. Goncharov's (indeed, all the characters') clocks are slowly counting down throughout the entire movie: inescapable, inexorable fate. But with the roulette table? There's always hope, there's always as much a chance you end up in the red as the black, and Andrey and Katya's interactions in this scene seemed more optimistic than any other point in the movie.

The lighting was honestly so beautiful. The scene was originally set right around when Andrey's beginning to fall out of favor with Goncharov, when that childhood bond is no longer enough to keep them side by side the way they should be, and for the most part Andrey's hidden in shadow. Meanwhile the casino lights, bright and multicolored, just light up Katya's face so brilliantly, hiding her flaws and highlighting her beauty. The way it all reflects in Andrey's one good eye while keeping him in darkness is also very telling... he covets Katya because she's the closest he can ever really come to having Goncharov, but in the end he'll never truly be what they are to each other.

The way Katya says Sofia's name with such goddamn gentleness was like an icepick to the heart.

When Andrey asked "How do you mourn that which you have never known?" and Katya replied "You cannot. Shedding a tear for the false memories you've spun yourself is hypocrisy of the worst kind." THE YEARNING WITH THESE TWO IS KILLING ME PLS

Speaking of good quotes... when Katya mentions how mild Naples winters are compared to Russia and Andrey just gives her that knowing little look and goes, "You've always loved the unforgiving touch of the cold" LIKE am I crazy or was he talking about Sofia? It's hinted at multiple times that he knows about everything between Sofia and Katya, but he never really says for sure.

At the 2:37 mark there's a guy in the background who looks like Mario? Was it actually him or am I making things up?? What would he have even been doing there???

Can any talented artists pls pls pls do film/lighting studies of this scene? I would ~kill~ to see such beautiful cinematography brought to a different artistic medium