One of My Favourite Italian YouTubers Died Last Sunday

My partner Aloha and I have a little ritual every time we finish watching a movie: we comment on what we like and dislike about it and then ask, “What would Frusciante say about this film?”  

We then go to his YouTube channel and watch his review.

Of course he recorded a review for the movie we’ve just watched. He has a review for all the movies you‘ve watched.

His passion for the seventh art was magnetic.

For 23 years, he was the owner of Videodrome, a video rental store in the city of Livorno, Tuscany. His place survived until 2022, when in a Facebook post he announced he was going to shut it down. 

Frusciante would record his YouTube videos inside the store. I’ve never been to Videodrome when it was still in business, but when I found myself in Livorno in 2024, I searched for the address and went there just to see the location I had always half-seen on my smartphone. 

It was a warm summer night. 

10 pm, the city was quiet.

“It must be this one,” I said to my brother.

“Yes, yes,” I then confirmed, “It’s this one. I recognise the location.”

There was no Videodrome sign. I looked through the glass doors. No DVDs. The place had become the office of another company. I was late. It made me sad.

I remember thinking, I wish Frusciante would pop by. How cool it’d be if he appeared from around the corner. I would meet him here, in his city!

I still can’t believe he died at 52 last Sunday, 15 February, after a sudden illness. People are now leaving comments under his last video, which he uploaded the day before his death. It’s a review of a horror film called “Martyrs” — a movie that has death in the title. How surreal.

As I’m writing this, there are over 3,500 comments on it.

I’ve translated three of them.

They’re beautiful, like Frusciante.

Please know that watching a movie with the idea of going home and not finding your review is a thought that really hurts. @m4lcom944

REMEMBER THIS MAN because he taught us what it means to have Passion, regardless of what it may be. @gabrielepierni7157

I can’t imagine coming home from the cinema without being able to listen to your “Frusciante al cinema”. 

I know I’ll miss out on so many insights that only you were able to convey, about cinema and beyond. 

There will be a before and after Federico Frusciante, I can assure you. With infinite gratitude, I will collect all your monographs little by little and continue to support cinema and the seventh art in your honor. 

Long live honesty, long live the good guys, long live Federico Frusciante. @gianmarco994

Frusciante showed up as himself. 

He was never afraid to voice his opinions. Not once. He was direct, authentic, and true. His videos were simple, spontaneous, and never contrived. No fancy editing, nothing too elaborate, definitely nothing AI-made. He broadcast himself, and his community loved him for this. I loved him for this, too.

He was open about his political orientation: left-wing — very left-wing. How come, then, that I discovered his channel thanks to a friend of mine who’s right-wing — very right-wing?

A shared passion turns differences into dust.

I didn’t always agree with his reviews. I totally disagreed with him when he said that Braveheart, my all-time favourite movie, was overrated. 

But Frusciante was an artist, and the point of making art is not to agree with each other; the point is to touch another soul by expressing what you think and feel.

Frusciante made art by talking about art. He created a body of work that has touched people and will keep doing so until his videos stay online. 

We all have that power, the power to do work that will touch another person.

A fan of Frusciante wrote this comment:

“Hi Fede, I never had the chance to meet you and thank you in person. You are the person who made me fall in love with cinema. Thank you for everything.” 

Making an emotional connection — that’s the point.

Frusciante made millions of those.

Goodbye, Federico.

I will miss you a lot.