Film taste is personal with many great critics debating the best movies ever made with some citing The Shawshank Redemption or 2001: A Space Odyssey as their ultimate picks. One clear winner stands out when it comes to mafia movies though - Martin Scorsese's Goncharov.
The 1973 movie features Robert De Niro as titular Goncharov, a Russian hitman and former discotheque manager, and is set in Naples during the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Goncharov becomes swept up in a homoerotic love triangle involving his wife Katya (Cybill Shepherd) and another man named Andrey, played by Harvey Keitel.
If you're wondering how you missed this film with the tagline "The Greatest Mafia Movie Ever Made" then it's likely it slipped under the radar due to the production issues, lack of a proper release - oh and the fact it doesn't actually exist.
In the murky internet backwater that is Tumblr, a mass movement grew as users collaborated on inventing a film so incredible that the alleged director himself is in on the joke.
Scorsese's daughter Francesca shared a TikTok of her asking the 80 year old director if he was aware of the film, to which he replied: "Yes. I made that film years ago."
The meme was sparked on Tumblr, who posted a photo of walking boots they had purchased online, which had a baffling label attached that said: "The greatest mafia movie ever made. Martin Scorsese presents Goncharov. A film by Matteo JWHJO715 about the Naples mafia."
The two year old post was then boosted into the stratosphere as Tumblr users worked together to create posters and plotlines for this tale of murder, grandfather clocks and homoerotic subtext, all totally dedicated to the illusion that Goncharov is real.
Due to the community narrative, the plot details are murky but the main thread is the love story between Goncharov and his frenemy, or perhaps lover, Andrey. Wife Katya is also very close to a woman named Sofia, who fans cast as Italian actress Sophia Loren, creating two popular ships for fans.
Another recurring character is Joseph "Ice Pick Joe" Morelli, cast as The Godfather's John Cazale, who is a vehicle for themes of childhood trauma and mental illness to be explored . This psychopathic assassin has a particular penchant for ice picks as his weapon of choice - giving him his nickname.
Throughout the film there is also a strong motif of clocks, suggesting time is running out for Goncharov who in some versions does meet his end.
The explosion in popularity is said to be spurred on when Prague based artist Alex Korotchuk created the defining poster for the film featuring all the big names fans had cast in it. The line up includes the main cast plus names like Al Pacino and Gene Hackman to round out the cast.
From critical analysis of the plot to fake entries on popular film review platform Letterbox'd, Goncharov has developed a cult following. There are over 500 fanfictions written about the movie on Archive of Our Own - some of which are an overwhelming 4,000 words long.
Lynda Carter, one of the film's cast members, has also been actively encouraging the Goncharov love on Tumblr by posting an old black and white image of herself and Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli.
The former Wonder Woman actress claimed the image was from when they were at the Goncharov premiere - this post now has over 128,000 notes.
Memes are the bread and butter of keeping the film alive and with 20,000 people following the Goncharov hashtag and many variations on the tag, most users appear to be engaging with the joke. Naysayers point out the boots are likely a misspelling of Italian film Gomorrah, which Scorsese was involved with.
Tumblr is not adverse to pulling major stunts like this, proving the site's unique ability to collaborate creatively. One prank from the height of the platform's popularity was the Mishapocalypse where a massive number of users changed their profile picture to the same photo of actor Misha Collins for April Fools.
Many have praised this bizarre display of improvisation from the site, Tumblr user anachronic-cobra said the meme "exposed several really interesting things" about the platform. One being the community feel of the site and the drive to entertain others and another was the value the userbase places on LGBTQ+ representation to the point where they create their own queer film legacy.
Other sites have embraced the meme too although not with as much fervour as the original platform. As Twitter got wind of the joke one user declared they had "never seen a joke less funny than this Goncharov s***" and some replies were complaining that Goncharov was "way off from poking fun at Scorsese’s style."
"That's what annoys me about it," replied one non-believer, "It's not a parody borne of familiarity, but more people's ideas or what they think film criticism is." Negative responses have been met with users being told to "touch grass" or to just enjoy the joke.
