Individualism vs. determinism is it truly up to the individual to change his destiny or is it all predetermined? Anna Magnani in an emotion explosion In his second film Mamma Roma, Pier Paolo Pasolini is constantly moving between these two extreme poles. The story, brings about Pasolini’s typical characters on the margins of life as [...]

As Italy celebrates its 150th year of unification (aka Risoregimento) this year, the Lincoln Film Society in New York chose to include this masterpiece by Alessandro Blasetti as part of their current festival: Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. I attended the screening and here are some of my impressions. Carmelo and Rosuzza his wife reunited [...]

With the spirit of experimentalism Antonioni was known for as exhibited in this film that serves part of his existential trilogy – I figured we could try a new post format today. Interested? Well read on. The following paragraphs will all have two common characteristics: 1) they all answer a simple question; what I liked [...]

Labeled as the first Italian road trip movie and hallmark of the Italian comedy (Commedia all’italiana) genre, director Dino Risi provides an alarming prophecy for the future of Italy during the prosperous early 60’s of what is typically referred to as the Italian Economic Miracle (Boom Economico). This is Italy after WWII that experienced a [...]

When you think about what makes a film a masterpiece, beyond the usual suspects like clever script, believable acting or memorable soundtrack – what I believe worked extremely well for post-war Italian cinema is the historical context. For the neorealism genre it supplied ample stories of hardships told by non-professional actors in actual locations with [...]