Rocco e i suoi fratelli – Rocco and his Brothers (Luchino Visconti – 1960)

It’s a story told many times of a family that leaves home to find a better life elsewhere.  In this masterpiece Visconti overlays this basic premise in Italy of the Economic Boom of early 60’s, the cultural dissonant emerging from a Southern family from Lucania trying to assimilate in big city Milan, and above all… Continue reading Rocco e i suoi fratelli – Rocco and his Brothers (Luchino Visconti – 1960)

The Orange Thief (Vinnie Angel, Boogie Dean, Arthur Wilinski – 2007)

Have you ever been impressed by someone’s accomplishment and rationalized it by instinctively pulling out the usual excuses such as oh that most likely took lots of experience, money, contacts and anything else that you can come up with to sooth your ego and inaction? The reality is that we’re all doing it all the… Continue reading The Orange Thief (Vinnie Angel, Boogie Dean, Arthur Wilinski – 2007)

Independence

In-line with Independence Day here in the US, I figured it’s a good opportunity to deconstruct the concept of independence and throw it against Italian cinema backdrop. You can never know what you’ll find. When we speak of independence you can literally place it in wide range of contexts; from emotional, financial, political, to physical.… Continue reading Independence

The Slow Match – La partita lenta (Paolo Sorrentino – 2009)

It’s part of the trio short movies proposed by Per Fiducia, the project already described in the review of Il Premio. This is an intense shot on reality. When we say the eloquence of silence. He makes the silence speak. Slowly, sweetly, deeply. Black and white, and we are already into a poem. Every single… Continue reading The Slow Match – La partita lenta (Paolo Sorrentino – 2009)

The Award – Il premio (Ermanno Olmi – 2009)

This short film is part of “Per Fiducia” (“Through Trust”), an ambitious project that unites three award-winning directors Ermanno Olmi, Gabriele Salvatores, and Paolo Sorrentino in cooperation with Intessa Sanpaolo – to answer a simple, yet timely question: Can movies, as mirrors to reality, change it and give hope, especially in dark moments? The answer… Continue reading The Award – Il premio (Ermanno Olmi – 2009)