A vibrant community celebrating the prominent achievements of Italian cinema — from Neorealism to the present.
69 posts in Drama
Five years after his masterpiece, Miracolo a Milano – Miracle in Milan (1951), director Vittorio De Sica with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, return to a familiar neorealist theme – social troubles of a young couple, played by unprofessional actors, facing a housing problem during Italy’s economic boom.
Stories about the common man emphasizing social issues, scenes shot in actual locations, and the use of non-professional actors – are the key ingredients of the Neorealist film movement in postwar Italy, which this film is one of its prominent expressions.
Right from the opening scene where you see the village women all veiled in black waiting patiently outside the mine for their husbands who refuse to come up to avoid the mine closing – you see direct similarities with another Neorealism harbinger – Visconti’s 1948 La terra trema (The Earth Trembles). Both films offer a great view into the Italian neorealism genre marked by social and economic hardships, use of non-professional actors and scenes shot on location vs. the studio.
New magistrate arrives, and old one departs.
In this film Giuseppe Piccioni returns to familiar themes of alienation and the decline of modern family structures, the resulting need for companionship and our value system that wraps it all in good and bad labels. The film's 3 protagonists: Giulia, Guido and their swimming pool.
If you think what made Neorealism successful; a genuine blend of non-professional actors, shots on location, themes of social hardships and “objectively” journalistic camera – served to post-war Italian audiences that must have said “yea this is exactly what we’ve gone through!” and then went on garnering a worldwide admiration.
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 rush of economic growth that is characterized by increased consumerism and self-indulgence – a far cry from the agricultural society from which it sprung. An excellent study of opposite facial expressions.
This Oscar-winning masterpiece was originally titled “La Bella Confusione” (The Nice Confusion) and was made in six months against the backdrop of the early 60’s Economic Miracle (Boom Economico) in which Italy experienced substantial economic growth. This period of prosperity on one hand also added confusion and identity crisis as Italian society transformed from agricultural to industrial focus with heavy consumerism. Fellini explored this transition from old family values to the shallow modern indulgence three years earlier in another Oscar winner - La Dolce Vita –The Good Life (1960). Luisa Anselmi played by Anouk Aimée.
With a mysteriously enchanting soundtrack by Nicola Piovani and a black raven donned with a chiming bell flying over the timeless medieval villages perched defiantly on the mountains of Girgenti on the southern coast of Sicily – the brothers Taviani weave together five tales based on novels by 1934 Nobel prize in Literature laureate, Luigi Pirandello.
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 the elasticity of the “family unity” concept. Brotherly showdown.
It’s part of the trio short movies proposed by Per Fiducia, the project already described in the review of Il Premio.
Writing about this film, I decided not to talk about the plot, actors, angles, the director personal story-drivers and focus on just one aspect.
Several days ago we saw Cinema Paradiso at the House of Italy. Clearly the film centers on the relationship of projectionist Alfredo with Salvatore (Toto), both as child and as adolescent. A question that always comes back to me is why Alfredo insists so forcefully that the adolescent Salvatore leave and never return and never contact him again. Equally critical is the question why does Salvatore listen to Alfredo.
I have tried so much to get your picture Victor. Yes Nanni Moretti is perfectly flat as that particular character should be. But there is something missing. Nanni Moretti is flat full stop. Which is different. Nanni Moretti is flat on his own, and his acting is forced, almost theatric, because the actor is not there. His flatness does not reach me. He is desperate yes, looking for his pain. That he can’t find. His pain is all left to the noises.
In tune with the tough economic times these days, the film explores the impact of a job loss on a middle class family in Genoa.
Do you believe dreams can come true?
Ever wondered what started the Oscar for Best Foregin Language Film category? It was Shoeshine, Vittorio De Sica's fifth film that initially received a Special Academy Award in 1948 and two years later for his masterpiece The Bicycle Thief.
Known as the father of neorealism in Italian cinema, specifically due to his widely acclaimed masterpiece, Rome Open City - Roma, città aperta (1945), in this film director Roberto Rossellini continues his theme of personal human stories embedded in the rough realities of Italy during WWII.
This cinematic masterpiece was filmed in Rome during the summer of 1942 before the Nazis arrival in October that started the occupation and devastation in the city. That's why Rome in this film looks very clean, normal and tranquil - the serenity before the war storms broke out. Stylistically, the film belongs to the Transitional genre in Italian cinema that occured before the Neorealism. It's considered a melodrama and to some extent a response to the sugar-coated Hollywoodian cinema of that period.
To me this film is a fine example of the power of good storytelling without the need for special effects and pyrotechnics in order to engage audiences. The premise is simple, a lesbian couple returns from a vacation in Tunis and to their great surprise discover a Moroccan guy hidden in their car, with a wish for a better life in Europe. Anna (Maria de Medeiros) the wealthy and more mature decides to help Anis (Mounir Ouadi) against the wish of her young and restless partner, Mara (Antonia Liskova).
Open wide spaces of panoramic desert views, soldiers perched high on their guard in an ancient, semi destructed fortress, waiting for an unseen enemy - the tartars - that for years and years never comes. Despite this inactivity, there is a total obedience to rules and regulations in the face of a non-existent enemy, which at times creates social frictions as one fellow soldier forgets the day's password and get shot by the sentry.
From Los Angeles Independent Festival in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.
Rejection, alienation, and total abandonment staged in a bleak winter in the Poe valley with constant use of gray landscapes, barren trees, foggish rain and lots of mud all the actors negotiate their way in - provide an apt juxtaposition between the emotional and the physical realities in this masterpiece by Antonioni.
Through the story of Emilio, a young carabiniere sent to a Sardinian village for its military training, the director Pietro Sanna gives us a picture of this culture that seems unchanged over the centuries.
Known as the father of the Neorealist film movement with his emblematic masterpiece Rome Open City – Roma Citta’ Aperta (1945), Roberto Rossellini in 1950 decides to change direction. Seeing the role of cinema as mirroring a constantly evolving reality, he believes Italy has changed and there is no reason for producing more films about rough realities placed in bombarded cities. Italy in the early 1950’s is going through reconstruction that dramatically affects the fabric of society.
You better leave now if you want to catch this train.
Is Italian cinema dead?
Where have you been during winter 1946?
This is the last film of Fellini’s second triliogy that started with La Strada (1954) and Il Bidone (1955). A trilogy dedicated to themes of people living on the margins of society (street dancer, swindler and a prostitute) that despite their rough lives eventually experience radical life change, call it redemption.
Sunday October 13, 2007 Cinemasud continues its path.
Friday October 11, 2007
The latest film by director Emanuele Crialese (who also did 2002 Respiro) is a fine example of modern Italian cinema at its best - amazing photography, supported by clever screenplay and pounding soundtrack that will keep you relishing the experience days after watching.
In one of the greatest accomplishments of the Neorealist film movement, Vittorio De Sica dedicates this film to his father and effectively captures the grim life of the elderly in post-war Italy.
Marco Bellocchio, Italy’s second generation of film directors after WW2, highly influenced by the British cinema, provides in his film debut a counter and radical approach to the bourgeois family values, religion and the Neo-realism movement.
Rainy dark streets, unfulfilled love, alienated ambience, restless camera movement and mimialistic soundtrack come together here in Michelangelo Antonioni’s first full-length feature film.
In this masterpiece classic director Francesco Rositells the story of Salvatore Giuliano, a famous Sicilian gangster that during the mid-40’s collaborated with a Sicilian separatist group, Movement for the Independence of Sicily (MIS), with close ties to the Mafia engaging with small-scale attacks on government and police targets.
I consider this movie a masterpiece. Starting from the photography. The seppia/monocolor gives an impressive touch of visual art. I could spend 5 minutes observing each frame. And every single object, profile, thing, is just perfect. Do you remember when everybody leaves, and Sofia is sitting alone at the messed up table in the kitchen? what a picture. All those things. The cups, the comic-strip, the box where she put the left overs. And when she collect and drinks the leftover caffellatte from the cups. How can you think about some daily gestures like these.
The mother’s death gathers together the three brothers back to their youth home. Raffaele (Philip Noiret), the oldest, a successful famous judge, from Rome. Nicola (Michele Placido), a blue collar active in the union movement, dealing with his marriage crisis. Rocco, reserved and spontaneous, dedicated to help children in a correctional institute.
Do you see your friends as sources of support or anxiety?
Session Winter 2007. Last movie.
Franco Elica, a famous movie director, accidentally in Sicily, has been given the job by the Prince of Gravina, to shoot the movie of his daughter’s wedding.
The key ingredients of this film include: Academy award winner director GiuseppeTornatore; international debut of bombshell Monica Belluci; coming of age story of a young boy in a small Sicilian village during World War II; and the timeless music of Maestro Ennio Morricone.
Do your memories carry a soundtrack?
The characters and events shown are imaginary The social and environmental context is real.
Take a close look at the this picture. What do you think is happening?
First time’s a charm may be an old cliché, but there is something fresh and original to creating something for the first time that is clean from preconceptions and risk of repetitions. Not always. Yet, this charmingly sensitive film, which marks the debut of Gianni Di Gregorio as a director, represents one of the pleasant surprises. In fact, Di Gregorio won the 2009 David di Donatello Award for Best New Director (Migliore Regista Esordiente). And this is important as prior to this film, Di Gregorio typically served as an actor and writer collaborating with Director Matteo Garrone on notable films such as 2004 First Love and 2008 Gomorrah.
Can a social class gap prevent two people from having a relationship? According to Pupi Avati’s highly-acclaimed film Incantato – no for a while, but then again yes in 1920’s Bologna.
I had no particular expectations from this film. I believe a film synopsis has this ingrained tendency to misrepresent sometimes. In this film Bernardo Bertolucci takes you to his early days in cinema, during the tumultuous late 60’s. It’s highly experimental, with erratic jump cuts, inconsistent plot line, political propaganda (Free Vietnam!) and occasional stylistic scenes that stand aloof just because of their aesthetics. A memorable scene is the giant shadow on a building that kicks away a smaller shadow of the main character.
This was the first film we saw in our House of Italy series. The series' producers (myself & two friends) spent a bit of time deciding what should be their first film & chose this one not only for its filmic qualities but also because it was about movie-making. It wasn't until after our discussion that I began to realize it was really about making honest art, not just STARS.
Individualism vs. determinism is it truly up to the individual to change his destiny or is it all predetermined?
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:
It's August in Rome and it seems like the whole town has a single mission – go to the beach! You can watch this charming, time-capsule of a movie below (76 minutes, no English subtitles, though).
Have plans for New Year? Not yet? Well…now you do!
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 about the film and 2) they’re all in a tweet bite size (140 characters), so any piece you particularly like, you can easily share on Twitter by simple copy & paste.
One of my favorite delights, as you could imagine, is attending film festivals, preferably in Italy. And when I have a chance load up with ton of books. I try to buy either the latest Italian bestsellers or books about some of my favorite Italian directors.
“Unlikely Combinations” may be considered one of the most effective recipes to drive engagement in arts.
It’s June, so that means it’s time for Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2013 at New York’s Lincoln Film Society. It’s a fantastic annual festival that brings some of the freshest voices in Italian Cinema, thus breaking the chain for the typical crop of old classics that some Italian cinema fests tend to focus on. Excellent capture of the film essence, the towering family; always worried, always caring.
It’s amazing that a year has just passed and it’s already June and time for Lincoln Center’s excellent series: Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2012. I attended last year and enjoyed the fresh lineup; I reviewed a few. Director Marina Spada during Q&A session.
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 against the backdrop of Italian Unification events: individual vs. collective story lines.
Waiting for first screening of "L'isola dell'angelo caduto" by Carlo Lucarelli @ Rome Film Festival.
This movie is a portrait of the lifestyle and human attitude that is typical of Roman society: decadent, indolent and insolent - if you allow me to express these words also in English.
In this classic Italian comedy director Antonio Pietrangeli juxtaposes extra indulgence with absurdity as key ingredients that drive rich couple from northern city Brescia to completely lose it. Claudia Cardinale and Ugo Tognazzi.
Are you a Yankee fan? A Madonna die-hard? Or better yet a Justin Bieber's zealot?
Master Conflict: a prostitute was killed in Paolino park in Rome.
In this film, Francesco Rosi tells the story of painter Carlo Levi, an anti-fascist activist that was arrested in Turin in 1935 and was sent by Mussolini to the remote town of Gagliano (invented name) - in what is known today as Basilicata.
These days I have roughly an hour commute time between 8AM-9AM, so I find myself spending the time listening to Italian live radio broadcast (thank you TuneIn Radio app). This is one of the blessings of broadband streaming; your views and surroundings are rooted in the US, but your real-time soundtrack is coming from elsewhere – in this case, Italy.
Do you remember your first job interview and your mom protectively cautioning you, don’t mess up this could be a great opportunity, practically work for life? Or an important exam you took at school and the following stress afterwards when your friends commenting - that was easy (no it wasn't!), prodding you the correct answer was 24, right?
It’s that time of the year, an absolute treat. I am obviously talking about the annual Italian Cinema festival, Open Roads, that takes place every June at Lincoln Film Center. It’s a rare opportunity to get access to some of the freshest voices in Italian cinema with veteran as well as new surprises. This year, unfortunately, I was not able to attend all the films I had planned, part of the reason is that some were scheduled midweek during business hours and that was tough – a note for organizers.
It's that great excitement you get when you come across a truly rewarding film by a director you have never seen much of his work when everything seems to work exactly how you'd want it to be. And Mafioso by Neorealist director, Alberto Lattuada is simply that perfectly fun film. It's the same sad story, these cinematic gems have limited distribution anywhere and are hard to come by. Unless the film is within the programming roadmap of the great people at The Criterion Collection, which is the case here.
