Italy

  • Paolo Genovese – Perfetti sconosciuti AKA Perfect Strangers (2016)

    2011-2020ComedyDramaItalyPaolo Genovese

    Synopsis:
    Seven long-time friends get together for a dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email and phone call they receive, many secrets start to unveil and the equilibrium trembles.Read More »

  • Pietro Marcello – La bocca del lupo AKA The Mouth of the Wolf (2009)

    Documentary2001-2010ItalyPietro MarcelloQueer Cinema(s)

    Quote:
    There’s magic and mastery aplenty in “The Wolf’s Mouth,” a docu-fiction hybrid that represents a breathtakingly impressive debut from Pietro Marcello. Though running a bare-minimum feature length of 70 minutes (six shorter than the press notes and Berlinale catalog claim), it packs multiple layers and subjects into its densely intricate but enticingly accessible structure. A highly unusual love story between a macho ex-con and a transsexual former drug-addict, it’s also an exploration and celebration of their home city of Genoa, delicately examining the past’s interactions with the present.Read More »

  • Nino Oxilia – Rapsodia satanica aka Satan’s Rhapsody (1915)

    1911-1920ItalyNino OxiliaSilentThe Birth of Cinema

    Quote:
    Rapsodia Satanica (1915) was the last film directed by Nino Oxilia and is undoubtedly one of the finest achievements of the early Italian cinema. In it, Oxilia spins a variation on the Faust myth, embodied here by the diva Lyda Borelli. Typical of extravagant D’Annunzian aestheticism at its height, Rapsodia Satanica was one of the summits of what was later called the “tail coat film.” Diametrically opposed to the “cinema of reality” practiced by Serena, Martoglio and others, “tail coat films” set their melodramatic stories in the salons and villas of the upper middle class and the aristocracy, deploying narrative structures contrived to showcase their actors and especially its actresses. This had the effect of accentuating their physical presence and turning them into stars – probably the first stars in movie history. The success of the “dive” contributed to the development of motion picture grammar in its special use of the close-up.
    Written by Anthony KobalRead More »

  • Lamberto Bava & Mario Bava – “I giochi del diavolo” La Venere d’Ille AKA The Venus of Ille (1979)

    1971-1980HorrorItalyLamberto BavaMario BavaTV

    Wealthy landowner Mr. De Peyhorrade uncovers a bronze statue of Venus on his property. Afterwards, De Peyhorrade asks an antique expert, named Matthew, from another village to examine the statue and confirm its wealth. Upon arrival, Matthew is striken with love by Clara, Mr. De Peyhorrade’s daughter-in-law, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the statue.Read More »

  • Michele Soavi – Deliria aka StageFright: Aquarius (1987)

    1981-1990HorrorItalyMichele Soavi

    Plot Synopsis by Robert Firsching
    Horror film actor Michele Soavi’s directorial debut was this stylish giallo thriller about an escaped lunatic terrorizing the cast of a stage musical who get locked in a theater after dark. David Brandon, Barbara Cupisti, and perennial victim Giovanni Lombardo Radice (aka “John Morghen”) lead the cast, most of whom spend their time sniping at each other with amusingly typical backstage cruelty. The murder scenes are the film’s primary attraction, artfully handled by Soavi in setpieces such as a blue-lighted stage strewn with feather-covered bodies. Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa… AKA Sandra of a Thousand Delights (1965)

    1961-1970ClassicsDramaItalyLuchino Visconti

    Visconti’s retelling of the Electra story starts with Sandra/Electra (Cardinale) returning to her ancestral home in Italy – and reviving an intimate involvement with her brother (Sorel) which troubles her naive American husband (Craig) – on the eve of an official ceremony commemorating the death of her Jewish father in a Nazi concentration camp. As ever with Visconti, he is ambivalently drawn to the decadent society he is ostensibly criticising; and Armando Nannuzzi’s camera lovingly caresses the creaking old mansion, set in a landscape of crumbling ruins, where the incestuous siblings determine to wreak revenge on the mother (Bell) and stepfather (Ricci) who supposedly denounced their father. Something like a Verdi opera without the music, the result may not quite achieve tragedy, but it looks marvellous. The title, culled from a poem by Leopardi, has been better rendered as ‘Twinkling Stars of the Bear’.Read More »

  • Gianfranco Parolini – Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte AKA If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968)

    1961-1970ActionEuro WesternsGianfranco ParoliniItalyWestern

    Synopsis:
    After a stagecoach is robbed and the passengers murdered, a long and tangled series of surprise attacks a murderous double-crosses leaves the coach’s strongbox in the hands of the killer Lasky. It is up to the legendary hero Sartana to track down the missing money and determine just who is ultimately behind the grisly robberies and killings.Read More »

  • Alice Rohrwacher – Corpo celeste (2011)

    2011-2020Alice RohrwacherDramaItaly

    13 year old Marta who is struggling to resettle to the south of Italy after ten years growing up in Switzerland. Bright-eyed and restless, she observes the sights, sounds and smells of the city but feels very much an outsider. Marta is about to undergo the rite of confirmation and she takes catechism but confronts the morality of the local Catholic community. From experiencing her period to making a bold decision to cut her hair, Marta begins to shape her own life for the first time since moving back to Italy. –Quinzaine des RéalisateursRead More »

  • Paolo Sorrentino – Il divo – La spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti AKA Il Divo (2008)

    2001-2010DramaItalyPaolo SorrentinoPolitics

    Quote:
    The story of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti, who has served as Prime Minister of Italy seven times since the restoration of democracy in 1946.

    Roger Ebert wrote:
    They would seem to be opposites, but on the basis of two recent films, the longtime Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and the longtime fashion emperor Valentino were surprisingly similar. Both are seen as intensely private, rarely happy, single-minded in pursuit of their ambitions, cool in their personal relationships, and ruling as if by divine right. A difference is that Valentino was never accused of criminal activities.Read More »

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