Salve ragazzi,
Oh boy, I have a good one for you today! ‘Security’ is available on Netflix and it’s a DO NOT MISS.
Security has two non-Italian components: It’s based on a book by the talented American author Stephen Amidon. You remember him; he wrote the book on which Paolo Virzì based Il Capitale Umano (Human Capital).
(Please tell me you’ve watched Il Capitale Umano. It’s SO good!)
Also, the director is Peter Chelsom, the British director who did one of my favorite American rom-coms, Serendipity!
But the rest of it: ALL ITALIAN. The cast is amazing, but the casting was even amazinger. (Note to you readers for whom English is not your first language: Amazinger is not a word. I mean to say, whoever did the casting did a really brilliant job 😄.) Marco D’Amore, Maya Sansa, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, and Silvio Muccino have never been better, and all play against type in ways that are very cool.
I read Security, the book, way back when (it was published in 2009), and though I remembered the story, I COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME remember how it ended! That turned out to be lucky for me, because I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out “Whodunnit”. And it’s such a fun whodunnit! There are no red herrings and everyone’s a suspect.
The minute I finished watching Security, I texted Stephen, gushing about it. He reminded me that the whole thing was filmed right before the Covid meltdown in Italy; they wrapped literally days before Italy went into lockdown for the first time last March 2020. Stephen put me in touch with Peter Chelsom, and we are scheduled to talk about making this American novel into an Italian movie this week. (So stay tuned.)
In the meantime, watch the movie!
And read the book!
And Guess What I Watched Last Night…
I FINALLY got the chance to see Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Miss Marx! I hope you, as well, took the opportunity to see it FOR FREE, thanks to the Istituto Italiano di Cultura - Chicago.
You have only until tomorrow, 1:00 PM CT, to take advantage of Chicago’s generosity! Don’t miss out!
Nicchiarelli takes a few (fun) liberties with the daring, socialist trailblazer’s story. The youngest daughter of Karl Marx couldn’t have danced to punk rock music, not having been invented yet, and all, but I’ll bet she would have loved it if it had been.
I went all out fact checking after finishing the film, but then thought better of it. This movie isn’t a History Channel biography. It’s an eye popping introduction for those of us who know nothing about Eleanor Marx.
I love your feedback! Let me know if you enjoy these films. Alla prossima!
Un bacione,
Cheri
America’s Cheerleader For Italian Cinema