Salve ragazzi,
Italians have such tender hearts. That’s a broad generalization, but it’s true enough that it not only continues to amaze me but constantly makes me feel bad about myself. My inclination is to assign blame, and theirs is to have compassion for everyone, particularly the disadvantaged.
Example: Talking to director Michele Vannucci about his movie Delta.
Delta is such a cool movie about an area of Italy that I knew NOTHING about, the Po River Delta. If you didn’t hear them speaking Italian, you’d think the action was being played out in Mississippi or Arkansas, but in a way, that’s the whole point. Poor, working-class people’s struggles are universal, and people in other regions of the world aren’t so different from us. In this movie, they are trying to keep their heads above water in a muddy river delta.
Delta stars Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessandro Borghi; Lo Cascio is Osso, the earnest local game warden who has volunteered in the fight to stop over-fishing, and Borghi is Elia, the poacher. The story is told in a multi-layered, complex way and not at all a stereotypical “good vs. evil” movie. Even still, my mind wanted to make the poachers the “bad guys.” Not true for director Michele Vannucci.
I asked Michele when I talked to him at Open Roads: New Italian Film in New York City, “The locals in the film talk of working so hard to follow the rules. How is it fair that the poachers come in and break them all?”
Michele shook his head sadly. The word bubble above her head said, “She doesn’t get it.”
“It’s a movie about a lack of empathy,” he told me. “I tried to write a story about a person who tried not to go against the community, but he couldn’t do it. This is not a movie about a “good man” and a “bad man.” It’s just something that happened to these people.”
I told him that I’d thought it was about revenge. Lo Cascio’s character was pushed to the brink with all that Borghi’s character has taken from him, and he wanted and maybe even deserved vengeance.
“It’s a story about how we can lose our humanity. (When I was writing the script,) I was thinking about how we can stop violence without being a violent person. I feel like the last ten years, we have just become more and more and more violent.”
“It’s really complicated, but I know that these people can’t work it out themselves. Sometimes the simple answer is not the best one; you have to accept that. We can’t always have a simple solution because sometimes, the simple solution is the violent one.”
Looming over everyone in the story are the companies dumping industrial waste into the river and fish poachers using electrical currents to wreak havoc on its delicate marine ecosystem. This elusive and powerful Goliath is impossible to fight, so their anger against each other is magnified.
Click the “Watch Here” below and listen to Film Lincoln Center programmer Dan Sullivan introduce Delta at Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.
HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS:
The Anglelika Film Center in New York City has a streaming platform I was not aware of, and it’s great! It’s pay-for-play - so there’s no big commitment, and you don’t have to pay to join anything. Check out ANGELIKA ANYWHERE’s ‘Spotlight on Italy.’
And while you are at it, foreign film lovers of all kinds should stop whatever they are doing and check out…
Metrograph at Home
The Metrograph is a cool Lower East Side art house movie theater, and their streaming platform has an EYE POPPINGly amazing catalog of truly unusual and interesting films. Plenty of Italian but so much more.
It’s $5 a month or $50 a year, and movie lovers will surely get their money’s worth.
GET READY FOR…CHRISTMAS IN JULY
or otherwise known as “It doesn’t have to be winter for a little Cinepanettone.”
Hallmark isn’t the only one that makes fun, “get out the popcorn” Holiday treats! Why not? Before we know it, it will be time for movies about Ferragosto.
This one came out too late for last Christmas in the USA, so why not for Christmas in July?
Natale a Tutti i Costi (The Price of Family)
Cinepanettone with Christian De Sica is the perfect example of a movie that is “so bad it’s good,” but I have to say that I liked this one a little better than usual because of Angela Finocchiaro. She’s an outstanding dramatic actress but is great with comedy too.
It’s cliche-ridden. It’s sexist. Its premise is ridiculous. It’s comedy from another century (the last one). HOWEVER, it is CLASSIC Cinepanettone, so watch (ironically) for that if for no other good reason.
AND…
Odio Natale (I Hate Christmas)
Now this one’s cute. It’s still cliched, but the characters are more likable, and there are actually funny things that happen. Plus, it’s set in Venice and so very pretty to look at!
My friend Brando Improta has a Christmas rom-com that has Hallmark Christmas Classic written all over it! It’s called Canto Di Natale and it is a kind of retelling of the Dickens A Christmas Carol - a workaholic finds the true meaning of Christmas and love. Don’t worry; this trailer doesn’t have subtitles, but the movie does.
Don’t worry; there’s more. And this stuff is FREE
Grazie tantissime to The Italy Edit for their list of Cinepanettone on YouTube for free. These movies are all pretty bad and ones that only a true Italian movie/language lover could love. Watch at your own risk!😄
Don’t forget! L’immensità available July 11.
So far, I’ve only been able to see pre-orders through Apple TV streaming and the DVD from Target, of all places. Based on the trans director Emanuele Crialese’s own childhood, “L’immensità” tells the story of a family in 1970s Rome. Twelve-year-old Andrew (Luana Giuliani), assigned female at birth, is the oldest child of Clara (Penélope Cruz) and Felice (Vincenzo Amato). Felice has a harder time with his child’s gender dysphoria, but I can imagine that in making this film, he is paying tribute to his mother’s love and support.
Un bacione 💋,
Cheri
America’s Cheerleader For Italian Cinema
Hi Cheri,
Have been a little behind, but I did finally watch "Nostalgia" w/menacing Ragno (yes). Really well filmed, with twist at the end. :-) Also, albeit older films, I also just finally watched Nanni Moretti's "Dear Diary" and "The Son's Room." Both good films, that latter quite heavy. I watched "My Mother" some time ago. I now need something light, so will be looking for Gianni di Gregorio's "Never Too Late for Love" film.
Thanks, as always, for your "finds" and "reviews/recs." I just added "The Price of Family" to my Netflix queue.
Ciao!
Steve