Tag: Italian Cinema
Fuori | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review
Hoosegow Girls: Martone Pays Delicate Tribute to Goliarda Sapienza
“Never refuse to see the unpleasant aspects of life,” wrote Goliarda Sapienza in her widely...
2025 Cannes Critics’ Panel: Day 8 – Mario Martone’s Fuori
In an even split, and in two different waves, Italian filmmaker Mario Martone has populated the Un Certain Regard section with L'Amore molesto (1995)...
The Damned | Review
The Damned Do Cry: Minervini Details a Doomed Mission
For his first narrative feature, Roberto Minervini tackles another aspect of the evolving American identity with The...
Love Is in the Air: Mubi Courts Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” Starring Muse Toni Servillo
Last December we learned that Paolo Sorrentino was quickly moving back into the director's chair for his eleventh feature film, and now Variety reports...
Parthenope | Review
The Boring & Beautiful: Sorrentino’s Tone Deaf Portrait of a Lady
It’s unfortunate no one’s as likely to be infatuated with the eponymous Parthenope (pronounced...
Vermiglio | Review
Baby Machines: Delpero Designs Tapestry of Women’s Miseries During WWII Italy
Despite the associations suggested by its title, Maura Delpero’s sophomore film Vermiglio is a...
Sicilian Letters (Iddu) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Letters to Daddy: Grassadonia & Piazza Continue Their Cosa Nostra Sagas
Italian directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza reimagine the circumstances surrounding yet another mafioso...
Diva Futura | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Erotic Stagnancy: Steigerwalt’s Depthless Approach of a Italian Porn Heyday
There’s a formidably compelling subject matter at the heart of Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s sophomore film...
Campo di Battaglia (Battlefield) | 2024 Venice Film Festival Review
Down with the Sickness: Amelio Probes Wartime Ethical Dilemmas
The tagline for Battlefield, the latest from Italian auteur Gianni Amelio, could very well read “You...
The Life Apart | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
Imitation of Life: Giordana Composes an Old-Fashioned Miracle
Music seems to be the language of the heart in The Life Apart (La vita accanto), a bizarre...
Weightless | 2024 Locarno Film Festival Review
The Big Empty: Fgaier Crash Lands with Sentimental Drivel
For her directorial debut Weightless (Sulla terra leggeri), film editor Sara Fgaier opens her narrative with a...
Girlhood, Interrupted: Carolina Cavalli Set to Trace “The Kidnapping of Arabella”
After grabbing the international film festival circuit by storm with her directorial debut in Amanda (2022 Venice, TIFF) and to an extent Babak Jalali's...
La Chimera | Review
The Passionate Thief: Rohrwacher Finds Treasures Under the Tuscan Sun
“The sun is following us,” whispers a willowy blonde in the enigmatic opening moments...
Io Capitano | Review
Journey to Italy: Garrone Details Arduous Migrant Odyssey
It might be a rite of passage for contemporary Italian auteurs to examine the grueling adversity faced...
Gloria! | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Music of the Heart: Vicario Pays Symphonic Homage to Erased History
Composer Margherita Vicario makes her directorial debut with Gloria!, a period piece recuperating a...
My Summer with Irène | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
Summertime Sadness: Sironi Escapes to Sicily in Oblique Friendship Drama
There’s no running away from the past, no matter how glorious the sun dappled idyll...
Another End | 2024 Berlin Intl. Film Festival Review
The Power of Goodbye: Messina Gets Maudlin with Future Grief
The devil’s unfortunately absent in the details of Another End, a conceptual science fiction melodrama...
Lubo | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Children of a Lesser God: Diritti Highlights Swiss War Crimes in Prolonged Drama
The actual history being explored in Giorgio Diritti’s three-hour drama Lubo is...
Enea | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Deal or No Deal: Castellitto Distracted by Design in Drug Pusher Drama
Director Pietro Castellitto embarks on a familial affair with sophomore film Enea, in...
The Palace | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
It’s Only the End of the World: Polanski Checks Out with Broad Satire
As many are likely to avoid The Palace, the latest film from persona...
Adagio | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Rome, Smoking City: Sollima Languorous Thriller Tiresomely Tests Narrative Cliches
The most apropos element of Stefano Sollima’s Adagio is the title itself, as it’s two-hour-plus...
Finalmente L’Alba (Finally Dawn) | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Cruel Intentions: Costanzo Pays Homage to the Demi-Monde of the Italian Film Industry
After adapting Elena Ferrante’s "My Brilliant Friend" for television, Saverio Costanzo returns...
L’ordine del tempo | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
Time After Time: Cavani Commits Time Crimes in Overwrought Farce
What does time mean when we’re all out of it? Thus is the quagmire...
Comandante | 2023 Venice Film Festival Review
And the Sea Will Tell: De Angelis Sells the Soft Side of Fascism
Napolitano director Edoardo De Angelis embarks on his most lavish offering to...
Exclusive Poster: Falling for Laura Luchetti’s “The Beautiful Summer”
Earlier this week Variety premiered the official trailer and leading up to 2023 Locarno Film Festival world premiere of The Beautiful Summer (August 4th)...
Interview: Carolina Cavalli – Amanda
A refreshing new voice on the Italian cinema scene popped up in the Orizzonti section (Venice Film Festival's parallel section to the comp) in...
Il sol dell’avvenire (A Brighter Tomorrow) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
If You Don’t Die Today: Moretti Can’t Find the Rhythm in Musical Delusion
To say the latest film from Nanni Moretti, Il sol dell'avvenire (A Brighter...
Kidnapped (Rapito) | 2023 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Soul to Take: Bellocchio Deliriously Dissects a Papal Delictum
Marco Bellocchio has lost none of his flair nor his energetic zest in his latest...
Monica | Review
Portrait of a Lady: Pallaoro Quietly Searches for Grace in Profound Reconciliation
There’s a relentless, nearly crushing sense of heartache girding Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica, his...
Nostalgia | Review
You Can’t Go Home Again: Martone’s Latest Asserts the Past is a Dangerous Place
In yet another foray into the teeming possibilities of Naples, Mario...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #13. Marco Bellocchio’s La conversione
La conversione
The true story has put the fear of god in the directors who consider making it, but finally, it was Italian maestro Marco...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #47. Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano
Io Capitano
After 2018's Dogman and then 2019's Pinocchio, Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone stirs his ship towards coming-of-age adventure drama territory. Filmed in Italy, Morocco...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #83. Laura Luchetti’s La bella estate
La bella estate
Following her critically acclaimed sophomore feature Twin Flower (world preem at 2018's TIFF), Laura Luchetti went on to shoot ten episodes of an...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #98. Liliana Cavani’s L’ordine del tempo
L’ordine del tempo
On our list we have a quartet of filmmakers who returned to the director's chair after at least a decade away and...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #129. Saverio Costanzo’s Finalemente L’Alba
Finalemente L’alba
After directing a whopping 70 episodes of "In Treatment" and just over a dozen episodes of "My Brilliant Friend," 2014's Hungry Hearts (five-time...
Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #163. Nanni Moretti’s Il Sol Dell’Avvenire
Il Sol Dell’Avvenire
Nanni Moretti makes a quicker-than-usual return behind the camera - waiting very little time in-between projects. Following 2021's Three Floors, the veteran...
Oscilloscope Has Temper Tantrum for Carolina Cavalli’s “Amanda”
A tonally quirky film with its defiant and eccentric like Max Fisher (from Rushmore) type character (a straight-faced Benedetta Porcaroli) at the film's core,...
Turin Twosome: Laura Luchetti’s Completes Production on “The Beautiful Summer”
Filming recently wrapped up on Laura Luchetti’s third feature film. Variety reports that Deva Cassel and Yile Yara Vianello toplined the The Beautiful Summer...
In the Loop: Liliana Cavani Takes a Seat at the Table in “L’ordine del tempo”
First we have Catherine Breillat getting back in the saddle, and now we have some great news coming out of Italy with Liliana Cavani...
Chiara | 2022 Venice Film Festival Review
Sister and Her Sisters: Nicchiarelli Salutes a Saint in Solemn, Dull Period Reenactment
The friendship between Saint Francis of Assisi and his obscured female counterpart...
Lord of the Ants (Il signore delle formiche) | 2022 Venice Film Festival Review
Triumph of the (Court's) Will: Amelio Delves into Infamously Homophobic Italian Court Case
Perennial Italian auteur Gianni Amelio goes back to the contentious political climate...
L’immensità | 2022 Venice Film Festival Review
This Boy’s Life: Crialese Cuts Corners in Well-Meant Trans Coming-of-Age Drama
Director Emanuele Crialese explores the slow disintegration of a dysfunctional family in 1970s Rome...
Princess | 2022 Venice Film Festival Review
Grimm Fairy Tale: De Paolis’ Neo-Realist Exploration of Migrant Sex Work Brazen, Bewildering
Life’s anything but a fairy tale for the titular character at the...
Marcel! | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dog Gone: Trinca Debuts Pleasant Semi-autobiographical Dramedy
“I’m devoted to divination,” sniffs a haughty Alba Rohrwacher as a self-centered mother in Jasmine Trinca’s directorial debut,...
Esterno notte (Exterior Night) | 2022 Cannes Film Festival Review
Dead in Red: Bellocchio Returns to Infamous Kidnapping for Television Debut
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco...
Il Buco | Review
Frammartino Digs Deep, But Barely Scratches the Surface
Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco (“The Hole”) is a meditative journey into the center of the earth,...
The Tale of King Crab | Review
Shellfish People: Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis Craft Unique Narrative Steeped in Oral Tradition
For their directorial debut The Tale of King Crab, directors...
Excavations Begin with Isabella Rossellini on Alice Rohrwacher’s “La chimera”
Set to begin production this month, Isabella Rossellini (who currently has five feature films in post) has informally announced that she will be among...
Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #57. Gianni Amelio’s Il signore delle formiche
Il signore delle formiche
Septuagenarian Gianni Amelio is showing zero signs of slowing down quickly after 2020's Hammamet he climbed onto a film that could...
