Insider

New Italian Cinema faces forward, flashes back

By Dennis Harvey

Early in the silent era, Italian cinema had a major global presence. It did again for a long stretch after World War II—from neorealism’s dawn to the ’60s heyday of Fellini, Pasolini, Antonioni and Visconti. That latter period also encompassed the commercial bonanzas of “sword ‘n’ sandal” epics, “spaghetti westerns” (which made Clint Eastwood a star), plus exportable bombshells like Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, and the musically named Gina Lollobrigida. Imagine, foreign movies (albeit English-dubbed ones) in wide U.S. release! So 1962. Those days may be gone, but Italy still makes good movies: More than a few of them are in the current edition of New Italian Cinema, a showcase presented by New Italian Cinema Events (aka NICE), the Italian Cultural Institute and San Francisco Film Society, and beginning Sunday, November 16.

On the basis of features previewed, this is an especially strong year for the festival. It starts on a fun note: Tributee Paolo Virzi, whose prior efforts Living It Up (1994) and Hardboiled Egg (1997) are also being screened, will be on hand to present Napoleon (and Me), an historical fiction of the kind that used to be called a “romp.” It stars Elio Germano of this spring’s criminally underappreciated My Brother is an Only Child as more or less the same character: A political extremist whose passionate and humorless rhetoric drive everyone around him crazy.

This time, however, he’s an early 19th-century schoolteacher and aspiring writer furious that “arrogant reactionary ogre” Napoleon (Daniel Auteil) is being exiled to his own home, on the Italian isle of Elba. He itches to assassinate the Emperor whose failed empire-building has devastated all Europe—and gets an extraordinary chance when hired as the tiny tyrant’s new personal secretary. But Napoleon proves more human, crafty, unpredictable and just plain interesting than our homicidal hero expected. Handsomely produced, this pleasingly nuanced comedy also stars Monica Bellucci as a horny Baronessa whose outrageous mood swings parody the old stereotype of “I love you! I hate you! I love you!” Italian movie characters.

Also on the lighter side is Claudio Cupellini’s Lessons in Chocolate, about an obnoxious yuppie contractor (Luca Argentero) forced to take a master course in chocolatiering as surrogate for an Egyptian pastry chef (Hassani Shapi) turned off-books guest-worker injured due to his boss’s workplace-safety corners cut. The clincher here is rising star Argentero—a former fashion model who mixes hunkitude with a pleasant flair for comic riffing. Likewise aiming to divert is Don’t Waste Your Time, Johnny, an anecdotal, nostalgic ’70s flashback with director Fabrizio Bentivoglio himself playing an aging popular big-bandleader who takes a teenage guitarist/gofer under wing during a tour of regional backwaters. It’s weirdly like Almost Famous, minus the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

For the most part, however, 2008’s NICE program tilts toward serious drama—ranging from low-key to intense, from verite-style naturalism to thickly plotted melodrama. In the latter-named camp, there’s Andrea Molaioli’s The Girl by the Lake, which transplants Karin Fossum’s European bestseller from a Norwegian to Italian Dolomites setting. Its a murder mystery whose embattled small-town police detective (Toni Servillo) finds myriad suspects in a young woman’s apparent murder, while dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter and Alzheimer’s-afflicted wife.

Suspenseful in different ways is Francesco Munzi’s The Rest of the Night, a fine ensemble drama that locates misery on opposite ends of the Italian economic spectrum. When a wealthy, unhappy family fires its Romanian maid (Laura Vasiliu of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) for suspected stealing, she has nowhere to go but back to the professional-thief boyfriend whose “rough crowd” of illegal immigrants and others (barely) living off-grid had made her flee. When these two worlds finally collide—armed robbery and drugs unfortunately mixed in—this Night turns tragically violent.

Things go better for another Romanian guest-worker maid in Federico Bondi’s Black Sea. Though at first it doesn’t look good for Angela (Dorotheea Petre), who’s left her husband and dire home economy behind to make some Western $$ for their future family. New mistress Gemma (Ilaria Occhini) is an elderly widow who resents needing help, though she can’t get around on her own. She’s stingy, suspicious, ill-tempered, endlessly complaining and generally insufferable besides. But Angela has the patience of a saint, and gradually Gemma’s long-disused warmer sides come out, prompting her to take surprising action when the young woman must deal with a crisis back in Romania. Like the dynamic between its two characters, Black Sea slowly ingratiates, to touching final results.

There’s also real poignance earned in Carmine Amoroso’s Cover Boy: The Last Revolution. Lanky, gentle-natured young man Ioan (Eduard Gabia), whose father had been killed amidst Ceaucescu’s overthrow, is persuaded by a mate to leave Romania—notice a running theme here?—and try their luck in Italy. But when the friend is nabbed by immigration authorities, Ioan finds himself homeless, jobless and green-card-less on the streets of Rome. He’s taken pity on by the older Michele (Luca Lionello, Judas in The Passion of the Christ), who allows him to stay at his apartment—albeit for a fee, since the temporary-hire janitor is on financial footings scarcely more secure than his guest, despite being native-born. Nonetheless, they soon become close friends.

The title gives away a surprise twist of fate that briefly changes Ioan’s fortunes for the better. But it’s the narrative downside—and Lionello’s beautiful performance as a hard-luck guy who finds a soulmate, yet can’t reveal the true extent of his feelings—that makes Cover Boy so ultimately haunting.

NICE has two official closing night films this year, neither available for preview. Paolo Benvenuti and Paola Baroni’s Puccini and the Girl is an imaginative portrayal of the great composer’s life around the time he was composing Girl of the West. Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, already a bit home-ground hit and Cannes prize winner, grittily dramatizes organized crime’s extensive reach in Naples.

Between the two closing features, there will be a food-and-wine reception. Opera, mafioso e vino—now, how much more Italiano can you get in one night?

topics: actors, bay area, directors, italian cinema, san francisco film society, world cinema

11.14.2008