IlFanEditore
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I'm new around here, and I'm just surfing the forum. If this thread is open to any reviews, I'll post some short reviews of my favourite Italian movies (of course, because that's my country). Maybe someone will care, haha. I won't write anything about really famous movies such as La Dolce Vita or "The good, the bad and the ugly", considering that everything has already been told.
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle thieves) - 1948
One of the most famous Neorealist movies by director Vittorio De Sica. It's main characters are played by non professional actors. The man who played the father was a factory worker. After the end of the war, Antonio (the main protagonist) gets a job of pasting advertising bills around Rome. During the first day of work, someone steals his bike, thus forcing Antonio and his son Bruno into a long search to find it. It's just a phenomenal movie, with a way of showing how a relatively simple thing as a bike can literally mean everything for a man. The ending is struggling.
Roma, città aperta (Rome, open city) - 1945
Another Neorealist movie by Roberto Rossellini, starring Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi. It's more tragic than the previous one, being set during german occupation of Rome. There is death, poverty, despair and yet feeble hope represented by young children who "will" become new members of the Resistance. 100% approval rating of Rotten Tomatoes.
Suspiria - 1977
Ok, yes, this is a really popular movie. But it had to be here. The score, the way it helped to revolutionize the horror genre, setting the movie not in a spooky castle, not in a dark forest, but inside a dancing school, was just an amazing idea. The main theme is iconical, and the use of color still feels original today.
Il Gattopardo (The leopard) - 1963
Political drama directed by Luchino Visconti, based on a famous novel that basically everyone here reads during high school. Set some time before Italy's reunification, in 1860, it tells the story of a noble sicilian family living during the growing changes in society (not just the unification, but also the role of middle class against nobility), with a criticism of the whole operation which led to a messy birth of the Italian state. Claudia Cardinale was a joy, as always.
Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation on a citizen above suspicion) - 1970
Crime drama directed by one of the most political and leftist directors in Italy, Elio Petri. The main lead is played by my absolute favourite Italian actor, Gian Maria Volontè (internationally known for his roles in Spaghetti Westerns). It tells the story of a corrupted police man who, after killing his mistress, starts living a quasi-bipolar life. On one side, he wants to get away with it. On the other, he wants to be found guilty, but he finds extreme difficulties in this because other police men seem completely blind in front of clear evidence. Some great monologues and a perfect ending, with the dangerous 70's conflicts between police and students in the background. It won the Academy award for Best foreign picture.
C'eravamo tanto amati (We all loved each other so much) - 1974
A comedy-drama directed by Ettore Scola, and featuring some of my favourite actors ever, Vittorio Gassmann and Nino Manfredi. It tells a 25-years-long story of a group of friends who fought in the Resistance and then began different lives. One becomes some sort of nurse/keeper, the other becomes a professor obsessed with the movie "Bicycle thieves", and the third one becomes a corrupted business man. But their lives get intertwined again when the character played by Manfredi meets a young woman...
Amazing performance, great social analysis about what Italy was going to become, about friendship and love. Again, the ending, when Gassmann realizes what his life has become and what he has lost in his search for money and power, is wonderful.
...E tu vivrai nel terrore. L'Aldilà! (The Beyond) - 1981
A horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci. During the first years of the 20th century, a man paints one of the doors which is one the seven entrances to Hell. Then the movie moves to the 80s, when a woman inherits an hotel which, you guessed it, is the same where the man painted the door. There are zombies, flesh-eating spiders, blind women, girls being shot in the head. The score is beautiful, and the grim ending feels so desperate and yet satisfying...
La maschera del demonio (Black Sunday) - 1960
Gothic horror movie directed by master Mario Bava, in his directorial debut. Witches, de-aging effects done decades before Rogue One or the MCU, and a stunning black and white. This movie heavily influenced Tim Burton's style, who paid homage to it during the opening of Sleepy Hollow.
Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (They called him Jeeg) - 2015
These last two are more recent movies. This one, directed by Gabriele Mainetti, is basically a cinecomic. Its strength lies in its desire to not copy the classic cinecomics. It's deeply Italian, with characters speaking roman dialect, with thieves and small crime gangs as villains and with the last act set at the most important soccer stadium in the city. Overall it's a pretty enjoyable movie, and the main villain works really great.
Il nido (The nest) - 2019
During the last years, we restarted working on some horror movies (considering what past we had, with Argento, Fulci, Bava, etc.). This one was the best, in my opinion. The actors are really in parte, especially the mother and the kids. It starts as a "secret cult" movie, with a bunch of people living inside a huge house surrounded by fields and forests. There's a woman who acts as the leader, and there's her paraplegic son. The others are all people who live and work in the house. Everything feels creepy and out of place. Things start to change for the mother and her son when a young girl comes to live in the house...
I could have named other movies, of course. Fellini, Antonioni, Monicelli. But as a start I think these are quite good.
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle thieves) - 1948
One of the most famous Neorealist movies by director Vittorio De Sica. It's main characters are played by non professional actors. The man who played the father was a factory worker. After the end of the war, Antonio (the main protagonist) gets a job of pasting advertising bills around Rome. During the first day of work, someone steals his bike, thus forcing Antonio and his son Bruno into a long search to find it. It's just a phenomenal movie, with a way of showing how a relatively simple thing as a bike can literally mean everything for a man. The ending is struggling.
Roma, città aperta (Rome, open city) - 1945
Another Neorealist movie by Roberto Rossellini, starring Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi. It's more tragic than the previous one, being set during german occupation of Rome. There is death, poverty, despair and yet feeble hope represented by young children who "will" become new members of the Resistance. 100% approval rating of Rotten Tomatoes.
Suspiria - 1977
Ok, yes, this is a really popular movie. But it had to be here. The score, the way it helped to revolutionize the horror genre, setting the movie not in a spooky castle, not in a dark forest, but inside a dancing school, was just an amazing idea. The main theme is iconical, and the use of color still feels original today.
Il Gattopardo (The leopard) - 1963
Political drama directed by Luchino Visconti, based on a famous novel that basically everyone here reads during high school. Set some time before Italy's reunification, in 1860, it tells the story of a noble sicilian family living during the growing changes in society (not just the unification, but also the role of middle class against nobility), with a criticism of the whole operation which led to a messy birth of the Italian state. Claudia Cardinale was a joy, as always.
Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation on a citizen above suspicion) - 1970
Crime drama directed by one of the most political and leftist directors in Italy, Elio Petri. The main lead is played by my absolute favourite Italian actor, Gian Maria Volontè (internationally known for his roles in Spaghetti Westerns). It tells the story of a corrupted police man who, after killing his mistress, starts living a quasi-bipolar life. On one side, he wants to get away with it. On the other, he wants to be found guilty, but he finds extreme difficulties in this because other police men seem completely blind in front of clear evidence. Some great monologues and a perfect ending, with the dangerous 70's conflicts between police and students in the background. It won the Academy award for Best foreign picture.
C'eravamo tanto amati (We all loved each other so much) - 1974
A comedy-drama directed by Ettore Scola, and featuring some of my favourite actors ever, Vittorio Gassmann and Nino Manfredi. It tells a 25-years-long story of a group of friends who fought in the Resistance and then began different lives. One becomes some sort of nurse/keeper, the other becomes a professor obsessed with the movie "Bicycle thieves", and the third one becomes a corrupted business man. But their lives get intertwined again when the character played by Manfredi meets a young woman...
Amazing performance, great social analysis about what Italy was going to become, about friendship and love. Again, the ending, when Gassmann realizes what his life has become and what he has lost in his search for money and power, is wonderful.
...E tu vivrai nel terrore. L'Aldilà! (The Beyond) - 1981
A horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci. During the first years of the 20th century, a man paints one of the doors which is one the seven entrances to Hell. Then the movie moves to the 80s, when a woman inherits an hotel which, you guessed it, is the same where the man painted the door. There are zombies, flesh-eating spiders, blind women, girls being shot in the head. The score is beautiful, and the grim ending feels so desperate and yet satisfying...
La maschera del demonio (Black Sunday) - 1960
Gothic horror movie directed by master Mario Bava, in his directorial debut. Witches, de-aging effects done decades before Rogue One or the MCU, and a stunning black and white. This movie heavily influenced Tim Burton's style, who paid homage to it during the opening of Sleepy Hollow.
Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (They called him Jeeg) - 2015
These last two are more recent movies. This one, directed by Gabriele Mainetti, is basically a cinecomic. Its strength lies in its desire to not copy the classic cinecomics. It's deeply Italian, with characters speaking roman dialect, with thieves and small crime gangs as villains and with the last act set at the most important soccer stadium in the city. Overall it's a pretty enjoyable movie, and the main villain works really great.
Il nido (The nest) - 2019
During the last years, we restarted working on some horror movies (considering what past we had, with Argento, Fulci, Bava, etc.). This one was the best, in my opinion. The actors are really in parte, especially the mother and the kids. It starts as a "secret cult" movie, with a bunch of people living inside a huge house surrounded by fields and forests. There's a woman who acts as the leader, and there's her paraplegic son. The others are all people who live and work in the house. Everything feels creepy and out of place. Things start to change for the mother and her son when a young girl comes to live in the house...
I could have named other movies, of course. Fellini, Antonioni, Monicelli. But as a start I think these are quite good.