The Wild Eye

Hans is a 2006 release directed by Louis Nero, a young Torinese filmmaker who’s made a handful of low budget films since his 2000 debut, Golem.

Looks like Enzo Castellari’s first film in God knows how long, Caribbean Basterds, has been released in Italy. It appears to have come out on the 20th August, although just where it’s come out is difficult to tell.

Darkness Surrounds Roberta is an Italian and American co-production, shot in 2008 in Italy, which attempts to revive the moribund giallo genre. Unfortunately – and despite the fact that a number of reviews on the internet seem to be suspiciously positive – it doesn’t remotely succeed.

Good news, new issues of Cine70 and a Nocturno special on Sergio Corbucci have come out!

Another of the great Italian scriptwriters, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, died over the weekend.

Here’s a new crime drama from Italy, directed by one Carlo Fusci and starring Tony Sperandeo, Antonella Ponziani, Andrea Iervolino and Ciro Petrone (the geeky looking kid who plays with guns on the beach in Gomorrah).  Oh, and also in the cast are a couple of old favourites: Franco Nero and Angelo Infanti! The plot [...]

Director Luigi Scattini has apparently died.

Here’s a new Italian film that looks like it could be of interest. It’s just come out in Italy this week, and is being shown in 20 cinemas, not a huge amount, but not unusually small for domestic product that isn’t a comedy.

Apparently Bekim Fehmiu has died…  according to news alerts: Belgrade – Well-known Yugoslav actor of Albanian descent Bekim Fehmiu was found dead on Tuesday in his apartment in Belgrade, Serbian state television RTS reported. He was 74. Fehmiu is best known for his role in a 1967 movie Skupljaci perja (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) [...]

Here’s an interesting sounding new Italian film.  It’s had a somewhat limited release, showing on just 8 screens, and the takings have been rather low so far, but the plot sounds intriguing and the word of mouth around it is generally very positive.  It wouldn’t be the first time an impressive film has fallen by [...]

Daniele Luchetti, who made the acclaimed Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is An Only Child) a few years back, has a new film out called La nostra vita (Our Life).  It stars, among others, two of the more prominent Italian dramatic actors around today, Raoul Bova and Elio Germano, which is probably one [...]

I’m a bit late in posting this one, but Massimo Sarchielli died on the 12th May. Sarchielli was a busy actor who appeared in both Italian and international films from the 1960s onwards.  He was in several spaghetti westerns (such as the superior Requiescant and Bandidos (both 67)), a number of arthouse favourites (Giulietta degli [...]

Hey, Claudio Fragasso has a new movie out that’s just hit the cinemas in Italy.  Called Le Ultime 56 Ore, it’s a kind of drama / crime / thriller type thing, and it’s showing on 189 screens; a decent amount for an Italian production (and especially an Italian production that’s not a comedy).  It just [...]

This one sounds interesting, La fisica dell’acqua, directed by Felice Farina.  It’s a drama / thriller, apparently inspired by Hamlet.  The cast includes Claudio Amendola and Stefano Dionisio, both of whom are pretty big names in Italian cinema, and it’s being released into 40 cinemas throughout Italy this weekend (not a huge amount, but still [...]

The Italians seem to have a bit of a thing for football hooligan films at the moment, I guess in the same way that we do here in the UK with productions like The Firm and The Football Factory. Secondo tempo, by novice director Fabio Bastianello, very much falls into this grouping.

More sad news, the hugely influential Italian scriptwriter Furio Scarpelli has died. Scarpelli was best known for his comedy films, mainly written in collaborationwith Agenore Incrocci, but he also had a hand in the script for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly as well.

Bunch of new MYA DVDs has just come out…

1951 Aka Tototarzan Original running time: 85 mins Italy A C.D.I. production Distributed by C.D.I. Director: Mario Mattoli Story: Vittorio Metz Screenplay: Vittorio Metz, Marcello Marchesi, Age, Furio Scarpelli Cinematography: Mario Albertelli Music: Armando Fragna Editor: Otello Colangeli Art director: Piero Filippone Cast: Totò (Antonio Della Buffas), Marilyn Buferd (Iva), Bianca Maria Fusari (Marta), Alba [...]

He wasn’t very well known outside of Italy, but Raimondo Vianello, who died earlier this morning (15th April), was a huge figure in Italian comedy.  He was one of a group of comedians who emerged in the late fifties and early sixties – others included Alberto Sordi, Ugo Tognazzi, Franco and Ciccio, Walter Chiari and [...]

It looks like something of a trend, in Italy, to base TV series around succesful films.  Firstly there was Romanzo criminale, and now there’s Quo Vadis Baby?, based on the decent movie by Gabriele Salvatores.  Now I don’t know anything at all about this one, but it’s directed by Guido Chiesa, who made the award-winning [...]