A few new Italian films released this week, and it’s actually a more interesting selection than is usually the case…
Sonetaula has been getting quite a bit of attention from the critics (there’s a review on Variety), and gaining comparisons with Pasolini and Terence Malik. The story is set between the early thirties and early fifties, and revolves around a shepherd boy whose father is wrongly imprisoned for murder. As he grows older, he beocmes more disillusioned with working for a money-grabbing absentee landlord, and when some of his sheep are stolen it sets off a chain of events which lead to him becoming an outlaw. This sounds a little bit special and I’d really like to see it. Here’s hoping some enterprising distributor picks it up and puts it out.
La rabbia is the latest film from Franco Nero’s kid, Louis, and is the story of a young director who’s so desperate to make his new film that his whole life begins falling apart around him and, under the guidance of a shadowy ‘producer’, is even driven to crime. Not quite sure what to make of this one… could be quite interesting, although I find overly self referential films rather annoying (filmmakers making films about filmmaking is all very well, but why the heck should anyone who isn’t a filmmaker actually want to watch the darned things). However, I can’t really find out that much beyond the plot, so maybe I’ve got it all wrong. And what a cast: Franco Nero (natch), Franco Fantasia (is he still alive), Tinto Brass (acting), Faye Dunaway, Philippe Leroy, Lou Castel, Arnaldo Foa and even Hal Yamanouchi (from all those post apocalypse movies). OK, it’s won me over… this is a must see!
Fine pena mai is another fringe crime film that seems to have creeped out almost unannounced. Beginning in the early 80s, Antonio Perrone is the son of wealthy parents, who drifts into a life of crime and eventually joins the mafia and rises through their ranks. This is directed by some lot called ‘the fluid video crew’, who have made a buch of documentaries and another feature (Italian sud-est) and stars Claudio Santamaria (from Romanzo criminale and The Card Player). Sounds well worth a look.
As interesting as all the above sound, it’s Grande, grosso e… verdone which is the biggest release by some distance, and it’s interesting to see that Carlo Verdone, the most consistently succesful director of Italian comedies by some distance, actually is able to refer to himself in the titles of his films nowadays. This is an anthology with three different stories: in the first, a family has to arrange a funeral for a dead relation, and things don’t go at all as planned; in the second, a domineering University Professor makes life difficult for his son; and the third centres around a disastrous holiday. Verdone also stars, and the box office results have been, as expected, impressive. Not much of Verdone’s stuff actually makes it out of Italy, though, so we’ll have to see whether this gets any kind of international release.