Out in the Italian cinemas this week: Quell’estate felice, directed by Beppe Cino.
Now Cino’s an interesting character. He started off as an assistant director on a range of b-movies like Even Django Has His Price and The Eyes Behind the Stars (as well as to people like De Sica and Rossellini, apparently), before becoming a fully fledged director in his own right during the 80s. For eurotrash fans, he’s best known for giallos and erotic thrillers like La casa del buon ritorno, Midnight Seduction and Fatal Temptation, but he’s also had some success on TV in the intervening years, especially with crime series & films like Witness Run.
Quell’estate felice is based on a book by Gesualdo Bufalino, set in Sicily in the 1950s. According to Cineuropa, the synopsis goes something like this:
It is the summer of 1951, in Sicily. The young professor Angelo Amato loves Maria Venera, the most beautiful and mysterious girl in town, but his love is not returned. Fifty years later, the old professor sees his life story retold in a film. Those who were once his loves and friends are long gone; time consumes, spoils and messes up all that is beautiful in Man. This film about Sicily at the start of the fifties, amongst bursts of passion, forced escapes and unreciprocated love, recalls the great and over-used themes and atmosphere found in films by Vitaliano Brancati and Pietro Germi.
