A handful of new films released in Italy this week…
Questa notte è ancora nostra is a comedy about a young man (Nicolas Vaporidis) who has a dispiriting job in his father’s funeral home. His real passion is his music, but he’s unable to attract any interest from any labels… until, that is, he comes across a beautiful Chinese girl with a great voice who’d make a great frontwoman for a band. Unfortunately, she’s reluctant to get involved with the whole thing, not least because she’s on the verge of an arranged marriage and her future husband would undoubtedly disapprove… This one’s doing pretty well at the box office, but it’s the kind of cinematic panettone that doesn’t really go down that well outside of Italy (the plot certainly ticks all the boxes in terms of Neapolitan cinema, though). It’s co-directed by Paolo Genovese and Luca Miniero, a double act who have had some success both at the box office and with the critics and who specialise in this kind of stuff.
Colpo d’occhio is another comedy, featuring Riccardo Scamarcio as a young sculptor who falls for an art student (Vittoria Puccini) who’s the partner of a powerful art critic. Not the best career move. This one’s directed by Sergio Rubini, who also stars as the critic (as an actor he’s worked with the likes of Fellini, Giuseppe Ferrara and Anthony Minghella). Can’t say it really sounds like one I’m inspired to search out…