Cinema Italian Style 2015

11th Italian Film Festival in Los Angeles

Egyptian & Aero Theatres - November 12-16, 2015

THURSDAY, NOV. 12 at 6:30 PM - Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood

Italy’s Official Oscar Submission!

DON’T BE BAD

NON ESSERE CATTIVO

2015, 101 min, Dir: Claudio Caligari

 

                

The final film from writer-director Claudio Caligari follows friends Cesare (Luca Marinelli) and Vittorio (Alessandro Borghi) around the outskirts of Rome in Ostia, where the fast-moving nightlife of the 1990s threatens to pull them apart. This Pasolini-èsque crime drama won eight awards at the Venice International Film Festival. In Italian with English subtitles.


All the remaining screenings will be at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica

FRIDAY, NOV. 13 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

AN ITALIAN NAME

IL NOME DEL FIGLIO

2015, Films Distribution, 94 min, Italy, Dir: Francesca Archibugi

                 

Based on the recent French film WHAT’S IN A NAME?, this boisterous comedy starts simply enough, at a dinner party where soon-to-be parents Alessandro Gassmann and Micaela Ramazzotti (both Nastro d'Argento winners) hope to enjoy an evening with some old friends (Valeria Golino, Luigi Lo Cascio and Rocco Papaleo). But all hell breaks loose when the subject of the child’s name is broached. In Italian with English subtitles.

THE DINNER

I NOSTRI RAGAZZI

2014, Film Movement, 92 min, Italy, Dir: Ivano de Matteo

                

This superb adaptation of Herman Koch’s bestseller will give any parent nightmares. Pediatrician Luigi Lo Cascio and lawyer Alessandro Gassmann dine together every week with their wives; they have a lot to talk about when video surfaces that could implicate their teenage kids in the death of a homeless woman. De Matteo skillfully plays on audience assumptions from start to devastating finish in this look at how close violence remains to even the most placid surface. In Italian with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, NOV. 14 at 4:30 PM

THE WAIT

L’ATTESA

2015, 100 min, Italy/France, Dir: Piero Messina

 

                 

In her villa in Sicily, Anna (Juliette Binoche) is mourning her son Giuseppe when his fiancée (Lou de Laâge) arrives to spend Easter weekend with him. Unable to break the news to the young woman, Anna allows her to wait for Giuseppe, getting to know this link to her son a little better before the truth inevitably emerges. Messina earned a Golden Lion nomination at the Venice Film Festival for this stylish feature debut. “Benefiting enormously from its evocative Sicilian setting, this widescreen experience makes bewitching use of space, time and sound, creating an almost meditative atmosphere.” - Peter Debruge, Variety. In Italian and French with English subtitles.


SATURDAY, NOV. 14 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

ME, MYSELF AND HER

IO E LEI

2015, Lucky Red, 97 min, Italy, Dir: Maria Sole Tognazzi

                

Perhaps Italy’s first romantic comedy with a female couple at the center, ME, MYSELF AND HER stars Sabrina Ferilli as happily out restaurateur Marina and Margherita Buy (from Tognazzi’s previous A FIVE STAR LIFE) as Federica, a previously married architect whose fear of what others might think gives her pause about the relationship. With a light tone, this warm look at the everyday struggles of two people to build a life together strikes a universal chord. In Italian with English subtitles.

GOD WILLING

SE DIO VUOLE

2015, Intramovies, 87 min, Italy, Dir: Edoardo Maria Falcone

                

Edoardo Maria Falcone earned David di Donatello and Nastro d’Argento Best New Director awards for this knowing father-son comedy. Alessandro Gassmann stars as a priest hilariously stalked by arrogant cardiac surgeon Tommaso (Marco Giallini), an avowed atheist who is thrown for a loop by an announcement from his only son (Enrico Oetiker) – the young man wants to become a priest, too. A box office hit in Italy. In Italian with English subtitles.


SUNDAY, NOV. 15 at 5:00 PM

LATIN LOVER

2015, Rai Com, 104 min, Italy, Dir: Cristina Comencini

 

                

Italian actor Saverio (a charismatic Francesco Scianna) personified the Latin lover of the title, portraying a legion of romantic leads onscreen and fathering five daughters (each with a different woman). Ten years after Saverio’s death, his hometown of Apulia stages a memorial, bringing ex-wives, children and former associates together to regrind old axes. Beginning with this ensemble comedy setup, LATIN LOVER ultimately emerges as a love letter to the glory days of Italian film. With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Marisa Paredes and Virna Lisi (in her final performance). In Italian with English subtitles.


SUNDAY, NOV. 15 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

THE LEGENDARY GIULIA

NOI E LA GIULIA

2015, Intramovies, 115 min, Italy, Dir: Edoardo Leo

                

Diego (Luca Argentero), Claudio (Stefano Fresi) and Fausto (director Leo) are all busts at their respective occupations and leave the city for an abandoned farm they hope to turn into a magnet for tourists. The boys have to think fast when the local mafia tries to muscle in on things, but a buried car (the Alfa Romeo Giulia of the title) that plays classical music becomes a surprise attraction. A Nastro d'Argento winner for Best Comedy and Supporting Actor Claudio Amendola. In Italian with English subtitles.

ITALIAN GANGSTERS

2015, Minerva Pictures, 87 min, Italy, Dir: Renato de Maria

                

This unusual docudrama presents a rogue’s gallery of criminals from postwar Milan, painting multifaceted portraits of such notorious underworld figures as Enzo Barbieri and Paolo Casaroli. Cut together in rat-a-tat style, archival footage, scenes from films and actors speaking the gangsters’ own words resurrect both these larger-than life characters and a freewheeling (if dangerous) era of Italian history. “The mastery and excitement that Italian cinema was once known for springs to life again in ITALIAN GANGSTERS.” - Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter. In Italian with English subtitles.


MONDAY, NOV. 16 at 7:30 PM

MY MOTHER

MIA MADRE

2015, Alchemy, 106 min, Italy/France, Dir: Nanni Moretti

 

                

Filmmaker Nanni Moretti’s latest may have a touch of autobiography to it; the film profiles a director (David di Donatello Award winner Margherita Buy) under both personal and professional duress. As her mother (Giulia Lazzarini) lies in a hospital bed nearing the end of her life, Margherita’s current production hits a snag in the person of its difficult lead actor (John Turturro, providing some nice comic relief). This moving new drama took home the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In Italian and English with English subtitles.