Nanni Moretti is a director about as passionate as they come about making movies.
His left-wing leanings are reflected in his work and he takes flak from it sometimes. I know people who shudder at the mention of his name and wouldn’t watch a Nanni Moretti movie with a gun pointed to their heads, but his movies aren’t all political.They are always thoughtful, intense, and bittersweet, and many are easy to find int the United States.
He’s the classic auteur, writing, directing, and starring in many of his films.
In La Stanza Del Figlio (The Son’s Room) a son dies and everyone is paralyzed. The father, played by Moretti, can’t work. The mother, played by Laura Morante, can’t contain her grief and makes every social interaction awkward because of it. The daughter, played so naturally by Jasmine Trinca, is terrified watching her parents fall apart and fear manifests itself in inappropriate and angry outbursts. It’s authentically told and evokes authentic emotions without being overly sentimental.
In Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos), a husband’s reaction to the death of his wife and the mother of his daughter is different.
It’s really hard to figure out how Pietro (played by Moretti) is feeling after the funeral; he seems pretty numb and restless and not sure what to do with himself.
What he does is unconventional but inspired – he stops going to the office and plants himself in a park outside his daughter’s school every day after he drops her off and tells her that he’ll be there all day and waiting for her when she’s done. During the day he stares at her window, attempting to telepathically will her to come to it and wave to him. He doesn’t stop working – her conducts business from his car. In fact there is a really funny scene in which the big boss, played in a cameo performance by Roman Polanski, comes to him in the park for a meeting.
In Habemus Papam (We Have A Pope) sequestered in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals are choosing the next Pope and each praying to God that he isn’t chosen, so here’s something I’d never considered: it isn’t exactly like hitting the lottery. It’s a monumental burden and the “winner” had better be up to the challenge.
The film’s “winner”, Melville, isn’t. Before he can even come out on the balcony at St. Peter’s to greet the masses, he has a giant panic attack and runs to hide. When all medical reasons for his behavior are exhausted, a therapist is reluctantly called, “the best in Rome”, played by Moretti. Given very limited parameters (no asking about his holiness’s mother, childhood, or faith) and with the cardinals all standing around watching Moretti tries to get to bottom of it as Melville continues to cry out “Non ce la faccio!” – “I can’t! do it!”
I Love Italian Everything 