Almost all of the press people here at the Venice Film Festival are running around looking perpetually bored and/or intense; nobody’s smiling much. I try to wipe the smile off my face but I just can’t.
It almost makes me think that I shouldn’t come next year. I mean, this has been such an incredible experience; maybe I should just remember it like this, the unjaded me practically skipping from screening to screening. And it’s not just that; this morning on my way to the vaporetto, there was a tiny, shriveled up old man crouched at the foot of a bridge and he was begging for change. I couldn’t help think, “Why is this poor soul so alone and desperate while I’m on my way to Lido to gawk at movie stars? I almost cried, really I did, partly for joy and partly from guilt.
I guess it’s fair to say that I’m a little overwhelmed by this experience, and I am certainly not taking it for granted. Yesterday, when I approached Silvio Orlando and told him how much I enjoyed Missione di Pace, his new film with Alba Rohrwacher and Filippo Timi (I think that Filippo is stalking me – I’ve seen him so many times), I don’t know – I’ll remember that forever. I told him that I was American and that I hoped it made it to the US, he smiled, shook my hand and thanked me. That’s all, but it was wonderful.
I could easily have talked to Timi – he and the cast of Missione di Pace (minus Alba) spoke after the screening (and my habit of sitting in the front row for movies paid off big this time – I got some great pictures). He just seems like such a nice guy; he said that he was really happy when he read the script because good comedy is hard to find and he was glad to be part of the movie. He had a very funny part – he played one of the character’s pretend friend, Che Guevara, and it’s clear that Timi, as intense as he is in most of the movies I’ve seen him in (Think: VIncere), has a real comic flair. Anyway, he walked right past me after the screening and I said, “Bravo” to him – he smiled. Fillippo Timi smiled at me. Have I mentioned how very GOOD LOOKING he is?
Silvio Orlando said some interesting things; when asked why he’d never done a first work before
(Missione di Pace is director Francesco Lagi’s first) he said it was because nobody ever asked him before. And he said that he really hadn’t had a lot of faith in the movie, but after seeing it, he felt better. He said that he felt that is was very different from other Italian comedies (it sure is) because it’s so surreal.
Missione di Pace was a little slow in a few parts, but overall it really made me laugh. It’s a farce – the story of a military captain who’s son get’s him in trouble with anti-war activities and so he gets sent to the middle of nowhere to capture a war criminal – Mission:Bad Bear. The son ends up out there with him, causing all kinds of new problems, and of course the father and son learn things about each other along the way.
A nice touch was casting the singer, Bugo, in the role of a soldier who played the guitar all the time, providing part of the soundtrack for the movie.
At the top you’ll see Filippo Timi as Che Guevara making out with Alba Rohrwacher in a scene from the movie, and below, my new best friend, Silvio Orlando. Check back later and I’ll tell you about the lifetime achievement awards ceremony with Marco Bellocchio.
I Love Italian Everything 