I hadn’t thought that I’d be able to watch the Italian version of the Oscars, The David di Donatello Awards, televised live on RAI1 last night at 9:20 their time. At the last minute, happily, I found it online: WATCH RAI1 LIVE ONLINE.
(Watch it here in America tonight on television on RAI International at 7:45 or online RAI Replay.)
Hosted by two not very funny comics, Lillo and Greg, the Davids have that same uncomfortable awkwardness born from bad jokes that are badly delivered, but we Americans know all about that from watching the Academy Awards. How all those Hollywood professionals can deliver lines like they are high school actors the first time on the stage has always a mystery to me, and Lillo and Greg must have studied them because I was equally uncomfortable watching the Italians. The worst moment: they couldn’t remember and/or agree about which category a David that they were handing out was for so they just said, “Oh well, the important thing is that you’re getting a David.”
The actors accepting the awards, now that was a different story. The humility and the graciousness of the winners and their acceptance speeches was so refreshing. When I’m watching the Oscars I usually end up screaming and throwing things at the television when the actors cry, drone on, and act like their winning performance has the same importance as curing cancer, but the Italian winners are different. Short, humble speeches were the rule last night in Rome, and it was a pleasure to watch Margherita Buy, Valerio Mastandrea, and Maya Sansa accept acting awards (Valerio won best supporting and best actor!)
I guess the night belonged to Giuseppe Tornatore, who won Best Director for his English Language film La Migliore Offerta (The Best Offer) starring Geoffrey Rush. The movie also won Best Picture, and Tornatore couldn’t have been more lovely in his gracious acceptance of the honors.
READ MY REVIEW OF LA MIGLIORE OFFERTA
I’ll be looking at the actual awards tomorrow, and where I agree and disagree with the recipients, but for now, I’d like to say to you Italian: appreciate your award ceremony. There were some eye-rolling moments, but for the most parts, your film community behaves with class and dignity that Hollywood has long forgotten and I really enjoyed the Davids!
I Love Italian Everything 