Happy Birthday To ‘I Love Italian Movies’

It’s the 4th Birthday for I Love Italian Movies and as the blog as grown, so has the Italian film industry. Coincidence? Maybe not…

I’m kidding. But I will take credit for noticing the new wave that was splashing onto Italian shores, the rebirth of creativity, ingenuity, and passion with Italian directors, producers, and actors. It’s exciting to be a herald for something this wonderful.

I dismissed people like Quentin Tarantino making unenlightened comments about the “real tragedy” of today’s Italian cinema. “The Italian films I’ve seen over the past few years all seem the same. All they talk about is boys growing up, girls growing up, couples in crisis and holidays for the mentally disabled.”

Scemo. Marco Bellocchio answered Tarantino by calling him “a jerk who doesn’t understand anything“, Sofia Loren said, “How dare he talk about Italian cinema when he doesn’t know anything about American cinema?”, and my personal favorite comeback, Ferzan Ozpetek said, “Who knows, maybe he was drunk when he made that statement.”

They were seeing what I was seeing. Italian cinema is back, baby, and we’re all here to watch it improving every year.

To celebrate, here are some of my favorite Italian movie moments!

Perche la amo; because I love her. Pane e Tulipani; Bread and Tulips