Distrib Films US’s first Italian release opens Friday in New York City and it’s a good one – Viva La Libertà, Long Live Freedom with Toni Servillo.
Viva La Libertà is a gentle political satire that some have compared to Hal Ashby’s ‘Being There’, starring Peter Sellers, and no trivialization intended; it’s also a little like ‘The Parent Trap’ for grownups.
When Enrico Oliveri (Servillo), the secretary of the major opposition party, goes AWOL and hides out at an old girlfriend’s house in Paris (“What’s he doing here, Mom?” ” I think he just needs a little rest.”), a wacky and Pirandello-esque scenario works surprisingly well.
That he has a twin brother, and that twin brother is a bi-polar philosopher just recently released from a mental hospital, and that twin brother should be enlisted to impersonate the missing politician in his absence may seem absurd, but it carries an authenticity that one might not expect from the synopsis. The absurdity of today’s Italian government kind of requires a preposterous skewering, and Viva la Libertà is it. Do politicians need to go back to real life and “rest” once in a while to refresh their perspectives, and does a country sometimes need a madman to say the things that nobody else has the guts or the vision to say?
DON’T MISS IT! IT OPENS FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7 IN NEW YORK!
Starts 11/7 at Quad Cinema & Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas 11:00am, 12:50pm, 3:10, 5:25, 7:45 9:50
1886 Broadway New York, NY 10023
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Quad Cinema 1:10pm,3:15,5:30,7:40,9:50
34 W 13th St # B, New York, NY 10011
Viva La Libertà opens 11/28 in LA, followed by other US cities and I will keep you informed.
Be sure to check out Distrib Films and like them on Facebook! I’m just getting to know them but I think they are going to be my new best friends. FOLLOW THEM ON TWITTER!
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I Love Italian Everything 