IN PERSON: Paolo Sorrentino, Nanni Moretti, John Turturro, Valerio Mastandrea, Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Francesca Archibugi, Piero Messina, Maria Sole Tognazzi Maria Sole Tognazzi.
From the Cinema Italian Style website:
Join us at the Egyptian and Aero Theatres for our annual celebration of Italian cinema! The latest film from acclaimed director Paolo Sorrentino, YOUTH (La Giovinezza), will play at AFI FEST just before our series kicks into gear with Italy’s official Oscar submission for Best Foreign-Language Film, DON’T BE BAD (Non Essere Cattivo) This final film from writer-director Claudio Caligari looks at two friends pulled in different directions by nightlife and criminal activity in the 1990s on the outskirts of Rome.
The underworld of Milan is the milieu of ITALIAN GANGSTERS, a fascinating docudrama about the city’s most notorious post-WWII figures, intercutting archival footage and actors speaking the gangsters’ actual words. Much of this year’s dramatic fare revolves around family, including Nanni Moretti’s MY MOTHER (Mia Madre), a look at a stressed-out filmmaker (Margherita Buy) whose mother is facing her final days. Awkward communications plague the two couples at THE DINNER (I Nostri Ragazzi), Ivano De Matteo’s piercing examination of how close violence is to all of our lives.
READ MY REVIEW OF ITALIAN GANGSTERS
A dinner get-together under happier circumstances drives Francesca Archibugi’s comedy AN ITALIAN NAME (Il Nome Del Figlio), about the question faced by all parents: What should I call my child? Francesco Scianna plays the title character in Cristina Comencini’s LATIN LOVER, whose many ex-wives and daughters gather to hilarious effect to remember his career as an actor. In this year’s Nastro d’Argento winner for Best Comedy, THE LEGENDARY GIULIA (Noi e la Giulia) isn’t a person but an automobile that comes into play when three friends (including director Edoardo Leo) team to start an agritourism business. Italian box office hit GOD WILLING (Se Dio Vuole) throws an arrogant atheist father off balance when his son declares his intention to join the priesthood. And Margherita Buy appears in romantic comedy mode as half (with Sabrina Ferilli) of the female couple in ME, MYSELF AND HER (Io e Lei).
READY MY REVIEW OF THE LEGENDARY GIULIA
READ MY REVIEW OF AN ITALIAN NAME
All films are in Italian with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted.
American Cinematheque Members who belong to the Cinema Explorers Club can see these films for free! Click here for more information.
I Love Italian Everything 