If I say the comedies are getting “better”, will Italians agree with me?
“Better” is such a relative word. Are Italian comedies getting “better”? I know that I am enjoying them more, but maybe that’s just because they are becoming more universal. I’d like your input, but in the meantime, these are the comedies that I enjoyed.
Write and tell us about your favorites!
Pecore In Erba – Literally LAUGH OUT LOUD funny.
It’s July 2006 and Leonardo Zuliani is missing, the whole world is glued to the tv, watching a documentary on the life of the young “hero” who no one has seen for 6 months. Beginning with his childhood, friends, family, and teachers are interviewed, talking about the boy that everyone always knew was “special” and showed an aptitude for inspiring and leading people. One of his best friends was the grandmother of a classmate, an old woman who enjoyed telling immigrants to get out of her country, even when they were really full blood Italians but their skin just looked a little dark. As an adult, he was adored for his chain of all pork fast food restaurants, one proudly located next to Anne Frank’s house, and for rewriting the Bible, removing every mention of a Jew or anything Jewish.
Director Alberto Caviglia takes every stereotype, every prejudice, and every form of hatred toward Jews and spins them around like tops, creating a merry frenzy that is absolutely laugh out loud funny. I loved his refusal to consider anything politically incorrect; nothing under the sun was off -limits. Starring Davide Giordano, Anna Ferruzzo, Omero Antonutti, Bianca Nappi, Mimosa Campironi, Alberto Di Stasio and Lorenza Indovina, with clever cameos by Carolina Crescentini and Vinicio Marchioni.
I Dolori Del Giovane Edo: Short Skin – A comedy to identify with, even with a very uncommon predicament.
As if sexuality isn’t awkward enough for teenagers, Edoardo’s embarrassing medical condition makes normal relationships with girls seem hopeless. Director Duccio Chiarini has crafted a coming of age story like no other, using phimosis, a congenital deformity of the penis as the teen’s barrier to happiness.
At this point in Edo’s life it’s all he can focus on, and his bickering parents, annoying little sister, and best friend are all just background noise, something he wishes he could turn off. The neighbor girl is the love of his life, but how can he ever have her? He’s deformed; his life is ruined.
It’ll take a kindly prostitute, a punk rock girl, and a practical doctor to rescue him from his terrible fate, and I’m not spoiling anything to tell you that he is, of course, rescued. This is a comedy, not a tragedy.
But it’s no After School Special either. The nudity is pretty graphic – practically everyone in the movie is taking a look at Edo’s penis – and After School Specials usually encourage kids to keep it in their pants, not tell them to “get out there and use it”. Americans may want to watch it first before encouraging their kids to see it.
All in all, Short skin is clever, funny, and real; he’s got the teenage look and talk right. And it’s about far more than just young Edo’s dick. Sex, everyone’s having it but, even for the family dog, it’s more than just recreational. And it’s about growing up, change, and the fear of all that stuff that adults forget teenagers are afraid of.
Stars Matteo Creatini, Francesca Agostini, Nicola Nocchi and Bianca Nappi. (Bianca Nappi is in ALL the good films this year!)
Latin Lover – The best ever from director Cristina Comencini.
Golden era film star Saverio Crispo has been dead for 10 years and his eclectic and complicated family has planned a memorial for him in his Puglian hometown. Crispo, who “left a lot outside of the scene”, collected wives, lovers, and children from all of his movies. Two widows and five daughters (six?) gathered for an uncomfortable family reunion in the family estate, rehashing old grievances and uncovering secrets. Though the daughters all had different mothers and different nationalities, they shared names that began with the letter “S”, a sort of “factory label”, explained Saverio.
This is one of the best ensemble comedies I have seen in years, and director Cristina Comencini’s dialogue is spot on. Virna Lisi (in her last performance before her death in December 2014), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Human Capital), Candela Peña (All About My Mother) and Angela Finocchiaro (Benvenuto al Sud) couldn’t be more natural as mother and sisters airing old slights, and though their family dynamics are unconventional, they seem real. Saverio himself, who never really understood why all those women were so crazy about him, is played by Francesco Scianna (Baarìa) who evokes old fashioned movie swoons from everyone in the film and us in the audience as well.
Latin Lover is funny and heartwarming, and the recreated vintage movie scenes are too much fun for words. Dedicated to the memory of Lisi, this film couldn’t have been a better tribute to the movie star and her golden era.
I Love Italian Everything 