Who and what dominated 2015? Suburra and Alba Rohrwacher.
Let’s face it, it was Alba Rohrwacher’s year. She starred in 4 of the year’s best films, Vergine Giurata (Sworn Virgin), Hungry Hearts, Il Racconto Dei Racconti (Tale of Tales), and Sangue Del Mio Sangue (Blood Of My Blood). It’s about time she started collecting some of those BEST ACTRESS awards.
You can watch Hungry Hearts
The performances in the Netflix production, Suburra, are all so good and it’s harder to decide who to leave off this list than who to put on it.
Elio Germano has never been better than here in his role as Sebastiano, the sleazy club owner that gets pulled into stuff he wants no part of.
Greta Scarano as Viola is probably my favorite of 2015. Telling about her final scene would be a giant spoiler, but let’s just say that Jennifer Lawrence or Rooney Mara couldn’t have done any better.
Claudio Amendola impressed in 2016, Noi e La Giulia and Suburra, and the roles couldn’t have been any more different. In Noi E La Giulia, a comedy, he was part of a goofy guy ensemble film and very funny, but in Suburra, he was a seriously scary mob boss.
Alessandro Borghi, was especially remarkable playing the perfect punk in both Suburra and Non Essere Cattivo, but I’d like to see him in a really good rom-com. He’s very good-looking.
Luca Marinelli in Non Essere Cattivo? Who is this guy and who knew he could play such a hoodlum after sweet sensitive performances like the ones in Tutti I Santi Giorni and Il Solitudine dei Numeri Primi? Well, he could, he did, and he tore the place up doing it.
Margherita Buy is the undeniable reigning queen and put any doubts to rest with her 2015 perfornces in Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre and Italy’s first movie about a lesbian couple, Io E Lei.
Matteo Creatini , at just 19-year-old had one amazing year. At 18, he found himself, without much experience and without a single acting class starring in Italy’s definitive coming of age movie, Short Skin, a film about his penis. He’s a natural, that’s for sure, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Valeria Golino is remarkable and inspiring as an actress and director; we already knew that. Her roles in last year’s Per Amor Vostro and Il Nome Del Figlio only served to secure her top actor reputation.
Sara Serraiocco is this year’s Berlinale Shooting Star from Italy, and if you watch Cloro, you’ll see why.
I Love Italian Everything 