I’m going to scream the next time I hear somebody say…
1.There aren’t any good Italian movies anymore.
You know you’re killing me when you tell me this. I’ve been writing about great new Italian movies for six years here on the blog, posting on the Facebook page and on Instagram and tweeting and at least once a week I get a comment or message complaining that there aren’t any good ones anymore.
Obviously I disagree. Though there are many really wonderful ones that never make it to the USA, but there are plenty that do so when people tell me…
2. …You can’t find Italian movies in the USA,
I refer them to Exibit A: The Ultimate Guide To Streaming
This is a fluid list, ever-changing as companies like Netflix include and then remove films and I sometimes can’t keep up with. If you hit a dead link, let me know, but there is always a pretty extensive list of films that have come out since the year 2000.
Sometimes, people know about the vast number of new Italian movies but aren’t satisfied with them because they say,
3. If it’s not a nostalgic, sentimental, old-timey movie it’s not worth watching.
I know you loved Il Postino and Cinema Paradiso but trust me, there have been hundreds of movies that you’ll love that depict Italians as they are today, normal people that live normal lives pretty much the same way we do. If you need your Italian movie characters to be simple, Tuscan villagers tending goats and making wine, you might be disappointed.
People have actually complained to me that…
4. Italian movies aren’t Italian enough anymore.
You can still find sentimental, nostalgic movies, like Baària, for example, but there are little bits of the things you love about Italy in practically every Italian movie that is released, because Italians are in them, after all, and Italians are great (we all know that). Give contemporary Italy a chance.
And of course there are always people who are going to complain that…
5. …Italian movies are too Italian. And I don’t know how to answer that. If this is what you think, I give up. Maybe what you are trying to say is that
6. Italian movies are too artsy and intellectual and are for movie snobs. If that’s what you think, I have 2 words for you.
Checco Zalone.
I Love Italian Everything 