Never mind the box office, these are the ones that blew my mind.
I love Italian movies, you all know that, but what people sometimes forget is that I mean, the new ones. I know practically nothing about neorealism (I know, I know, I should.), but I know a lot about these new, creative directors who have been shaking things up since the year 2000.
Here are the films that I watched in 2016 that REALLY WOWED ME.
Orecchie (Directed by Alessandro Aronadio)
When a young man played by Daniele Parisi wakes up with an irritating ringing in his ears and a message taped to the refrigerator saying “your friend Luigi is dead”, he sets out to make the ringing stop and figure out who Luigi is. Filmed in black and white, Orecchie is like a daytime version of “After Hours” with an unnamed Roman guy on a goofy scavenger hunt for answers, all the while sinking into the depths of the kind of absurdity we all face on a day-to-day basis. The airhead fast food clerk, the distracted receptionist, the arrogant professionals; we all hate “those people” even if we’re one of “those people” too and we don’t realize it. Unlike in the movie After Hours, however, one that is portrays a world that is often “weird for weird’s sake”, Orecchie offers method in the madness.
Orecchie is classically dark humor with a postmodern hero who has grown world-weary. Unlike Jep Gambardella in Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza, one who allows himself to be occasionally amused by the “blah, blah, blah” swirling around him, or at least not let it drive him crazy, the guy in Orecchie is beaten down by it. The ringing in his ears is a symptom of some degree of depression.
I can’t stop thinking about the cheerless protagonist, lost in a vapid abyss and seems to have stopped caring about finding his way out. What’s the use? He’s in a genuinely despondent state, and yet, after spending the day with him, I felt oddly optimistic. Was this the intent of writer/director Alessandro Aronadio, to make me feel better about life? I believe that Orecchie will strike the same chord with everyone who watches it.
Il Più Grande Sogno (Directed by Michele Vannucci)
Actor Mirko Frezza, playing the movie’s main protagonist, says that the film is “loosely based on his life”, and though I’m still not sure to what extent, he did tell me that he’s done a little time in prison. The Mirko in the movie’s looking for a fresh start after a recent incarceration and he’s back in society with a goal: to win back the love and respect of his family. When he gets elected president of his neighborhood association he grabs on to the opportunity and makes it his personal shot at rehabilitation.
The Mirko in the movie and the Mirko in real life are an inspiration. We all make mistakes, but one that lands you in jail can be especially damaging, taking you away from your family and making it hard to get people to trust you when you get out. But Mirko’s strength and determination are a sight to behold.
The film also stars Alessandro Borghi who’s been ranked #25 on Ciak Magazine’s top 50 actors and actresses in Italy and is Numero 8 in the super cool Netflix movie Suburra (for which won the Nastro d’Argento “Revelation of the Year” Award last year).
It’s real. It’s authentic, it’s innovative, and it’s the cinematic embodiment of of what I love about today’s Italian cinema. What will Michele Vannucci do next? I am on the edge of my seat e “non vedo l’ora di vedere.”
Indivisibili (Directed by Edoardo De Angelis)
Edoardo De Angelis has packed a lot into this family drama and has done a splendid job formulating a narrative that while, completely unusual, is absolutely identifiable for anyone who has ever grown to adulthood. We all go through it, separating ourselves from our childhood homes, our parents, and our siblings. Of course it’s easier for some of us than others, and these conjoined twin sisters (Angela and Marianna Fontana) find themselves in different states of readiness to claim autonomy. We don’t have to be physically conjoined or the family breadwinner to feel guilty for abandoning our childhoods, but how willing are any of us to accept the pain that comes with it?
There is so much to love about this film, like the use of an obscure southern Italian dialect, the delicate and astonishing acting of the fledgling actresses, Angela and Marianna, and the more experienced and outstanding work of Antonia Truppo, playing their drunk, unfit mother.
Liberami (Directed By Federica Di Giacomo)
Free me. Deliver me. Save me. Federica Di Giacomo’s documentary is everything a good documentary should be.
While Federica Di Giacomo’s documentary, Liberami (the winner of the Orizzonti Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival and about real life exorcisms) isn’t terrifying, it isn’t spooky fun either. It isn’t a jab at the Catholic Church and it doesn’t poke fun of people who believe they are possessed. Liberami does what the best documentaries do, it gives us a window into a world that may be unfamiliar to us and lets us decide for ourselves what to make of it.
La Pazza Gioia (Directed by Paolo Virzì)
Paolo Virzì is hardly a new, young director but he’s acting like one. His latest, La Pazza Gioia, is crazy good.
To be clear, this is not a Thelma and Louise remake. The two mental hospital roommates (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti) break out and hit the road so yes, it’s #roadtripmovie and it’s #buddymovie and it’s #chickflick, but it’s so much more. Again, everyone who had something to do with this movie did a really good job, and the whole is much greater than sum of its parts. What a team! With Virzì’s brother Carlo Virzì creating the music for the film in the way that has changed Italian movie soundtracks (thank God) forever, and cinematography from the guy I consider to be the best in the business, Vladan Radovic, I find myself in a position that I’m never in: unable to find fault with a movie.
special mention…
Quo Vado (Directed by Gennaro Nunziante)
That’s right, I said it. Quo Vado is one of the most interesting movies of 2016. I didn’t say it was the best. I didn’t say it deserved awards. I just said “it’s interesting”. Fascinating, to be precise.
And it is, whether you like it or not.
There are plenty of goofy comedies in Italy, but none but this one has made 72 million dollars, so what explains this seemingly anomalous success? I can’t really say, but it fascinates me. Checco Zalone is on to something, and that is not debatable. Personally, I think it goes beyond being the dumbass everyman. He’s a dumbass, but he’s a dumbass who can change when he learns how to do better. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, “When he knows better he does better.”
I Love Italian Everything 