Italian Cinema Today

Martin Scorsese’s deeply personal documentary “My Voyage to Italy” is an exploration of Italian cinema and the films that shaped him as a director and storyteller. Released in 1999, the documentary is both a history lesson on Italian cinema and an autobiography of Scorsese’s childhood and artistic influences. Using family movies and actual footage, Scorsese begins by explaining how important movies were during his childhood in New York’s Little Italy. Because he suffered from asthma, he could not play outside often, so he spent much of his time watching films with his family. Italian cinema became a way for him to connect with his heritage and understand the lives, emotions, and struggles of not only Italian people but also his close relatives. He notes that these films were different from Hollywood movies because they felt more realistic and emotional.  A large part of the documentary focuses on the Italian Neorealism film movement that emerged in the wake of World War II. The fil...

“Vera & Giuliano” “I knew Fellini , Antonioni , Pontecorvo. It was a period of good people, good writers and very good directors.” A pioneering director himself, Giuliano Montaldo is one of the last living greats from Italy’s cinematic Golden Age. At 92, he’s as active as ever, and the pandemic hasn’t slowed him down. Donning his mask, he was one of the first in line when Italy reopened its movie theaters. Born in Genoa in 1930, Montaldo moved to Rome as a teenager to follow his dream of working in cinema. While attending film school, he was discovered by director Carlo Lizzani. Taking Montaldo under his wing, Lizzani cast him alongside Gina Lollobrigida in his 1951 war drama “Achtung! Banditi!” and then nurtured him as an assistant. Montaldo worked on a string of films with Lizzani, including his acclaimed 1952 murder mystery “Ai margini della metropoli” (At the Edge of the City) , starring Giulietta Masina . Montaldo then assisted director Gillo Pontecorvo while continuing to ta...

A film, television and stage actor,   Stanley Tucci has an impressive 136 parts to his credit in a career that has spanned nearly 40 years. He’s also dabbled as a producer, director and voice actor on his way to three Emmy Awards and nominations for an Oscar, a Tony and a Grammy. Big-screen acting has been Tucci’s bread and butter, most of it in supporting and ensemble roles. Whether he’s playing an understanding dad in “Easy A,” a flamboyant magazine art director in “The Devil Wears Prada” or Puck in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a wry intelligence shines through much of his work.   His breakout role came in the 1996 film “Big Night,” which he co-directed and co-wrote. In it, he plays the charming, embattled co-owner of a struggling Italian restaurant that he runs with his headstrong chef brother. Known for its spirited scenes of cooking and feasting, the film established Tucci as a culinary force. That reputation grew with his turn as Julia Child’s adoring husband in the 2...

Last year, we celebrated the centennials of Alberto Sordi , Federico Fellini and Franca Valeri . This year, it's Giulietta Masina's turn to shine.  Born on February 22, 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La Sapienza University where she was active in the theater program during the 1941-1942 school year.  In 1943, Masina landed the female lead in “Terzoglio,” a radio show about the adventures of newlyweds Cico and Pallina. The scripts were written by Fellini. Not only did she achieve popularity with the show, she married Fellini. The show last...

One hundred years after his birth,  Federico Fellini  is more relevant than ever with new facts about his life and filmmaking still being uncovered. Towards the end of 1958,  Fellini went through a complicated professional period and found himself in a deep depression. Despite having already won two Oscars for "La Strada" and "Le Notti di Cabiria," which starred his wife and muse Giulietta Masina , he could not find a producer interested in his new project: a story he wrote along with colleagues Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. The project was titled, "La Dolce Vita."  One producer, Giuseppe Amato, believed in the script and that's all it took to create the immortal masterpiece. Now, a new  documentary-drama sheds light on the iconic film that was almost never made.  Through  re-enactment, clips from the film, and archival images,  "The truth about La Dolce Vita" by Giuseppe Pedersoli  reveals the correspondence between Fellini and ...

Giulietta Masina  gives a forceful performance in Carlo Lizzani and Massimo Mida’s 1952   suspenseful murder mystery, “Ai margini della metropoli” (At the Edge of the City).  Masina plays Gina, the devoted wife of Mario (Michel Jourdin), an unemployed peasant accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Marcella. The layered story and brilliantly written screenplay show a side of 1950s Rome that we rarely see in Post-WWII films but existed for the vast poverty-stricken population. The subject deals with the unspoken discrimination against those living in camps and land-shares who did not benefit from the post-war economic boom. A young, vibrant Massimo Girotti portrays a torn defense attorney who gets emotionally invested in the case, having a gut feeling that his client is innocent while the evidence continues to pile up against him. Gina goes to great lengths to track down the alleged witnesses and call them out on their false testimony. The entire film comes together in...

A Fellini family portrait  “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann.  Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration.  Nicknamed a  “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as  the actress who moved him most,  Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times.  Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...