Italian Cinema Today

Paolo Sorrentino at the 2005 edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, NYC Update: 12 March 2018 It's always exciting to have news about a brand new Paolo Sorrentino film. Scenes from "Loro," his latest collaboration with Toni Servillo, were released today.  The Academy Award-winning director announced the project back in 2016 at the  73rd Venice Film Festival  when he was presenting the first two episodes of his HBO series, "The Young Pope." The project had been shelved for a while and then in April of 2017,  Variety  reported that filming would start during the summer. "Loro" was loosely based on the events surrounding Italy's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. In November of 2013, Berlusconi was expelled from parliament amid accusations of sexual relations with a minor and bribing a senator. Two years later, he was found guilty of bribing the senator and was barred from public office for five ye...

Toni Servillo in a scene from "La Grande Bellezza" Italy's Oscar entry has made the short list. Paolo Sorrentino's "La Grande Bellezza" (The Great Beauty) which stars the director's top actor, Toni Servillo, was a huge hit in Italy and is gaining momentum for a coveted nomination in the category for Best Foreign Film.   The film's A-list cast which also features Rome natives, Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli, tells the story of the Roman club underworld. Toni Servillo takes the lead role of Jep Gambardella, an uninspired writer who recounts his days as a young spectator who became seduced and intoxicated with power, finding himself caught in a web of superficiality, disillusionment and corruption. Sorrentino described "La Grande Bellezza" as "a film which probes the contradictions, the beauties, the scenes I have witnessed and the people I’ve met in Rome; a wonderful city, soothing yet at the same time full of hidden dangers....