Tribeca Film Festival 2015: Vittorio and Paolo Taviani's "Wondrous Boccaccio"

Updated 4 January 2016

"Wondrous Boccaccio" has been added to the lineup of the 2016 European Union Film Festival in Chicago, which will run March 4 – 31 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
Click here to get your Festival Pass.

From the dramatic music of the opening credits to the last frame of film, "Wondrous Boccaccio" is a poetic, surreal and yes, wondrous escape back in time.

Based on stories written in the 14th century by Giovanni Boccaccio in "The Decameron", the film depicts the dark ages of Tuscany during the plague when grave diggers couldn't keep up with the demand. Iconic filmmakers, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani live up to their reputation by creating an atmosphere of loss, tragedy, fear, struggle and most importantly, hope.

The film opens with the dreary, grey atmosphere of a doomed city whose inhabitants are dying at an alarming number. Mass graves filled with children and adults alike are dug daily with mourning relatives desparately throwing themselves over the bodies of their loved ones. A group of young friends decides to make a run for it and take shelter in a farm house situated in the picturesque, rolling hills of Tuscany. There, we feel for the first time the hope nestled in the green hills, fresh air and blue skies of this remote country get-a-away. The friends set some ground rules on how they will pass their days together while avoiding any animosity, envy or boredom. One ingenious way is to tell stories- detailed, colorful, compelling stories with one common thread: amore. And here begins "Wondrous Boccaccio".

The Taviani brothers call upon a whole host of diverse characters played by an A-list of Italian actors to convey the wild imaginations of these desperate youngsters longing to get their minds off the tragedy, death and ruin facing their city. From a father obsessed with his daughter to a village cretin who believes he's invisible to group of rebellious nuns to a young peasant who makes a heartbreaking sacrifice for the woman he loves, we are wildly entertained with gripping stories that keep us at the edge of our seats.

Composer, Giuliano Taviani, who also wrote the soundtrack for Francesco Munzi's "Black Souls", created a powerful music score that is a perfect accompaniment to the gripping suspense of the film's vignettes.

I highly recommend this beautiful masterpiece, "Wondrous Boccaccio". The Taviani brothers have once again succeeded in creating a magnificent, memorable work, which embraces the magic, dreams and infinite possibilities that make up cinema.

Comments

Ornella Muti: Five decades of Acting and Still Going Strong

Ornella Muti was born Francesca Romana Rivelli in Rome in 1955 to a Neapolitan father and an Estonian mother. She began her career as a model during her teenage years and made her film debut in 1970 with “La Moglie più bella” (The Most Beautiful Wife). Her follow-up role was in the 1971 film, “Sole nella pelle” (Sun on the Skin), in which she played the daughter of wealthy parents who runs off with a hippie they don’t approve of. The film offers a telling journey through Italian society in the seventies, with its political climate, breathtaking seaside, and the styles and cars of that time. Much of the film is set amid the sunny Italian seaside and captures the innocence and beauty of first love. Muti made her American film debut in 1980 with "Flash Gordon." She played the role of Princess Aura. She’s appeared in two other American films, including “Oscar,” directed by John Landis and starring Don Ameche, Chazz Palminteri, and Sylvester Stallone. In 1992, she w...

The Anthology Film Archives Presents: The Italian Connection: Poliziotteschi and Other Italo-Crime Films of the 1960s and '70's

June 19 – June 29 Influenced both by 1960s political cinema and Italian crime novels, as well as by French noir and American cop movies like "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection," many Italian filmmakers in the late-60s and early-70s gradually moved away from the spaghetti western genre, trading lone cowboys for ‘bad’ cops and the rough frontier of the American west for the mean streets of modern Italy. Just as they had with their westerns, they reinvented the borrowed genre with their inimitable eye for style and filled their stories with the kidnappings, heists, vigilante justice, and brutal violence that suffused this turbulent moment in post-boom 1970s Italy. The undercurrent of fatalism and cynicism in these uncompromising movies is eerily reminiscent of the state of discontent in Italy today. ‘The Italian Connection’ showcases the diversity and innovation found in the genre, from the gangster noir of Fernando Di Leo’s "Caliber 9" ...

Model/Actress Anna Falchi

Anna Falchi was born Anna Kristiina Palomaki, on April 22, 1972, in Tampere, Finland. Her mother, Kaarina Palomaki Sisko, is Finnish, while her father, Benito "Tito" Falchi, is from Romagna, Italy. Growing up in Italy, Anna was a tomboy, and had a fervent imagination. She is known mostly for her prolific career in modelling. However, she tried her hand at acting and landed a role in one of my favorite Italian comedies, Nessun messaggio in segreteria . I consider it my one of my favorites because it brought together so many amazing, talented filmmakers during a time when they were all just starting out. Those filmmakers, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valerio Mastandrea, Luca Miniero and Paolo Genovese are now huge names in contemporary Italian cinema, so it's great to look back and see their work in a low-profile film completely different from the bigger-budget stardom they now know. Watch the trailer . Anna Falchi started her career as a...

Ettore Scola explores enduring friendships and lost ideals in 'C’eravamo tanto amati'

A scene from "C'eravamo tanti amati" Mixing both tragedy and humor, Ettore Scola ’s 1974 film “C’eravamo tanto amati” (“We All Loved Each Other So Much”) follows 30 years in the lives of three men and the woman they each adore. By examining how his generation changed after the war, Scola makes a film that reflects its era. Scola explores the moral, political and emotional evolution of Italy’s postwar generation and, in doing so, creates a film that is a chronicle of its time and a love letter to cinema. The story begins in the aftermath of World War II. Three friends — Antonio ( Nino Manfredi ), Gianni (Vittorio Gassman) and Nicola (Stefano Satta Flores) — emerge from the Italian Resistance with a shared dream of justice, equality and social renewal. They are united by their hope that the sacrifices of war will lead to a better world. But the decades that follow prove to be challenging as Italy undergoes massive social changes, from the postwar economic boom to the politi...

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

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 ...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog