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Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema

"On a Magical Night" 
More great films have been added to Film at Lincoln Center’s virtual cinema, including a new 2K restoration of Nanni Moretti’s "Caro Diario" and "On a Magical Night" starring Chiara Mastroianni.

Mastroianni is law professor Maria, whose 25-year marriage to Richard (singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay) is ruptured when he discovers texts from Maria’s younger lover on her phone. After checking into a hotel across the street, she doesn’t exactly find herself alone with her thoughts: over the course of a hallucinatory evening, she’s visited by a series of impossible guests, including Richard’s twenty-something self (Vincent Lacoste) and the embodiment of her own free will (Stéphane Roger). Christophe Honoré’s stylish and sensual aesthetic makes for a swooning reflection on love and memory that becomes even more heartrending thanks to the brilliant cast.

With stunning cinematography and quirky characters, "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary) will take you on a trip through Italy and make you laugh all the way. Moretti is hilarious as he directs himself through a series of vignettes in which he is in search of that eternal question, What is the meaning of life? With scenic shots of Stromboli as well as modern Rome that are fit for a travelogue, Moretti gives us a tour via his Vespa of modern architecture in the Roman suburb, Garbatella. It is definitely a neighborhood less traveled by tourists but still beautiful with it's local charm and simple structures. This is a feel-good movie that has become a contemporary classic in Italy.

Click here to stream these and to see the full list of films in Film at Lincoln Center’s virtual cinema.

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