Italian Cinema Today

If you’re in the mood for a quintessential old-school Italian comedy, look no further than “Totò, Peppino e la malafemmina.” Directed in the mid-1950s by Camillo Mastrocinque, the film has stood the test of time. Starring two of Italy’s most beloved comic actors, Totò (Antonio De Curtis) and Peppino De Filippo, it is widely regarded as one of the country’s most iconic comedies, showcasing mid-century Neapolitan humor. The film also features a young Nino Manfredi at the beginning of his prolific six-decade career. “Totò, Peppino e la malafemmina” is the story of two simple, old-fashioned brothers from Naples, Antonio and Peppino Caponi (Totò and De Filippo respectively), who embark on a trip up north to check on their young nephew Gianni. Gianni has moved to Milan and fallen for a seductive nightclub dancer named Marisa (Maria Luisa Mangini, aka Dorian Gray), whom they refer to as a “malafemmina,” meaning a “bad woman” or femme fatale. Believing she is corrupting him, Totò and Peppino ...

Named by Vogue Italy as the most versatile performer in the history of Italian cinema, Toni Servillo has earned a reputation as a masterful character actor who hauntingly transforms himself into dark, troubled protagonists indifferent to the dubious methods they employ to get what they want. Born in 1958 in Afragola, a town in the province of Naples, Servillo began his acting career on stage during the 1970s, founding Teatro Studio in Caserta and participating in a number of productions in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Influenced by Eduardo De Filippo, he interpreted several of the legendary actor and playwright’s roles and writings.   Servillo made his feature film debut in Mario Martone’s 1992 “Morte di un matematico napoletano” (Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician) and appeared in Martone’s follow-up projects: the 1993 “Rasoi,” the 1997 “I vesuviani” (The Vesuvians) and the 1998 “Teatro di guerra” (Rehearsals for War).   He was tapped by Paolo Sorrentino to play a starring...

The tempestuous weather in the Eternal City Wednesday appropriately set the tone for La stoffa dei  song   (The Stuff of Dreams) , the new film by Gianfranco Cabiddu, one of the most significant auteurs of Italian cinema.  La stoffa dei sogni tells the story of a modest theatre company (to say the least) that is shipwrecked with a group of dangerous organized crime mobsters on the coast of Asinara, the location of an island-prison in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The story explores the role of art in our lives, bringing to light the universal themes of guilt, revenge, redemption, and pardon.  Director Gianfranco Cabiddu and Sergio Rubini Vincenzo Carpineta's stunning cinematography sets the stage for what at first seems like a drama but quickly turns into a comedy at the hands of veteran actor/director Sergio Rubini. Adapted from The Tempest by William Shakespeare and L’arte della com media by Eduardo De Filippo, the dialogue betwe...