Italian Cinema Today

With so much buzz about  Paolo Sorrentino ’s premiere of “The Hand of God” (È stata la mano di Dio) at the upcoming Venice Film Festival and on Netflix, I’m sharing an opinion piece that I wrote last year about both of his HBO series, “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope.” The article was published in the January, 2021 issue of Fra Noi Magazine .  Sorrentino’s acclaimed HBO series “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope” are visually stunning fantasies of the mysterious world behind the Vatican walls. It was announced last year that a third and final series will round out the trilogy. This fascination surrounding the enigma of Catholicism has been present throughout the director’s career but came to a head in his 2013 Oscar winner, “La grande bellezza” (The Great Beauty). If there was a prelude to the HBO series, it would be that film.   From the opening hymns to the main character, Jep Gambardella ( Toni Servillo ), curiously gazing into a parochial school, the l...

Free Spirits of Mario Martone's Capri Revolution on the coast of Gaeta “Città del Cinema” (City of Cinema) is a recent nickname given to a former fortress for the Roman Empire.  Located on the southern end of Rome’s region of #Lazio and bordering Naples' region of #Campania, Gaeta boasts picturesque mountainous shorelines and centuries-old structures. Scenes from Saverio Costanzo's HBO series  L'amica geniale ( My Brilliant Friend) were filmed in July along the city's seascapes .  The director shot scenes from the first season and returned to film scenes with director Alice Rohrwacher, his girlfriend and collaborator. The set was closed and for the most part, hidden from public view. The scenes were shot on the beach and in the sea. There's speculation that the scenes are part of a vacation plot of the two friends, Elena and Elisa, played by actresses Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace.  Click here   to see a few photos of the shoot taken from...

Born in Calabria but raised in the northern region of Emilia Romagna, Paola Lavini is making her mark in Italian cinema and television as a diverse actress whose passion is telling real stories through sincere, carefully-developed characters.   Lavini is no stranger to American audiences. If you followed the HBO series Rome , you saw her in the very first episode in 2005 portraying a snobby, ill-mannered trophy wife named Phyllis. When I interviewed Lavini back in October, she told me about one scene in particular in which her character was feasting on the Roman delicacy, porchetta. Since Phyllis was rich, spoiled and uncouth, she ferociously ate the porchetta, throwing any class right out the window. The American producers weren’t expecting this beautiful, petite woman to eat with such gusto and authority. They were thoroughly impressed and later remarked on how brilliant she was while doing that scene.   More recently, Americans watched Lavini on the big screen in Fr...