EVERY BLESSED DAY and the Opening Night of Open Roads New Italian Cinema

The lobby of the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center was all a buzz before the opening of Open Roads the Italian film series that was taking up residence in the theater complex for the next week. I was running late when I arrived and I had to fight my way through the throng of well-dressed people most of whom where speaking Italian. There were also several photographers, only one of which seemed to be from the American press (Brad from Festival Traveler).

Inside the theater things were hopping as English and Italian mixed freely. There was sense that something special was going to happen.

Close to show time a huge crowd of people, all special guests, actors, actresses, producers and directors made their way down. The few press people followed them in snapping pictures. I was there on my own dime, not so much covering the event, rather just there to see the movie(Hey, it happens occasionally). As everyone got seats and the press asked the VIPs some questions in Italian I took out my camera just in case something happened.

A shift in the light indicated they were ready to start. Dennis Lim, one of the programmers took the stage and made some introductory remarks and said thank you to the sponsors. He then turned the evening over to one of the founders of Open Roads, who made a few remarks and then invited all of the filmmakers to the stage (pictures can be found at the Unseen Films Tumblr page here). Three of the invited guests were in transit in three separate cabs from Kennedy Airport. It was a comment that made me think of the trio being in some sort of race through New York traffic.

After all the introductions the stage was cleared and the film started.

EVERY BLESSED DAY is the story of Guido and Antonia. He’s a bookish night clerk at a hotel, she works days as a car rental agent and sings part time. He loves his family, she stays as far away as possible from her own. As their friends and neighbors begin to have children the couple decides that perhaps they should get more serious in trying to make a family. Going to the Pope’s gynecologist the couple tries to one more to their family.

Following the course of about a year in the lives of the couple we watch as their fortunes go up down and sideways. It’s an amusing comedy drama that never gets too serious, despite feeling that there is some grand dark tragedy just around the corner (a spoiler- there isn’t) the film is simply good time with good people who hit a rough patch. Leads Luca Marinelli and Federica Victoria Caiozzo in arte Thony, who provides the songs that make up the score of the film, are a wonderful pairing. Seeing Marinelli after the film it’s hard to imagine that the guy I saw after the film was the same one in it. He’s an amazing actor, as is Thony who we were told in the Q&A hadn’t acted before. It’s a lovely film, more smile inducing then laugh producing, with just enough seriousness to keep things interesting. (and I’d love to tell you about a couple of scenes towards the end but I can’t spoil them they are just too wonderful to do that.)

After the film Luca Marinelli came out and did a brief Q&A. He was utterly charming and seemingly a little nervous. Early questions involved his preparation for the film- had he read the book? how much of the role was him? He said he had read the book and the role reflected him in some ways simply because he was performing the part. Had someone else done the role it would have had bits of them in the role. One woman asked him why it was that it seemed that until this film most romantic comedies focused on older people (actually she wanted to know why more romantic comedies didn’t focus on good looking younger people… and she wanted to know if he had been in anything else…which came after a discussion of his working with other directors). For the life of me I really can’t remember what else was discussed since there was a great deal of joking around which wa much more interesting than the questions and the answers.

After the film I headed out and headed home. I had a ticket for Marco Bellocchio’s DORMANT BEAUTY but things had changed between the time I purchased the ticket and the screening so I had to fly. Outside I ran into a woman who was trying to sell her own ticket to the screening. A friend of hers wasn’t coming which bummed her out since she loved the film so much she wanted to share it. We talked for bit and she tried to sell me on the idea of going back in and seeing the film, but familial commitments kept me from doing so…so I headed off into the night and the rain.

The Discovery at Dawn(2012) Open Roads New Italian CInema 2013

I suspect that this will play better for anyone who has either read the source novel or who is familiar with all of the references to Italian history that the film alludes to.

The plot of the film has a 40ish college professor cleaning out her mother's house  close to the anniversary of her father's disappearance. He was a college dean who disappeared several weeks after the previous dean had been shot dead by terrorists. As she cleans the house she finds that if she uses the rotary phone in the house she can call herself a week before her fathers disappearance. Perhaps she can change the past, or if not perhaps she can find out what happened thirty years earlier.

Well  made,well acted film completely flummoxed me. Little in the the film meant anything to me  except in the most cursory way. Yes I wanted to know what happened and why, but at the same time I could not to connect to any of the larger themes or ideas that the film was getting at (I can't even speculate as to what they might be). I freely admit that part of the problem is I simply don't know enough about Italy in the early 1980's to grasp what was going on and why. I don't really understand why these terrorists wanted to do what they did. Equally amorphous is the relationships between many of the characters who seem to have a great deal going on off the screen.

While largely a disappointment the film does have some great performances and it's use of early 80's music dramatically is excellent.

The film plays at Open Roads on June 10th at 130pm

Pictures from the Opening of Lincoln Center's Open Roads New Italian Cinema at Tumblr

I posted some pictures from the opening of Open Roads over at the Unseen Films Tumblr page.

It has Dennis Lim Intoducing everyone, all of the filmmakers on stage, a picture of Marco Bellocchio and some pictures of the great Luca Marinelli during the post film Q&A following his EVERY BLESSED DAY which opened the festival.

The page can be found here or in the side bar.

A review of EVERY BLESSED DAY will be coming soon.

Face of Another (2012) Open Roads New Italian Cinema 2013

After a truly bizarre opening sequence with bandaged men and women staggering zombie like through the forest this farcial satire settles down into a look at celebrity, good looks and the all mighty dollar as Belle, the host of a TV show on plastic surgery is injured by a flying toilet. Taken back to her husband's clinic (he's the surgeon of the show) a media frenzy erupts as the public waits to see what will become of Belle's face.

When the film works, which it does frequently, it is a funny comedy of vain-ity as everyone tries to get their own. The performances are spot on. The look of the film is something akin to Fellini meets Busby Berkley meets art deco is a wonder to behold.

Unfortunately this brings me to the script which doesn't match cast or the design. Not only are its points obvious, but it also is a bit too scatological with a line about laxatives repeated every couple of minutes and a grand shower of shit a climax of the film. (I have nothing wrong against either, I simply wish they were funnier)

Ultimately this is an enjoyable but very minor farce that would play better if it wasn't trying so hard to actually be about something. They say satire is the thing that dies on Saturday night, but for my money it's only when its poorly done, and here it's just adequetely done. Satire shouldn't bash you over the head and here the film does just that as it hits the easy targets of fame, greed and instant stardom. The points being driven home here aren't anything new. However there are times when the film is quite funny. If you can get past the desire to say "no duh" you'll have a good time.

Handmade Cinema (2012) Open Roads New Italian Cinema 2013

What is the difference between an artist and and artisan?

Hour long documentary on the craftsmen and women who worked behind the scenes at the the Cinecitta studios in Rome. The film is a glorious love poem to the art created by the artisans who work tirelessly behind the scenes to create the sets, the costumes and everything else that fills the screen in many of our favorite movies.

This film is a treasure.

Sure I knew intellectually what it took to make a movie, but never before did I have a sense of how the dreams of the directors got passed to the designer who then turned it into sketches which are then made real. It all looks so easy...and despite what you may think you can't get everything off a rack or out of a storehouse. Some times you have to make things and the crafts people at Cinecitta can make anything. Actually when it comes to making something like vintage hats the only people capable of making hats of the old style are these artists.

And these people are artists. they are magicians and more. It is wonderful that they are at last celebrated.

If you love movies you really need to see this film. Yea you know how movies are made, and I'm sure you realize the work that goes into the films, but I seriously doubt, short of you going behind the scenes at a studio such as Cinecitta do you really understand the work it is to make what we see on the screen and you'll see how some of it was really done.

The film screens on the 7th and on the 9th. It is screening with THE RESCUE a 22 minute film about Salvatore Striano who was in CESAR MUST DIE.

Piazza Fontana:The Italian Conspiracy (2012) Open Roads New Italian Cinema 2013

A big screen must see film has the feel of the great Italian crime films from the mid-1970's. This is a near great film looking at the battles between various political forces who'll do anything to maintain and gain greater power.

The film is a based on a book by Paolo Cucchiarelli and tells the story of the bombing of the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura that was located in the Piazza Fontana. The bombing took place on December 12 1969 and was blamed on anarchists. However the truth was much more complicated and only really began to be looked at when Anarchist leader Giuseppe Pinelli died in police custody. While the death unto itself is bad news, the fact that no one could agree on what happened beyond that he fell out a fourth story window, began to shine light on what was a rotten situation. The bombing wasn't just a political act of terror but something darker.

Beginning before the bombing, at a time when Italy was in political turmoil and being pressured from NATO, the US and in fear because of a coup in Greece, the police are just trying to keep the peace, When a cop is killed during a protest some feel it's time for sterner measures and a clamp down on the Communists and Anarchists who are setting off bombs. Police Commissioner Luigi Calabresi is tasked with keeping an eye on the various groups. That all changes with the bombing and the death of Pinelli on his watch and it isn't long before he's down the rabbit hole and realizing there are darker forces at work.

The film has rightly won numerous awards around the globe and it's hard not to see why. The case is amazing, the story telling is first rate (Don't worry if the film throws lot of people and places at you it will all come together when the bombing happens). The look of the film is fantastic. Its a gorgeous wide screen film that makes you feel as if you are there. A near perfect recreation of the time and places of the early 1970's this is a marvelous film that puts us into the rabbit hole with Calabresi as he tries to figure out who is behind the bombing that killed 17 and wounded 88. As a film fan I love that the  film feels like many of the crime films of the 70's I grew up watching on late night TV.

While the film has a single flaw that keeps it from being truly great (It could use a bit more back story), the film does manage to over come any reservations on my part by transcending being simply about the one bombing in order to be about the use of terror in a "free" society. This isn't just about Italy, this is about how our own government and their agents and allies could use terror for their own ends. Why would some people think that US government stage something as terrible as the 911 attacks? Because some people in the Italian government would bomb their own people. Additionally in detailing the course of events,it also shines a light on the Italian justice system that prosecuted Amanda Knox and botched case that was detailed in Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi's book The Monster of Florence. Is this justice? I think not.

This is a must see movie especially on the big screen (It plays June 7 and 12)