Archive for the ‘italian’ Category
Author: James
Looking for America
Writer-director Emanuele Crialese (Respiro (2002), Once We Were Strangers (1997)) sets his tale of immigrants’ dreams in Sicily at the beginning of the 20th century – the (at times brutal) immigrant experience is portrayed, stretching from a dirt-poor Sicilian hamlet to Ellis Island, the ‘Golden Door’ to the United States.
Author: James
Il divo (2008)
Showbiz has its divas, writes Gerald Loftus – politics, at least in Italy, has ‘il divo’. AKA Giulio Andreotti, alias Mr. Italy, Little Caesar, eternal Giulio, Beelzebub, Gobetto (‘cute little hunchback’), and probably many more diminutives not fit for a G-rated film review.
Author: Colin
Bellisima!
As part of Picturenose’s ongoing commitment to the cream of European cinema, a passion that we share with our sister site European Film Awards Reviews, Colin offers his thoughts on a modern Italian classic…
The main problem with Italian cinema is that most of it stays in Italy. A nation that is happy to share its cuisine, culture, style and general all-round dolce vita with the wider world is remarkably reluctant to export anything but a small percentage of its huge celluloid output to the global viewership. As a result of this, my experience of Italian cinema has been, up to now, either political polemic or Fellini-style “let’s fall in love and have some linguini vongole and a bit of a dance”.
La Sconosciuta (2006), written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso (1988)), not only opened my eyes to just how powerful and torrid Italian films could be, but also moves me to say something I have never put in print: This is the best film I have seen this year, by a long way.
Author: James
As promised in our recent article on the European Parliament LUX Cinema Prize, we begin our assessment of the three films up for the gong. A review of Občan Havel (2008) will follow on Picturenose presently, and you can check out Delta (2008) on our sister site, European Film Awards Reviews…
- Colin: Mike: the Matrix was utter toss. Don’t go there. Anyhow, I’m right with you on Aliens –...
- Colin: James: Why not do ten more and see if you can avoid putting the god-awful travesty that is Independence Day in...
- CD: The Day the Earth Stood Still (it’s about an alien who is Jesus…but better than ET) Soylent Green...
- James: Hello Chris, and welcome to Picturenose!
Many thanks for your comment – I thought, in fact, that... - James: Colin, good points, both on Westworld (which should really have been included, I know, I know) and otters.