12 (+1) Italian films to watch

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, honouring the best films of 2020, is due to take place on 25 April. I recently watched the film ‘The Life Ahead’ (‘La vita davanti a sé’) by Edoardo Ponti and starring Sophia Loren. Set in Bari, it is based in the novel ‘The Life Before Us’, which is set in Paris instead. Although the film has not been nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, the song ‘Io sì (Seen)’ written by Diane Warren and performed by Laura Pausini has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Inspired by ‘The Life Ahead’, I have been reflecting on some of the many Italian films I have watched.

12 more Italian films to watch

In fact, so many films and filmmakers come to mind when I think of Italian cinema. For instance, ‘Il Postino’ (1994), by Michael Radford and Massimo Troisi, ‘The Son’s Room’ (‘La stanza del figlio’, 2001) by Nanni Moretti.

One of the most famous Italian filmmakers, Federico Fellini won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for ‘La Dolce Vita’ in 1960, as well as the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for four of his films (thus holding the record for the most wins of that Oscar for any director).

Equally famous is Bernardo Bertolucci, who directed landmark English-language films including ‘The Conformist’ (1970), ‘Last Tango in Paris’ (1972), ‘The Last Emperor’ (1987), and ‘Little Buddha’ (1993). In 1987, ‘The Last Emperor’ by Bernardo Bertolucci won the Academy Award for Best Picture. These films are In 2013, I watched his last film, the Italian-language ‘Me and You’ (‘Io e te’), at the 7th European Psychoanalytic Film Festival. Afterwards, I was honoured to participate in a discussion with Bertolucci himself, the Honorary President of the festival. ‘Me and You’ was the last film to be directed by Bertolucci, before his death in 2018.

Then, two years later, at the 8th European Psychoanalytic Film Festival, I watched another Italian film, ‘Human Capital’ (‘Il capitale umano’) by Paolo Virzì. The film is based on the novel ‘Human Capital’ by American author Stephen Amidon; an American remake, directed by Marc Meyers, has recently been released.

Some other Italian films I’ve watched in the last few years include ‘The Dinner’ (‘I nostri ragazzi’, 2014) by Ivano De Matteo, and ‘The Girl in the Fog’ (‘La ragazza nella nebbia’, 2017) by David di Donatello.

In ‘The Dinner’, the story follows two brothers and their families; tensions arise when their children beat a homeless woman to death. Dealing with the theme of crime and punishment, the film is based on the novel of the same name by Dutch author Herman Koch. There has also been a Dutch adaptation of the novel (‘Het Diner’, 2013) by Menno Meyjes, as well as an American one (2017), directed by Oren Moverman.

‘The Girl in the Fog’ is also based on a novel (by Donato Carrisi). Set in a mountain village, this Italian thriller follows the investigation of a teenager’s disappearance.

As of 2020, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (the most of any country). The list includes ‘Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’ (‘Ieri, oggi, domani’, 1963) by Vittorio De Sica and starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (1988) by Giuseppe Tornatore, ‘Life Is Beautiful’ (‘La vita è bella’, 1997) by and starring Roberto Benigni, and more recently ‘The Great Beauty’ (‘La grande bellezza’, 2013) by Paolo Sorrentino.

After ‘The Great Beauty’, Sorrentino has directed three more films: the English-language ‘Youth’ (2015), ‘Loro’ (2018) and ‘The Hand of God’ (‘È stata la mano di Dio). The latter is yet to be released.

Further reading

If you’ve worked up an appetite for Italy, check out my posts:

‘Summer in Rome: top 7 tips’

‘Summer in Verona: top 7 tips‘

‘Summer in Florence: top 7 tips’

Meanwhile, if you’re celebrating Easter this weekend, Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter!

Alex

(the hopefully-soon-to-be-Traveling-again Psychiatrist)