SFFS NEW ITALIAN CINEMA Nov. 11-18, 2012

[Chris Knipp]

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San Francisco Film Society NEW ITALIAN CINEMA Nov. 11-18, 2012 (http://sffs.org/Exhibition/SF-Film-Society-Cinema/New-Italian-Cinema)

Here is the program below with the Film Society's blurbs. I will cover the series and provide reviews and ratings of the new films. The Filmleaf Festival Coverage thread for this series begins here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012)

Texas
Fausto Paravidino (Italy 2005)
In a small town in northern Italy, a group of twentysomething friends pass their time partying. Scandal erupts when the handsome Gianluca betrays his girlfriend with a married schoolteacher named Maria (Valeria Golino). Read more... Sunday November 11, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

A Tale of Love
Francesco Maselli (Storia d’amore, Italy 1986)
In one of her early roles, Valeria Golino plays the struggling, hard-working Bruna, whose love affair with one particular man begins to draw her away from the overbearing demands of work and family. Read more... Monday November 12, 6:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Respiro
Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France 2002)
On the impoverished Italian island of Lampedusa, a free-spirited woman (Valeria Golino) is accused of madness by townspeople fed up with her antics. Read more... Monday November 12, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

The Greatest of Them All (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28706#post28706)
Carlo Virzì (I più grandi di tutti, Italy 2011)
Raucous but with a melancholy air, this is the story of the exceedingly mediocre rock group Pluto and the wheelchair-bound young man who begs the four members of the band to reunite. Read more... Tuesday November 13, 6:15 pm
Friday November 16, 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

Kryptonite! (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28705#post28705)
Ivan Cotroneo (La kryptonite nella borsa, Italy 2011)
Set in 1964 Naples, a myopic boy watches his family members react to the turbulent 1960s—his older siblings donning hippie attire, his mom collapsing when she discovers her husband’s affair, and a possibly gay cousin who thinks he is Superman. Read more... Sunday November 11, 5:30 pm
Tuesday November 13, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Shun Li and the Poet (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28712#post28712)
Andrea Segre (Io sono li, Italy/France 2011)
The friendship between two immigrants amid the xenophobia of a Venetian fishing community is detailed in subtle and visually dramatic fashion in Andrea Segre's first narrative feature. Read more... Wednesday November 14, 6:15 pm
Sunday November 18, 3:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

The First on the List (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28714#post28714)
Roan Johnson (I primi della lista, Italy/France 2011)
Set against Italy’s political upheaval in the late ‘60s, this lighthearted comedy follows three young potential revolutionaries who become convinced that there’s going to be a military coup and set off for the border. Read more... Wednesday November 14, 9:00 pm
Saturday November 17, 6:45 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

Apartment in Athens (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28721#post28721)
Ruggero Dipaola (Appartamento ad Atene, Italy 2011)
Based on a book by Glenway Wescott, this film tells the story of a Greek family forced to take a Nazi captain into their home during WWII and the effect of his presence on each of them. Read more... Thursday November 15, 6:15 pm
Saturday November 17, 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

Easy! (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28730#post28730)
Francesco Bruni (Scialla!, Italy 2011)
An underachieving writer, currently ghostwriting the story of an Italian porn star, finds out that the similarly underachieving boy he’s been tutoring is his son. Read more... Thursday November 15, 9:00 pm
Saturday November 17, 4:00 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

Hit the Road, Nonna (Prêt-à-Porter)
Duccio Chiarini (Italy 2011)
In this playful family portrait, director Duccio Chiarini investigates the life and history of his somewhat belligerent, defiantly unrepentant 87-year-old grandmother Delia, and explores the reasons why she has become a persona non grata in his household. Read more... Friday November 16, 4:30 pm
Sunday November 18, 1:30 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

100 Meters to Heaven (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28749#post28749)
Raffaele Verzillo (100 metri dal paradiso, Italy 2012)
A creative-thinking monsignor has an idea to expand the image of the Church—getting the Vatican to compete in the London Olympics—and assisted by his childhood friend, they round up a team of athletes from around the globe. Read more... Friday November 16, 6:30 pm
Saturday November 17, 1:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

The Cherry on the Cake (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28778#post28778)
Laura Morante (La cerise sur le gâteau/Ciliegine, France 2012)
A woman, recently separated from her long-term boyfriend, finds the perfect match but is convinced that he’s gay. Surprise—he’s not! Read more... Sunday November 18, 6:30 pm and 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Ivan Controneo: Kryptonite! (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28705#post28705)

A too-complicated but amusing picture of a disorganized family in Portici, Naples, by the sea, in the early Seventies, from the point of view mainly of a 9-year-old boy.

Sunday November 11, 5:30 pm
Tuesday November 13, 9:00 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Carlo Virzì: The Greatest of Them All (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28706#post28706)

The theme of a rock band staging a reunion is a familiar one, but Virzì's movie captures a moment and holds it delicately for us to enjoy and contemplate. The viewpoint is both ironic and forgiving.

Tuesday November 13, 6:15 pm
Friday November 16, 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema,
San Francisco

[Chris Knipp]

Andrea Segre: Shun Li and the Poet (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28712#post28712)


Segre is a prize-wionning documentary filmmaker and this is his narrative feature debut. A delicate study of the plight of a Chinese immigrant to Italy under the Draconian indentured servant system, and her platonic romance with a 30-year Yugoslav resident of the Veneto city-island of Chioggia. Zhao Tao, muse of Jia Zhang-ke, got the Davide Best Actress award for the lead performance, and the cinematographer is the same one who did CERTIFIED COPY. However the poetic plotline could have had a little more grit in it. It's lovely, but as watery as the setting.

Sunday November 18, 3:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema
San Francisco

[Chris Knipp]

Roan Johnson: The First on the List (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28714#post28714)

A true story from Pisa about three protest singers in 1970 convinced a right wing coup is coming any minute and will have them "the first on the list" for arrest and torture. They flee to Austria, for no good reason. The director, despite his English name, is from Pisa too. His first feature is modest, and has some uncertainty of tone (he's not sure if he wants to tell a sweaty tale or joke about it), but this will seem familiar to anybody who has been led astray on a foolish and dangerous venture. This is silliness, but it didn't seem so at the time. An it reflects the paranoid atmosphere as Italy's decade-plus Days of Lead era got under way.

Wednesday November 14, 9:00 pm
Saturday November 17, 6:45 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Ruggero Dipaola: Apartment in Athens (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28721#post28721)

Dipaola's first feature is a good, but not great, adaptation of a 1945 novel by Glenway Wescott published in Italy only in the last decade, depicting the horror of occupation in the form of a Nazi officer who moves into a Greek family's apartment in Athens and makes them his servants. Issued in an all-Italian language form and in one with the Italian actors dubbed in Greek and some German. With Laura Morante, who's own directorial debut is the final film of this series, THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE.

Thursday November 15, 6:15 pm
Saturday November 17, 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Francesco Bruni: Easy! (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28730#post28730)

The coming-of-age plus midlife-crisis story resolved by bringing a boy together with a mentor and father is familiar, but the two actors are good, particularly young newcomer Filippo Scicchitano, whose mastery of tough boy Roman street slang can't be taught and who has an engaging manner.

Thursday November 15, 9:00 pm
Saturday November 17, 4:00 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

Duccio Chiarini: Hit the Road, Nonna (2011) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28746#post28746)

Documentary by her grandson about an Italian woman who made a fortune in prêt-à-porter after the war but alienated her family.

[Chris Knipp]

Rafaelle Verzillo: 100 Meters from Heaven (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28749#post28749)

A boisterous, utterly square and unironic, comedy about a young monsignor at the Vatican who conceives the idea of fielding a Vatican team for the 2012 London Olympics.

[Chris Knipp]

Laura Morante: The Cherry on the Cake (2012) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3368-SFFS-New-Italian-Cinema-Nov-11-18-2012&p=28778#post28778)

Veteran Italian actress Laura Morante makes her directorial debut in French. It's a dreary romantic comedy set in Paris about a woman (Morante) who wastes a lot of time with a man (Pascal Elbé) who's in love with her, thinking he's gay and just a friend, a misunderstanding he's too timid to end.

Closing night film of the New Italian Cinema series put on by the San Francisco Film Society for Nov. 11-18, 2012. Showtimes:

Sunday November 18, 6:30 pm and 9:15 pm
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

[Chris Knipp]

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NEW ITALIAN CINEMA, A REVIEW OF THE DEBUT FILMS

That is all the new films of the NIC for this year. Most of them were watchable. A coluple I'd warn series-goers to eschew.

The Seventies coming of age film KRYPTONITE is sweet and fun: this I would recommend. LIkewise, THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL, a spot-on portrait of slightly aging rockers, SHUN LI AND THE POET is a delicate and subtle portrait of two generations of immigrants to Italy with documentary realism; the actress, familiar from Jia Zhang-ke's films, won a prize for this performance.

From then on it's not quite on the same level. THE FIRST ON THE LIST is a little anecdote about "Years of Lead" leftist paranoia. It's awfully minor stuff. APARTMENT IN ATHENS has nothing to do with Italy, despite the Italian director and actors, and neither has the failed rom-com set in Paris and in French, THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE. I have reservations about both of these, particularly about THE CHERRY, which really is a wast of everyone's time. APARTMENT IN ATHENS may be well made in its way, but it's a real bummer. I would avoid it., and CHERRY. Particularly CHERRI, a complete dud.

HIT THE ROAD, NONNA is a small documentary, just over an hour, that would appeal to both those interested in twisted family portraits and students of early post-war Italian woman's liberation. Documentaries are always worth your while if they provide new material. Having the lady's portrait done by her grandson is a mixed blessing, though. He had great access to the family, but this isn't a neutral point of view, and he gives his adversarial father a lot of face time.

EASY! is like a TV movie, though like the title, it goes down smoothly. It contains some nice moments and excellent portraits and acting stints by the guys who play the father and son: young Filippo Scicchitano is a new talent to watch for, hopefully in something more challenging to the viewer. A fun watch if the familiar material appeals to you. ON the other hand, 100 METERS TO HEAVEN, a comedy about the Vatican fielding an Olympic team, is square and dispensable; it felt like something from the Fifties, and doesn't go to the satiric places that it could have found. Totally retro pro-Vatincan stuff: the official Vatican paper Osservatore Romano even ran a brief puff piece praising it.

The top choices are SHUN LI AND THE POET, KRYPTONITE!, and THE GREATST OF THEM ALL. There were no great performances here, and no important films. Several are sad reminders that the Italian film industry has seen better days. I'd like to have seen Matteo Garrone's REALITY, which was one of the more notable films at Cannes this year. It was not included in the NYFF. When will we get a chance to see it? We might also have seen Bernardo Bertolucci's ME AND YOU, also at Cannes, perhaps by reports negligible, but at least Italian and by a big name. It's probably being held back for choicer venues -- or a US theatrical release.

NOTE: NIC's SF 2012 version starts off with a celebration of actress Valeria Golino, present in person and on screen in four films.. She costars in THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL, and is also seen in Fausto Paravidino 's 2005 TEXAS, Francesco Maselli's 1986 A TALE OF LOVE, and, known to many US viewers, Emanuele Crialese's 2002 magic realist film about a young woman accused of madness on the island of Lampedusa, RESPIRO. I did not get a chance to view or review the other two. Golino is only 45 but she has 48 credits on IMDb.

[Chris Knipp]

Full schedule of the SFFS's New Italian Cinema series, Nov. 11-18, 2012

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All at the Landmark Embarcadero Cinemas, San Francisco.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11
5:30 An Evening with Valeria Golino - ACTRESS/DIRECTOR IN PERSON
9:00 Texas - VALERIA GOLINO TRIBUTE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
6:15 A Tale of Love - VALERIA GOLINO TRIBUTE
9:00 Respiro - VALERIA GOLINO TRIBUTE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
6:15 The Greatest of Them All - DIRECTOR IN PERSON
9:00 Kryptonite! - DIRECTOR IN PERSON

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
6:15 Shun Li and the Poet (pictured)
9:00 The First on the List - DIRECTOR IN PERSON

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15
6:15 Apartment in Athens - DISTRIBUTOR IN PERSON
9:00 Easy!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16
4:30 Hit the Road, Nonna - DIRECTOR IN PERSON
6:30 100 Meters to Heaven - ACTOR & DIRECTOR IN PERSON
9:15 The Greatest of Them All - DIRECTOR IN PERSON

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17
1:15 100 Meters to Heaven - ACTOR & DIRECTOR IN PERSON
4:00 Easy!
6:45 The First on the List - DIRECTOR IN PERSON
9:15 Apartment in Athens - DISTRIBUTOR IN PERSON

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18
1:30 Hit the Road, Nonna - DIRECTOR IN PERSON
3:30 Shun Li and the Poet (pictured)
6:30 The Cherry on the Cake
9:00 Closing Night Party
9:15 The Cherry on the Cake

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