Open Roads: New Italian Cinema At Lincoln Center 2008

[Chris Knipp]

Open Roads: New Italian Cinema At Lincoln Center 2008

New Italian Cinema: quick overview of the titles this year with links to Filmleaf reviews:

BIUTIFUL CAUNTRI (CALABRIA, D'AMBROSIO, RUGGIERO)): documentary about the "Massacre of Campania," the ruination of the eco-system by the Neopolitan Mafia, La Camorra, in the environs of Naples

BLUE PLANET (FRANCO PIAVOLI): revival of 1982 Koyaanisqatsi-like film (not reviewed)

DAYS AND CLOUDS (SILVIO SOLDINI): drama by Bread and Tulips director about a financial struggle that undermines an upper-class Genoa couple's marriage and a man's motivation (U.S. release, NYC, July 2008; best actress "Davide," Margherita Buy)

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT (GIANNI ZANASI): adventures of an aging punk rocker who leaves Rome and revisits his industrialist family in the country

GIRL BY THE LAKE, THE (ANDREA MOLAIOLI): low-keyed murder mystery set by a mountain lake; the big prize-winner at the Italian "Davide" awards this year (ten)

IN THE FACTORY (FRANCESCA COMENCINI): documentary about factory culture in post-war Italy up to the present

MS. F (WILMA LABATE): drama about family conflicts within and beyond a working-class Turin family originally from the South during the turning-point FIAT strikes of 1980

NEW ITALIAN SHORTS, various directors, 84 minutes: Catherine McGilvary, Joe Corvaglia, Leonardo D'Agostini, Andrea Jublin, Elisa Fuksas, Emanuele Rossi, Andrea De Sica (not reviewed)

NIGHT BUS (DAVIDE MARENGO): comedy/thriller/romance about corporate espionage and petty cons, including an airport bus driver

PIANO SOLO (RICCARDO MILANI) : biopic about the troubled but brilliant Italian jazz pianist Luca Flores, starring Kim Rossi Stewart; some "Davide" nominations including Best Actor for Stewart

RIGHT DISTANCE, THE (CARLO MAZZACURATI): a journalist and a couple in love in a small town in the Po Valley; multiculruralism and a murder mystery

SATURN IN OPPOSITION (FERZEN OZPETEK): tragedy strikes a group of 30- and 40-somethings, gay and straight, with Stefano Accorsi; one "Davide" award and four nominations

SWEET AND THE BITTER, THE (ANDREA PORPORATI): fictional, fact-based composite biopic of the career of a petty Mafioso who turned "pentito" (state's evidence), starring Luigi Lo Cascio

UNUSUAL TIME TO MEET, AN (STEFANO COLETTA): tensions and disappointments among two generations, first film by an experienced cinematographer

WALTZ, THE (SALVATORE MAIRA): single-shot tour de force following several plot-lines simultaneiously in a hotel; an award-winner

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-Preview of OPEN ROADS 2008 in GREENSCENE

-A perspective on this year's OPEN ROADS and what it says about current Italian cinema from Martin Tsai in THE NEW YORK SUN