The Great Beauty / La Grande Bellezza (2013)
★★★★☆
A love poem to the Italian capital and a searing portrait of its glitterati, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is a virtuoso vision of fiddling while Rome burns.
Italy
Shun Li And The Poet / Io Sono Li (2011)
★★★★☆
Andrea Segre’s Shun Li And The Poet is a tender tale of friendship between a Chinese immigrant and a Venetian fisherman-cum-poet.
Reality (2012)
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s Reality is a well thought-out satire on fame and the pursuit of celebrity in Berlusconi’s reality TV-obsessed Italy.
This Must Be The Place (2011)
★★★★☆
His first English language feature, Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place turns the U-turn into a narrative art as a has-been popstar turns Nazi-hunter.
We Have A Pope / Habemus Papam (2011)
★★★☆☆
Our man in the Vatican, Nanni Moretti’s We Have A Pope delights both in the vibrant ritual of the papal conclave and rattling its cardinals’ chasubles.
Le Quattro Volte (2010)
★★★★☆
Living la dolce vita in Calabria, Michelangelo Frammartino’s documentary fiction Le Quattro Volte is a naturalist’s reduction of man to matter.
Certified Copy / Copie Conforme (2010)
★★★★☆
A Rohmeresque ramble under the Tuscan sun, Kiarostami’s Certified Copy is a freewheeling battle of the sexes. And Juliette Binoche is in a bitter mood for love.
Videocracy (2009)
★★★☆☆
Italian-born Swede Erik Gandini’s documentary Videocracy turns the camera on the power of television in Berlusconi’s celebrity-obsessed Italy.
I Am Love / Io Sono L’Amore (2009)
★★★★★
I Am Love is a feast for the senses. The partnership between Luca Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton creates the perfect dish in this capolavoro of Italian cinema.