Rome 2024: The Opera! Arias for an Eclipse (2024) (Arie per un’eclissi)
★★★★☆
The Opera! Arias for an Eclipse is the extraordinary, unique artistic vision of Davide Livermore and Paolo Gep Cucco.
Italy
Rome 2024: Eternal Visionary (2024) (Eterno Visionario)
★★★☆☆
In Eternal Visionary director Michele Placido’s biopic takes us through the life of one of the 20th century’s most influential writers, Luigi Pirandello.
VENICE 2024: Vittoria (2024)
★★★☆☆
Vittoria is an extraordinary, moving drama based on real events about a woman’s need to adopt a child, directed by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman.
Io Capitano (2023)
★★★★☆
Io Capitano directed by Matteo Garrone is an empathetic, award-winning migrant story.
Berlinale 2024: My Summer with Irène (2024) (Quell’estate con Irène)
★★★★☆
My Summer with Irène, directed by Carlo Sironi, is a beautiful summer elegy by the sea for two girls together.
Padre Pio (2022)
★★★★☆
Abel Ferrara’s Padre Pio links religious fervour, the growth of fascism and socialism, and the Ukraine invasion, and is based on true events culminating on 14 October 1920.
The Eight Mountains (2022) (Le Otto Montagne)
★★☆☆☆
Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains, which they adapted from Paolo Cognetti’s novel Le Otto Montagne, tells the story of the friendship of Pietro and Bruno from boys to men in their 30s from the perspective of Pietro.
EO (2022)
span style=”color:#D1A316″>★★★★☆
EO, veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski’s compelling, beautifully shot homage to Bresson’s classic, takes a donkey’s eye view of the vagaries of life.
Cannes Film Festival 2021 Day 7: Tre Piani (Three Floors) (2021)
★★☆☆☆
Cannes Film Festival 2021 Day 7: Three Floors (Tre Piani) by Nanni Moretti – what the critics say.
The Man with the Answers (2020)
★★★☆☆
A burgeoning connection with a stranger may deeply affect the life of an ex-diving champion in writer/director Stelios Kammitsis’s charming but slight The Man with the Answers.
Notturno (2020) – on demand
★★★★☆
Filmed over three years in war zones in Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon, Notturno (Nocturne) by Gianfranco Rosi is a documentary oddity.
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) – Digital download
★★★☆☆
Waiting for the Barbarians by acclaimed director Ciro Guerra is a beautiful, well-acted, slow-moving allegory of imperialism.
Pinocchio (2020)
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s surreal live-action fantasy takes the Italian classic Pinocchio disturbingly back to its original dark roots.
Happy as Lazzaro (2018) (Lazzaro felice)
★★★★☆
Happy as Lazzaro by Alice Rohrwacher is a magical-realist fable that features types of exploitation.