Indivisibili vs La Pazza Gioia: The Super Bowl of Italian Movie Awards

Indivisibili (Indivisible) premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival and immediately caught everyone’s attention. Now Edoardo De Angelis and his low budget movie, filmed on location with non-professional actors in many roles (including best actress nominated Angela and Marianna Fontana) goes head to head with Paolo Virzì’s much splashier (and terrific film) La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy).

Who will (or should) come out on top? I (literally) couldn’t say. 

And I won’t be making any predictions. Both are excellent. Both directors are excellent. Each has two outstanding actresses nominated for Best Actresses awards. The difference? De Angelis has a few films under his belt and Virzì, a few dozen. The stars of La Pazza Gioia, Micaela Ramazzotti and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, are veteran actresses, two of Italy’s finest. The stars of Indivisibili are 19 year-olds that are professional singers, but had no previous acting experience.

Twins Angela and Marianna play eighteen-year-old conjoined twins Daisy and Viola who have been supporting their family ever since their Papà figured out they could sing, and he and Mamma couldn’t have been wasting the girls’ hard-earned money any more efficiently if that’s what they’d set out to do. The beautiful girls have singing voices to match, and can earn as much as 80,000€ a year performing at weddings and first holy communions; the fact that they are part pop stars and part side-show geeks make them all the more marketable.

I got the chance to sit down with the girls and De Angelis in Venice last year and Edoardo told me, “The first time I knew (that the film was going to be a success) was when the screenwriter pitched me the idea; the second was when I met the girls. They were the body and the soul of the story.”

“We identified so much with the characters,” the girls told me. “We read and read and read the script many times; actually before we even read the script we knew we wanted to make the movie.”

They say that they’ve been “living in a kind of symbiosis” their whole life, are very close to each other, and can identify with the pain of separation even though they aren’t physically connected. The story is about “amore veramente indivisibile” (truly indivisible love), they told me, and all three talked about a psychological bond that is even stronger than the physical one.

Indivisibili is nominated for:

Best Film
Best Director, Edoardo De Angelis
Best Actress, Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana
Best Supporting Actor, Massimiliano Rossi
Best Supporting Actress, Antonia Truppo
Best Screenplay, Edoardo De Angelis
Best Cinematography, Ferran Paredes
Best Musical Score, Enzo Avitabile
Best Song,  ABBI PIETÀ DI NOI                                                                                                                                                     Best Hair Styling, Vincenzo Cormaci
Digital Effects, Makinarium
Best Production Design, Carmine Guarino
Best Costume Design, Massimo Cantini Parrini
Best Editing, Chiara Griziotti
Best Sound Editing Valentino Giannì
Best Makeup, Valentina Iannuccilli
Best Production, Attilio De Razza

Neck and neck with Indivisibili for David di Donatello Awards, La Pazza Gioia is CRAZY GOOD

In Paolo Virzì’s lovely, funny, bittersweet La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, who tends to play over-wound and mentally unstable women so well that we wonder if she really is one, is the institutionalized Beatrice;  Micaela Ramazzotti plays her roommate Donatella.

Bruni Tedeschi sticks with the personification we expect from her but has never done it with this amount of explosive authority. Ramazzotti displays subtle vulnerability like never before, and Virzì and fellow scriptwriter (director) Francesca Archibugi nail the dialogue in a way that tops what either of these accomplished screenwriters have achieved to date. Director of photography Vladan Radovic captures Beatrice’s true essence, the delicate flower /emotional trainwreck that never stops moving, never stops buzzing, and couldn’t if she wanted to.

I spoke with Radovic about making La Pazza Gioia and he told me, “There are are several scenes in the film where Paolo wanted to shoot in light that’s particularly special because it doesn’t last very long, for example, the scenes at sunrise and also the really long scene at sunset. For me it was a cool challenge and I planned my work to accomodate this requirement of direction that brought a special atmosphere to the film. We liked so many of the scenes we shot at dawn so much that we switched them with a lot of the daytime scenes and we did it knowing that we’d be facing practical problems for the implementation.”

“In La Pazza Gioia Paolo deals with a universal theme about being human and how living the life of a damaged person is like living a life “showing your cards”, he said. “The best thing about the film is that the public really likes it and it was a big success at Cannes with critics and journalists. Everybody likes it! The film will surely be released in the United States and I hope that it will be loved by the American public as well.”

La Pazza Gioia is nominated for:
Best Film
Best Director, Paolo Virzì
Best Actress, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Micaela Ramazzotti
Best Supporting Actress,  Valentina Carnelutti
Best Screenplay, Francesca Archibugi
Best Cinematography, Vladan Radovic
Best Musical Score, Carlo Virzì
Best Song, PO POPPOROPPÒ
Best Production Design, Tonino Zera
Best Costume Design, Katia Dottori; Best Hair Stylist, Daniela Tartari
Best Editing, Cecilia Zanuso
Best Sound Editing, Alessandro Bianchi
Best Makeup, Esmè Sciaroni
Young David, Paolo Virzì
Best Production, Marco Belardi

Predictions, Surprises, Excitement!

When it comes to the knock down, drag out fight we are about to witness between directors Edoardo De Angelis (Indivisibili) and Paolo Virzì (La Pazza Gioia) in the Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and more than a dozen other categories, I’m not saying much.

Both directors have created beautiful and yet very distinct films and I’d be happy to see either win. The Best Actress category is dominated with talented women from both films; the Fontana twins, Angela and Marianna for Indivisibili and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti for La Pazza Gioia. I’m just sorry they can’t split the David into four pieces.

The Best Actor category is no less fascinating, with Stefano Accorsi nominated for his anti-stereotypical role as the washed up, drug addicted race car drive in Veloce Come Il Vento, Toni Servillo in a more predictable performance in Roberto Andò’s Le Confessioni, and Italy’s favorite son Valerio Mastandrea in Marco Bellocchio’s Fai Bei Sogni.

My money is on Stefano Accorsi, an actor more accustomed to handsome leading man roles but dead on in this gritty, convincing performance.

As for the cinematography, I’m going with Vladan Radovic, the Supreme DP Being from La Pazza Gioia.

READ MY INTERVIEW WITH VLADAN RADOVIC

Radovic’s delicate, sensitive, and gorgeous photography in La Pazza Gioia, Anime Nere, and Vergine Giurata make it clear that Radovic is one of the most talented on the planet.

HERE’S YOUR DAVID BALLOT (for more predictions from me, stay tuned)

Best Film
Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams), directed by Marco Bellocchio
Fiore, directed by  Claudio Giovannesi
Indivisibili (Indivisible) directed by Edoardo De Angelis
La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy) directed by Paolo Virzì
Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race) directed by Matteo Rovere

Best Director
Marco Bellocchio for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Claudio Giovannesi for Fiore
Edoardo De Angelis for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Paolo Virzì for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Matteo Rovere for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best New Director
Michele Vannucci for I Più Grande Sogno  (I Was a Dreamer)
Marco Danieli for La Ragazza Del Mondo (Worldly Girl)
Marco Segato for La Pelle dell’Orso (On the Trail of My Father)
Fabio Guaglione, Fabio Resinaro for Mine
Lorenzo Corvino for WAX: We Are the X

Best Original Screenplay
Claudio Giovannesi, Filippo Gravino, Antonella Lattanzi for Fiore
Michele Astori, Pierfrancesco Diliberto, Marco Martani for In Guerra Per Amore  (At War with Love)
Nicola Guaglianone, Barbara Petronio, Edoardo De Angelis for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Francesca Archibugi, Paolo Virzì for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Roberto Andò, Angelo Pasquini for Le Confessioni (The Confessions)
Filippo Gravino, Francesca Manieri, Matteo Rovere for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Fiorella Infascelli, Antonio Leotti for Era d’estate (It Was Summer)
Edoardo Albinati, Marco Bellocchio, Valia Santella for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Gianfranco Cabiddu, Ugo Chiti, Salvatore De Mola for La Stoffa Dei Sogni (The Stuff of Dreams)
Francesco Patierno for Naples ‘44
Francesca Marciano, Valia Santella, Stefano Mordini for Pericle Il Nero (Pericle The Black)
Massimo Gaudioso for Un Paese Quasi Perfetto (An Almost Perfect Country)

Best Producer
Cristiano Bortone, Bart Van Langendonck, Peter Bouckaert, Gong Ming Cai, Natacha Devillers for Caffè (Coffee)
Rita Rognoni for Pupkin Production, Ibc Movie, Rai Cinema for Fiore
Attilio De Razza, Pierpaolo Verga for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Marco Belardi for Lotus Production, Rai Cinema for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Angelo Barbagallo for Bibi Film, Rai Cinema for Le Confessioni (The Confessions)
Domenico Procacci, Rai Cinema for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Actress
Daphne Scoccia for Fiore
Angela and Marianna Fontana for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Micaela Ramazzotti for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Matilda De Angelis for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Actor
Valerio Mastandrea for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Michele Riondino for La Ragazza Del Mondo (Worldly Girl)
Sergio Rubini – The Stuff of Dreams
Toni Servillo – The Confessions
Stefano Accorsi – Italian Race

Best Supporting Actress
Antonia Truppo for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Valentina Carnelutti for La Pazza Gioia for (Like Crazy)
Valeria Golino for La Vita Possibile (A Possible Life)
Michela Cescon for Piuma (Feather)
Roberta Mattei for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Supporting Actor
Valerio Mastandrea for Fiore
Massimiliano Rossi for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Ennio Fantastichini for La Stoffa Dei Sogni (The Stuff of Dreams)
Pierfrancesco Favino for Le Confessioni  (The Confessions)
Roberto De Francesco for Le Ultime Cose (The Last Things)

Best Cinematography
Daniele Ciprì for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Ferran Paredes Rubio for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Vladan Radovic for La Pazza Gioia  (Like Crazy)
Maurizio Calvesi for Le Confessioni (The Confessions)
Michele D’Attanasio for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Musical Score
Carlo Civelli for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Enzo Avitabile for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Carlo Virzì for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Franco Piersanti for La Stoffa Dei Sogni (The Stuff of Dreams)
Andrea Farri for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Original Song
‘I Can See The Stars’, Come Diventare Grandi Nonostante i Genitori (How to Grow Up Despite your Parents)
‘Abbi Pietà di Noi’, Indivisibili (Indivisible)
‘L’Estate Addosso’, L’Estate Addosso (Summertime)
‘Po Popporoppò’, La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
‘Seventeen’, Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Screenplay
Marcello Di Carlo for In Guerra Per Amore (At War with Love)
Carmine Guarino for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Marco Dentici for Fai Bei Sogni (Sweet Dreams)
Tonino Zera for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Livia Borgognoni For La Stoffa Dei Sogni (The Stuff of Dreams)

Best Costumes
Cristiana Ricceri for In Guerra Per Amore (At War with Love)
Massimo Cantini Parrini for Indivisibili (Indivisible)
Catia Dottori for La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)
Beatrice Giannini, Elisabetta Antico for La Stoffa Dei Sogni (The Stuff of Dreams)
Cristina Laparola for Veloce Come Il Vento (Italian Race)

Best Make-Up
Gino Tamagnini for Sweet Dreams
Maurizio Fazzini for At War with Love
Valentina Iannuccilli for Indivisible
Esmé Sciaroni for Like Crazy
Silvia Beltrani for The Stuff of Dreams
Luca Mazzoccoli for Italian Race

Best Hair Design
Mauro Tamagnini for Sweet Dreams
Massimiliano Gelo for At War with Love
Vincenzo Cormaci for Indivisible
Daniela Tartari for Like Crazy
Alessio Pompei for Italian Race

Best Editing
Consuelo Catucci  for  7 Minutes
Chiara Griziotti for Indivisible
Cecilia Zanuso for Like Crazy
Alessio Doglione for The Stuff of Dreams
Gianni Vezzosi for Italian Race

Best Sound
Sweet Dreams
Indivisible
Like Crazy
The Stuff of Dreams
Italian Race

Best Digital Effects
At War with Love
Indivisible
Mine
Ustica: The Missing Paper
Italian Race

Best Documentary
60 – Ieri, oggi, domani – Giorgio Treves
Acqua e zucchero: Carlo Di Palma, i colori della vita – Fariborz Kamkari
Crazy for football – Volfango De Biasi
Liberami – Federica Di Giacomo
Magic Island – Marco Amenta

Best European Film
Florence Foster Jenkins, Stephen Frears (UK)
I, Daniel Blake – Ken Loach (UK/France/Belgium)
Julieta– Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
Sing Street – John Carney (Ireland/UK/USA)
Truman – Cesc Gay (Spain/Argentina)

Best Foreign Film
Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford (USA/UK)
Captain Fantastic – Matt Ross (USA)
Lion – Garth Davis (Australia/UK/USA)
Paterson – Jim Jarmusch (USA/Germany)
Sully – Clint Eastwood (USA)

Best Short Film
A casa mia – Mario Piredda
Ego – Lorenza Indovina
Mostri – Adriano Giotti
Simposio suino in re minore – Francesco Filippini
Viola, Franca – Marta Savina

David Giovani (Young David)
7 Minutes – Michele Placido
At War with Love – Pif
Summertime – Gabriele Muccino
Like Crazy – Paolo Virzì
Piuma – Roan Johnson

From one “Vecchietta” to another, I must say, YOU GIRLS STILL ROCK!

At 70, Stefania Sandrelli is our youngest “vecchietta”, and she’s not only aged ever so gracefully, she says “No!” to plastic surgery. “It scars women.” 

At just 14 she starred with Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce Italian Style and she’s (obviously) still a vibrant actress today.

At 74, Aurora Quattrocchi’s career is just getting going.  She says that she feels like she is still proving herself, and that she’s “…still learning. I still don’t know what if I want to be an actress when I grow up.” 
 

In fact, there is no one more talented in the Italian film industry. Check her out in Francesco Munzì’s Anime Nere.  NETFLIX, Vudu, iTunes,  YouTube,  Google Play, Amazon

Sometimes it seems like Piera Degli Esposti, 78, is in everything I watch, always with a scarf around her neck. (None of us like our necks over 50.)

Ahhh, Claudia Cardinale. She got her first big break in Mario Monicelli’s classic I Soliti Ignoti (The Usual Suspects) and has never stopped working. She’s 78 now, and starred in All Roads Lead To Rome with Raoul Bova and Sarah Jessica Parker in 2015.

And everybody’s favorite little old lady, Sophia Loren is  82. No explanation necessary.

In memoriam, Gianni Di Gregorio’s movie Mamma, Valeria De Franciscis died in 2014 at 99.

Meet some of the amazing women I’ve been honored to speak with  over the last few years.

Margherita Buy

Of her dramatic roles,“I am always too involved, sort of trapped by the characters.”

Paola Cortellesi

 “They (the neorealist films of the past) tell about the average man who goes to work, does his best, and is beaten down by society, and that’s what we wanted to do with this film. I wanted to tell this story (her film, Gli Ultimi Saranno Ultimi) to raise awareness for the situation in Italy, because there so many people are “the last”, even the bosses, living with impossible situations.”

Maria Roveran

 “Acting is about the simple things that you do, like crying. I have cancer (in her film Questi Giorni), so now I have to cry, but Giuseppe (Piccioni, the director) said, ‘No!’ You have to suggest with your eyes a war between two feelings’. Giuseppe taught me a very big, important lesson, because as an actor you can’t take the easy way. Many times it’s the most difficult way, showing the contrast between the mind and the body.”

Bianca Nappi

I think that the cinema produced by a country respects its social reality, economy and culture, and in the last five or six years there has been a rebirth in Italy, above all with directors and auteurs that are the true spirit of cinema, in my opinion. Maybe the economic crisis that Italy has gone through and is going through has served to eliminate the superfluous and made us return to our origins, that is to say making films that are more sincere and more original. We actors can’t do anything but follow this current and help the directors realize their visions.

Blu Yoshimi

Of starring as a pregnant teenager in Roan Johnson’s Piuma, “This is one of the roles I always wanted to do. I was fond of Cate, Piuma and the story from the beginning because it reminded me a lot of my story with my mum (Magnificent Italian actress Lidia Vitale). I also was an unexpected child and with this movie I could live the same experience from the opposite point of view and appreciate even more the work my mum has done. In the end I made a lot of researches about pregnancy to make sure to bring the more truth I could. Those are things that happen and it’s a matter of respect to bring out the reality of the facts.”

Laura Adriani

In Italy we are too afraid of change. We’d rather “riscaldare la minestra del giorno prima” (reheat yesterday’s soup). It would be great if we could make a movie like La La Land someday, and I could have a role like Emma Stone’s. I hope I’m around when things change. I hope to be part of this small but important revolution.”

Angela and Marianna Fontana

Of playing conjoined twins in the film Indivisibili, “We’ve been living in a kind of symbiosis our whole life, are very close to each other, and can identify with the pain of separation even though we aren’t physically connected. The story is about “amore veramente indivisibile” (truly indivisible love) there’s a psychological bond that is even stronger than the physical one.”

Anna Ferruzzo

“The choices made in our work are very important and I have to say I have always rather lucky. In fact,there have been very few times in which they chose me for a role that I wasn’t already in love with before filming, talking with the director, or reading the script. In my overall evaluation, everything counts, empathy with the director, the script, the role, but in the end the intuition that I trust myself and I have to say that, at least until now, I have never betrayed myself. I am proud of the films that I have made, in cinema and on TV.”

Sara Serraiocco

After starring in Salvo and Cloro, “In America? People know me in America? I don’t want to be famous. I just want to make great cinema.”

Cristina Comencini

(On growing up with her famous father Luigi Comencini)  “Yes, I am the daughter of a famous director but we had a normal life. We were four daughters, but my mother didn’t work and we didn’t go to the set. But I started working with my father after I started writing with him. Having said that, when we would come home from school we were breathing the air of cinema, talking about it all the time.”

Special Recognition For Italians Who Brought Oscars Home To Italy

The first reunion of Italian Oscar candidates and winners will make a spectacular finale for an event to celebrate 70 years of prizes awarded by the Giornalisti Cinematografici (SNGCI). Specialwill be awarded to Italians that have been recognized by Hollywood, Wednesday March 22 in Rome.

The Nastro D’Argento Award is second only to the Oscars in age and the oldest in Europe, recognizing excellence in Italian cinema since 1946. The first year the big winners were Vittorio De Sica for Sciuscià , Roberto Rossellini and Anna Magnani for Roma Città Aperta.

The list of honorees is mind-boggling with big names like Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Benigni, Gabriele Salvatores, Paolo Sorrentino, Giuseppe Tornatore, Franco Zeffirelli, Gianni Amelio, Lina Wertmuller, Cristina Comencini, Sophia Loren e Giancarlo Giannini and the great Ennio Morricone, just to name a few.

Über nominated film, Paolo Virzì’s  LIKE CRAZY (La Pazza Gioia) at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

CIFF41 SCREENINGS

Tower City Cinemas, Cleveland, OH

Friday, March 31, 2017 at 7:00 PM

Sunday, April 02, 2017 at 2:20 PM

Neck and neck with Indivisibili for David di Donatello Awards, La Pazza Gioia is CRAZY GOOD.

In Paolo Virzì’s lovely, funny, bittersweet La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, who tends to play over-wound and mentally unstable women so well that we wonder if she really is one, is the institutionalized Beatrice; Micaela Ramazzotti plays her roommate Donatella.
 

Bruni Tedeschi sticks with the personification we expect from her but has never done it with this amount of explosive authority. Ramazzotti displays subtle vulnerability like never before, and Virzì and fellow scriptwriter (director) Francesca Archibugi nail the dialogue in a way that tops what either of these accomplished screenwriters have achieved to date. Director of photography Vladan Radovic captures Beatrice’s true essence, the delicate flower /emotional trainwreck that never stops moving, never stops buzzing, and couldn’t if she wanted to.
 
Ramazzotti, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of type-cast as the deeply depressed, tattooed and anorexic Donatella and any idea that she’s riding her husband’s coat tails has been long disproved. Her performance is award-winningly intense; she’s dug down so deep into herself to achieve this level of authentic bleakness that I can imagine it was impossible to completely crawl back out at the end of the work day.

The photography is by our favorite cinematographer Vladan Radovic, who makes this clever, entertaining film so very pretty to look at.
 

Highly recommended, Cleveland! Don’t Miss This One!

La Pazza Gioia is nominated for:
Best Film
Best Director, Paolo Virzì
Best Actress, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Micaela Ramazzotti
Best Supporting Actress,  Valentina Carnelutti
Best Screenplay, Francesca Archibugi
Best Cinematography, Vladan Radovic
Best Musical Score, Carlo Virzì
Best Song, PO POPPOROPPÒ
Best Production Design, Tonino Zera
Best Costume Design, Katia Dottori; Best Hair Stylist, Daniela Tartari
Best Editing, Cecilia Zanuso
Best Sound Editing, Alessandro Bianchi
Best Makeup, Esmè Sciaroni
Young David, Paolo Virzì
Best Production, Marco Belardi

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ksenia has been adopted and embraced by Italian cinema.

Winner of David di Donatello Awards, European Film Awards, and a Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival, Ksenia starred in two of my favorite Italian thrillers.

La Doppia Ora (The Double Hour) has a real fear factor, made me jump right out of my seat, and I found myself actually covering my eyes. And it’s done in the best kind of way; the threat is hidden in the shadows, waiting to jump out and say “boo” at any given moment.

Ksenia plays a woman that has secrets who meets Guido (Filippo Timi) speed dating and though at first they appear to be a couple of poor damaged souls that gets lucky at another chance at love, it doesn’t take long to realize that in this movie, appearances are always deceiving.

In Giuseppe Tornatore’s La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman), Ksenia is the middle of this rat’s nest of intrigue as Irina, a Ukrainian sex slave who has escaped to Italy in search of something and we are left guessing for a long time what that something is. She arrives in a northern Italian town with a big wad of cash, taking a terrible apartment, and intent on ingratiating herself in the lives of a rich Italian family that live across the street from her. We initially sympathize with her, but we become increasingly aware that she’s really bad news – on many fronts. She’s not going to let anything get in her way of reaching her goal – whatever that goal may be.

 The rest of the cast is completed with a list of some of the finest Italian actors; Margherita Buy (Days and Clouds), Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini (Iris Blond, Don’t Move), Piera Degli Esposti (Il Divo, My Mother’s Smile), and Pierfrancesco Favino (Come Undone).

Just 23 today, Laura Adriani has already made her mark in Italian cinema.

This child star turned grown-up star is as sweet and talented as they come.

Check out the great photos I got of Blu Yoshimi at this past year’s Venice Film Festival when she premiered her film Piuma!

AND READ MY INTERVIEW WITH THIS BRIGHT YOUNG STAR!

She’s just 20 today!

Beatrice Morandini Valdirana

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy)

Being friends with Beatrice would be crazy fun, emphasis on the “crazy”, and she might get you into trouble, but we all need a friend like her, one who breaks the rules and gets us out of our comfort zones.

Mirko

Mirko Frezza

Il Più Grande Sogno (I Was A Dreamer)

This ex-con is a lovable teddy bear that is determined to be a good dad, husband, friend, and citizen, and it would be fun to hang out with the Mirko in the movie and the real Mirko, Mirko Frezza.

Giovanni Ernani

Toni Servillo

Viva La Libertà (Long Live Freedom)

They laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike. You could lose your mind! Giovanni may have actually lost his mind, but he is definitely the fun twin.

Ida Dasler

Giovanna Mezzogiorno

Vincere (Winning)

Ida might end being more trouble than she’s worth.

The Pope

Michel Piccoli

Habemus Papam (We Have A Pope)

The Pope needs a good friend. Holy Father, you can hide out at my house any time.

Viola

Greta Scarano

Suburra

This bad-ass has ALWAYS got your back.

Viola and Daisy

Marianna and Angela Fontana

Indivisibili (Indivisible)

I think this friendship is a package deal, but that’s a lucky thing because they are both adorable.

“…for not only her charm and beauty of this Italian actress considered on of the world’s biggest stars, but for the real challenge that she faced in the decidedly unglamorous role ( playing Nevesta in On The Milky Road).

Congratulations to this gorgeous, talented actress for her stellar 25 year career.

Here’s a day by day schedule of the Film Society at Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian Films Q&As with the filmmakers!

June 1

Indivisible (Indivisibili)
Opening Night Film · New York Premiere · Q&A with director Edoardo De Angelis and stars Angela & Marianna Fontana at 6:30pm screening

Le Confessioni (The Confessions)
New York Premiere · Q&A with director Roberto Andò at 9pm screening

June 2

Due Soldati (Two Soldiers)

North American Premiere · Intro by Angela Fontana at the June 2 screening 1:30 pm 

Fiore (Flower)
New York Premiere · Q&A with Claudio Giovannesi at June 2 screening 9:00 pm

Orecchie (Ears)
New York Premiere · Q&A with Alessandro Aronadio at the June 2  3:45 pm

June 3

Le Ultime Cose (Pawn Street)
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Irene Dionisio 1:30

La Ragazza Del Mondo (Worldly Girl)
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Marco Danieli 4:00 pm

Sole Cuore Amore (Sun, Heart, Love)

Daniele Vicari 2016 Italy 109 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Isabella Ragonese at the June 3 screening

At War with Love
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Pierfrancesco Diliberto (Pif) at June 3 9:15 pm screening

June 4

La Guerra Dei Cafoni (The War of the Yokels)
North American Premiere · Q&A with director director Lorenzo Conte at June 4 screening 1:30 pm

I figli Della Notte (Children of the Night)
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Andrea De Sica at June 4 screening 4:00 pm

Liberami (Deliver Us)

New York Premiere · Q&A with director Federica Di Giacomo 6:30 pm

Nominations for the 57th Italian Golden Globes!

Best Film

Fai bei sogni by Marco Bellocchio
Indivisibili by Edoardo De Angelis
La pazza gioia by Paolo Virzì
La stoffa dei sogni by Gianfranco Cabiddu
La tenerezza by Gianni Amelio

Best First Work
Chi salverà le rose by Cesare Furesi
La pelle dell’orso by Marco Segato
La ragazza del mondo by Marco Danieli
Le ultime cose by Irene Dionisio
Our War by Benedetta Argentieri, Bruno Chiaravalloti, Claudio Jampaglia

Best Comedy

Beata ignoranza by Massimiliano Bruno
Che vuoi che sia by Edoardo Leo
In guerra per amore by Pierfrancesco Diliberto
Lasciati andare by Francesco Amato
Questione di Karma by Edoardo Falcone

Best Screenplay

Fai bei sogni – Marco Bellocchio, Edoardo Albinati, Valia Santella
La pazza gioia – Paolo Virzì, Francesca Archibugi
La ragazza del mondo – Marco Danieli, Antonio Manca
La tenerezza – Gianni Amelio, Alberto Taraglio
Veloce come il vento – Matteo Rovere, Francesca Manieri, Filippo Gravino

Best Actress

Valeria Ciangottini for Cronaca di una passione
Angela and Marianna Fontana for Indivisibili
Isabella Ragonese for Il padre d’Italia
Micaela Ramazzotti for La tenerezza
Sara Serraiocco for La ragazza del mondo

Best Actor
Stefano Accorsi for Veloce come il vento
Renato Carpentieri for La tenerezza
Carlo Delle Piane for Chi salverà le rose
Luca Marinelli for Il padre d’Italia
Michele Riondino for La ragazza del mondo

Best Music
Enzo Avitabile for Indivisibili
Nino D’Angelo for Falchi
Stefano Di Battista for Sole Cuore Amore
Andrea Farri for Lasciati andare
Marcello Peghin for Chi salverà le rose

Best Cinematography

Maurizio Calvesi for Questione di Karma
Vincenzo Carpineta for La stoffa dei sogni
Daniele Ciprì for In guerra per amore
Daria D’Antonio for La pelle dell’orso
Michele D’Attanasio for Veloce come il vento

Best Documentary

60 – Ieri Oggi Domani by Giorgio Treves
Cacciatore di paesaggi by Fabio Toncelli
Cinque mo(N)di by Giancarlo Soldi
Il pugile del Duce by Tony Saccucci
Italian Offshore by Marcello Brecciaroli, Manuele Bonaccorsi, Salvatore Altiero
Liberami by Federica Di Giacomo
L’uomo che non cambiò la storia di Enrico Caria
Our War by Bruno Chiaravalloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri
Uberto degli Specchi by Marco Mensa, Elisa Mereghetti
Via della Conciliazione by Raffaele Brunetti, Piergiorgio Curzi

(For the first time in the history of the Golden Globes, the Italian Foreign Press Association has nominated 10 instead of 5 films in the documentary category.)

Something new, and barely legal.

GET TICKETS! 

Director Cristina Comencini’s comedy with an ever so slightly mid-life crisis stars  Paola Cortellesi as Lucia and Michela Ramazzotti as Maria, two BFF cougars who meet an hook up with high schooler Luca, played by Eduardo Valdarnini. Before meeting Luca, Lucia has shut herself off to the possibility of love after a big heartbreak, and Maria had been falling into bed with everybody she met ever since her messy divorce.

Could the answer to their prayers be sex with a teenage boy?

No, Qualcosa Di Nuovo is not a porno,  though the plot is a little saucier than an American version might be; Luca is still in high school, but he’s 19 and so nobody is going to jail. The whole thing is loads of fun and a lively, hilarious way to kick off this amazing Italian Film Festival. Cortellesi and Ramazzotti make a great team, and do this comedy with the serious tinge realistically.

As usual, Cristina has written awesome dialogue (Qualcosa di Nuova was first a play), and though they are no longer teenagers, Paola and Micaela are still pretty hot.

The Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon) is the Italian film prize awarded every year since 1946 by the Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani. The Nastro d’argento is the oldest movie award in Europe.

Best Film
Gianni Amelio for La Tenerezza
Francesco Bruni – Tutto Quello Che Vuoi
Sergio Castellitto – Fortunata
Edoardo De Angelis – Indivisibili 
Claudio Giovannesi – Fiore

Best Director
Gianni Amelio for Tenerezza
Marco Bellocchio for Fai Bei Sogni
Edoardo De Angelis for Indivisibili
Ferzan Ozpetek for Rosso Istanbul 
Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia for Sicilian Ghost Story

Best New Director
I Peggiori
Marco Danieli for La Ragazza Del Mondo  
Roberto De Paolis for Cuori Puri
Andrea De Sica for I Figli Della Notte
Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro for Mine

Best Comedy
L’Ora Legale by Ficcara and Picone
Lasciati Andare by Francesco Amato
 Moglie e Marito by Simone Godano
Omicidio All’Italiana by Maccio Capatonda
Orecchie by Alessandro Aronadio

Best Subject

Michele Astori, Pierfrancesco Diliberto(PIF) for In Guerra Per Amore
Massimiliano Bruno, Herbert Simone Paragnani, Gianni Corsi for Beata Ignoranza
Nicola Guaglianone for Indivisibili
Edoardo Leo for Che Vuoi Che Sia
Fabio Mollo and Josella Porto for Il Padre D’Italia

Best Screenplay
Francesco Bruni for Tutto Quello Che Vuoi
Ugo Chiti, Gianfranco Cabiddu, Salvatore De Molacon, Francesco Marino for La Stoffa Dei Sogni 
Claudio Giovanessi, Filippo Gravino, Antonella Lattanzi for Fiore
Alex Infascelli and Francesca Manieri for Piccoli Crimini Coniugali
Margaret Mazzantini for Fortunata

Best Actor
Renato Carpentieri for La Tenerezza
Gassmann and Marco Giallini for Beata Ignoranza
Luca Marinelli for Il Padre D’Italia
Marco Riondino for La Ragazza Del Mondo
Toni Servillo for Lasciati Andare

Best Actress
Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Micaela Ramazzotti for La Tenerezza
Isabella Ragonese  for Sole Cuore Amore and Il Tenerezza
Greta Scarano for La Verità Sta in Cielo and Smetto Quando Voglio
Sara Serraiocco for La Ragazza Del Mondo and Non È Paese Per Giovani
Jasmine Trinca for Fortunata

Best Supporting Actor
Claudio Amendola, Luca Argentero for Il Permesso 48 Ore Fuori
Alessandro Borghi for Fortunata and Il Più Grande Sogno
Ennio Fantastichini for Caffè and La Stoffa Dei Sogni
Valerio Mastandrea for Fiore
Edoardo Pesce for Cuori Puri and Fortunata

Best Supporting Actress
Barbora Bobulova for Lasciami Per Sempre and Cuori Puri
Margherita Buy for Questi Giorni and Come Diventare Grande Nonostante I Genitori
Sabrina Ferilli for  Omicidio All’Italiana
Anna Ferruzzo  for Il Padre D’Italia
Carla Signoris for Lasciati Andare

Special Nastro For Cinema For Young People
Gabriele Muccino for L’Estate Addosso
Giovanni Veronesi for Non È Un Paese Per Giovani
Roan Johnson for Piuma
Andrea Molaioli for Slam, Tutto Per Una Ragazza
Alessandro D’Alatri for The Start Up

For all of the nominations CLICK HERE

Are you Italian? Italian-Canadian? Italian-American? Or do you just love Italian movies, like I do? Then you’ll love this year’s ICFF, the Italian Contemporary Film Festival.

The ICFF offers a spectacular lineup of contemporary Italian films, special guests, and dazzling opening and closing galas.

Yesterday’s opening belonged to Paola Cortellesi, with the beautiful, talented, #13 on the Ciak Magazine Power List, and beloved actress in attendance to greet and get the festival off to a great start! At the Q&A after the screening of her film Qualcosa Di Nuovo at Toronto’s TFF Bell Lightbox Theater, an audience member asked Paola for a song (she began her career as a singer and sings in the movie), and this was her response:

Paola Cortellesi in Toronto!

These child stars turned out pretty well!

Blu Yoshimi 

In Caos Calmo poor little Claudia (Blu Yoshimi) lost her Mom and then COULDN’T lose her dad. Played by Nanni Moretti, 11-year-old Claudia’s father became obsessed with sitting outside her classroom window after his wife died, conducting business meetings on park benches.

Blu, all grown up and still an actress, was on hand for the Venice Film Festival premiere of Piuma (Feather), directed by Roan Johnson. In it she plays a pregnant teenager who has to decide about her future.

Tiziano Cucchiarelli

Director Silvio Soldini discovered his adorable “Nic”, Rosalba’s son (Tiziano Cucchiarelli) as a regular kid in Pescara with no acting experience, and Tiziano still lives in Pescara. Here he is with his beautiful daughter.

Salvatore “Totò” Cascio

What about little Totò, the main character in Cinema Paradiso?  Salvatore “Totò” Cascio was just eight years old when he starred in Giuseppe Tornatore’s beloved film. Now 34, he is still living in his hometown of Palazzo Adriano in Sicily, close to where the film was shot, where he opened and runs two supermarkets, as well as a restaurant and B&B named L’Oscar dei Sapori.

Giorgio Cantarini

Here’s a fun fact: Giorgio Cantarini has only starred in 2 movies in his life but in both, his on-screen father won an Oscar for best actor! Roberto Benigni won for La Vita È Bella (Life Is Beautiful), and Russell Crowe won for Gladiator. He must be some kind of lucky charm! He’s 25 now, and hopes to be a screen-writer.

Jasmine Trinca

Jasmine Trinca played the grieving sister Irene in Nanni Moretti’s La Stanza Del Figlio (The Son’s Room), and continued on to a spectacular career in acting, most recently winning Best Actress at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Sergio Castellito’s Fortunata.

Synonymous with quality cinema since 1987, Lucky Red celebrates its first 30 years.

(Translated, best I know how, from RB Casting’s Italian article.)

Three decades dedicated entirely to the “seventh art” with passion and great emotion. And new challenges on their way.

Lucky Red, Andrea Occhipinti ‘s production and distribution company presented a new list of productions, coproductions, and distributions.

Among the top titles announced that are in production, Alessio Cremonini’s Sulla Mia Pelle (means, “the hard way”), starring Alessandro Borghi and Jasmine Trinca, in the true story of Stefano Cucchi (a young architect who died in police custody) about the last 6 days of his life and a mysterious new film (still without title) from director Gabriele Mainetti (Jeeg Robot).

Still in production: La Befana Vien Di Notte (“the befana comes at night), a fantasy for families from Michele Soavi with Paola Cortellesi,  Ride from Jacopo Rondinelli, an English language film that is part thriller, horror, and extreme sport and filmed entirely with Action Cam.

From director Francesca Archibugi starring Claudio Bisio, Gli Sdraiati (“the lie downs”?), from a novel with the same name.

Top 10? Nothing doing! Too many beautiful Italian actress to limit the list to only 10!

Monica Bellucci, obviously. She’s 52, fabulous, and aging pretty darned gracefully.

Micaela Ramazzotti, Mrs. Paolo Virzì, does it all. She does comedy, takes the tough roles, and remains glamerous.

The Fontana Twins, Angela and Marianna, are singers who are just starting out their acting careers but already winning awards for their debut, Indivisibili. Could they BE any prettier?

Isabella Ragonese was a 2012 Berlinale Shooting Star and has lived up to all expectations with an amazing acting career.

Greta Scarano almost tries to play down her great looks, taking tough roles like Viola in Suburra and Tania in Senza Nessuna Pietà.

Laura Adriani is just 23, but already seems like a seasoned movie star.

Paola Cortellesi? There isn’t ANYBODY who doesn’t want to be HER girlfriend. Even us women!

Bianca Nappi is the gorgeous star that will also tell you what’s in the stars for you! Check out her horoscope column on Ladyblitz.it!

Sara Serraiocco hit the ground running in Salvo and more recently impressed everyone in the award-winning La Ragazza Del Mondo.

Claudia Gerini is even more a sex symbol at 45 than when she was younger!

Anna Ferruzzo is not only beautiful and talented, she’s a fierce supporter of all kinds of causes, like animal rights.

Alba Rohrwacher is a Botticelli angel with an ethereal beauty that takes your breath away when you see her in person.

Blu Yoshimi is so young, and the promise of a big, beautiful career just explodes from her smile.

Claudia Gusmano, star Viola, Franca, may be the toughest cookie I have ever met. She’ll be a big star!

Donatella Finocchiaro? I have a little bit of a girl crush on this sultry Sicilian actress.

Margherita Buy, having won more best actress awards than any other Italian including Sophia Loren, is the reigning queen of Italian cinema.