Edwige Fenech Those who fell in love with Edwige Fenech in the 70s will remember her sex appeal, her femininity and the actress’ seductive French accent. Born in French Algeria in 1948 to a Maltese father and a Sicilian mother, the star of the erotic comedies that were once all the […]
Overall, 15 Italian movies have received an Oscar: 11 in the Best Foreign Movie category, 3 with a Special Oscar assigned before this category was created, all won by Vittorio De Sica. Some seminal Italian directors, such as Mario Monicelli received six nominations, but never won. Neglected by the Academy have […]
Movie Review: Scarlet Diva Asia Argento – Scarlet Diva Ph. Olivier Strecker on wikicommons Scarlet Diva stars Asia Argento. She also wrote and directed the film. Asia doesn’t deny that this is a self-serving piece and even says, quite dramatically, in the opening segment that it “saved my […]
Italian Comedy A descendant of “Commedia dell’ Arte”, Italian Comedy is generally considered to have started with Mario Monicelli’s “I Soliti Ignoti” (Big Deal on Madonna Street) with Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Alberto Sordi, Claudia Cardinale, Monica Vitti and Nino Manfredi. They were the stars of these movie […]
When talking about TV personalities, can you forget Jay Leno, or Jimmy Kimmel? Well, aside from the fact that they are witty, spontaneous, and smart, there is another thread which binds them: they have an Italian heritage. Yes, while names like Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel don’t sound particularly Italian,they […]
Pane e Tulipani – What a Delightful Film! Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips) is such a sweet film. It’s a romantic comedy starring Licia Maglietta as Rosalba Maresanto Barletta. She was married young to a plumbing supplier. Now, in her 40s with two teenage sons, Rosalba is unhappy. She […]
The Best Italian Movies, and the Best Italian Comedies since the 1980s Well besides world known movies like “La vita e’ bella” (Life is Beautiful) with Benigni, Cinema Paradiso ( not a comedy but a masterpiece in any case) and “The great Beauty” there Italians go to the movies for two […]
Federico Fellini is one of the best Italian film directors. Born in Rimini in 1920, he started his career as a caricaturist, writer, then scriptwriter and finally film director. He died in Rome in 1993. This is a list of his movies, some of the most representative Italian movies: Poster for […]
Italian Comedy emerged in Italy in the second half of the 1950s and later developed in the 1960s and ‘70s. It indicated a happy period when Italy produced many different kinds of movies, all sharing common features such as satire, bourgeois settings, and characterized by a bittersweet approach to story […]
I believe Italian movies are essential to understand how Italians live life. La commedia all’ Italiana shows Italy in its most typical behaviours and attitudes, at times bringing them to the extreme, yet always with a touch of irony and a lot of poetic flair. Read our […]