But that time slowly distances her from the dream, and the inevitable day arrives when she realizes the life she once knew is a thing of the past.
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That business seems never-ending as one problem leads to another. After a parent passes away, she is forced to put her dream on hold to take care of business. The story follows Jenny as she dreams of being a synchronized swimmer. “Cloro” by Lamberto Sanfelice is ironically the film I’ve written most often about, as it was presented at other film festivals earlier this year, and ended up being the one in this group I most understood and for which I felt the most empathy. It was really his film, and I’m ok with that because it was a beautiful, soulful performance in which we saw a side of Gassman we rarely see, and for this, I applaud the director, Ivano De Matteo. Alessandro Gassman’s performance stood out for me. The film stars four of Italy’s most talented actors: Alessandro Gassman, Barbora Bobulova, Luigi Lo Cascio and Giovanna Mezzogiorno. This story takes that idea and exposes a parent’s worst nightmare. I can imagine how difficult it is for parents to really know who their kids are meeting or what exactly they’re watching. Kids are always seen engrossed in their phones watching videos, playing games and posting photos and updates to social media. Without giving too many details away, the story is a reflection of today’s disconnect between parents and their teenagers. The creative way in which De Matteo interprets this story is engaging and suspenseful. Ivano De Matteo’s “I nostri ragazzi” was adapted from Herman Koch’s bestselling novel, “The Dinner”. That, I can say, is the enchantment of Italian cinema.
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The last scene of the film was deeply moving, and in my eyes, slightly redeemed Francesco Scianna’s self-absorbed male character, so my anger came full circle in the end. Virna Lisi,Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Angela Finocchiaro were such a joy to watch.
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That element did anger me but the performances took my mind off it. Even when one of the characters finds her husband in bed with her half-sister, his punishments- expressed in her snares and slapstick abuses were made to be funny. However, as we see in “Latin Lover”, when the person doing the cheating is a man, there is a sense of entitlement and acceptance, and we see all the women, the wives and daughters sitting around making jokes, celebrating their love and adoration for him, even though they suffered and continue to suffer immensely. Roberto, played passionately by Pierfrancesco Favino, suffered, just as a woman suffers when she is the victim of infidelity, and there was really no joking, no sense of acceptance. It was refreshing and unique to see this perspective. It showed infidelity through the eyes of a man whose fiancé was unfaithful. A few years ago, Maria Sole Tognazzi’s film, “L’uomo che ama” (The Man Who Loves) was presented at Open Roads. I felt a lot of anger while I watched this film, anger towards the man that created all this drama, an arrogant, aloof, self-centered actor, portrayed perfectly by Sicilian born, Francesco Scianna. The film explores the consequences of infidelity and how the offspring of multiple marriages and affairs have to deal with the voids, resentment and in this case, sisters from other mothers. It was Virna Lisi’s last project and she was as beautiful and as graceful as ever, carrying each scene with the poise and elegance of a true class act. After watching it, I can say the performances were indeed the highlight of the film. I imagined her actresses would create beautiful, complex women and would bring amazing performances to the table. I was really enthused about seeing Cristina Comencini’s “Latin Lover” because of the predominately female cast. This year, I watched four: Daniele Cipri’s “La buca” (Money Buddies), Cristina Comencini’s “Latin Lover”, Ivano De Matteo’s “I nostri ragazzi” (The Dinner) and Lamberto Sanfelice’s “Cloro” (Chlorine). I look forward to this kind of cinematic escape, and every year, I make my pick for the must-see film of the series. I anticipate the films bringing me into the worlds of their complex characters and the artists responsible for creating them. For more than a decade now, I look forward every year to the media screenings of the films selected for Lincoln Center’s annual Italian film series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. When I watch them, I always ride a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from nostalgia to sentimentality to anger to sadness to fear to joy to empathy. There’s something about Italian films that gets under my skin.