Six Good Films, One Stinker At Open Roads: New Italian Cinema
Yesterday I saw three more films and the first two, Escort in Love (Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare) and Seven Acts of Mercy (Sette Opere di Misericordia) were great. The third, A Flat For Three (Posti in Piedi in Paradiso) was really bad – my husband is insisting that it’s the worst movie he’s ever seen.
While I think that this is an exaggeration, I do feel bad that I made him go with me to see it. If any of you were there, we were the couple in the front row that left before the film was over. I just couldn’t stand it anymore.
1) I will renew my displeasure that the advertised actors weren’t at the performance; where was Pierfrancesco Favino? At the least, it should have been explained and an apology offered.
2) I’m back to disliking Micaela Ramazzotti after seeing this movie. I guess they wanted a beautiful woman that could act goofy in a kind of screwball comedy way, but she wasn’t funny at all.
3) I think Carlo Verdone may be losing his touch. The premise of A Flat for Three (3 divorced guys sharing an apartment) is tired, the look is dated, and the acting surprisingly weak. I’ve always been a big Verdone fan, and so it’s extra disappointing.
4) I don’t know how Pierfrancesco Favino and Marco Giallini weren’t embarrassed to be part of this project.
5) I don’t know how anybody was nominated or won awards for this movie!
However, the Italians behind me were howling with laughter, so I have to consider the fact that this is an example of Italian humor that I will never get.
5 Responses to “Six Good Films, One Stinker At Open Roads: New Italian Cinema”
well I am obliged to say that i have immensely enjoyed this movie and it has been a long time that i did not laugh so much for a comedy. Is Italian humor incompatible … to an American or french ? i dont know …well, since I am half Italian this is why i loved this comedy … i was so disappointed that no one was there for the film and in particular Pierfrancesco Favino … i saw him once at the Tribecca film festival for the movie ” Romazo criminale “
There are so many comedies, Italian and French, that I love! I really loved Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare and Paola’s Tu La Conosci Claudia is one of my favorites. And I have really loved many of Verdone’s. I thought Magnifica Presenza was hilarious.
I’m glad you liked this one, though. Have you seen Kryptonite? I’m going tonight even though I own the DVD at home – I want to see the director.
Did you like Scialla? My whole family loved it.
You know how Woody Allen asks his actors to play ‘him’? Well, the same thing happens in Verdone’s film: the actors are talented but they all act like him: quick delivery, annoying facial expressions, etc… . It’s true, they are not funny but I would blame the director and the mediocre material.
Are you going to give us a review of SCIALLA? I especially loved Barbora Bobulova and Vinicio Marchioni’s cameo.
Yes I am! I have been in the theater so much I’ve barely had a chance to write. I think that Italians disagree with me about Posti in Piedi, though.
I’m pretty sure Italian humor is compatible with French humor (I’m French), and yet I found “Posti in piedi…” very poorly written. First time in a while I see so many bad cliches in one movie.