La mafia uccide solo d'estate (2013, Pierfrancesco "Pif" Diliberto)

What would you tell a child that is afraid of the mafia and refuses to get out during winter time? Maybe you would say that there is no danger, as the mafia only kills in summer time. Mafia as a good weather phenomenon.
Arturo is the boy with a special relationship to the mafia. Actually he is "he" because of mafia. When his parents conceived him, the Viale Lazio Massacre took place in the same building. The other sperms were looking for shelter, sperm Arturo fertilized the egg cell. Wait a minute - Massacre of Viale Lazio doesn't mean anything to you? Don't worry - it doesn't say anything  to me either. Anyway, Arturo was the fittest survivor in this special context - Darwin rules, maybe.
Next we get mafia as experienced through the eyes of a child. So - at a time Arturo was supposed to be baptized. But - but  - but at the the same time Vito Ciancimino was appointed mayor. The corrupt priest preferred to attend that celebration. Vito Ciancimino is not a pert of your living history? Probably you are not Italian. Neither am I, never mind the details.
So what? This is the part we will call Mafia as seen through the eyes of a child? If it were like this it  be something like Io non ho paura of 2003, in spite of the obtrusive voice-over of the grown-up Arturo
However, before we know it Arturo has grown up - and yes! he fell in love.Unfortunately Diliberto insists in mixing romance in his Mafia tale. The object of Arturo's  desires? Flora Guarnieri, the daughter of s local banker - who incidentally lives in the same complex as judge Rocco Chinnici. On TV he hears how Giulio Andreotti met his wife. He takes this as important dating hint. Andreotti becomes his hero. He even dresses up as the Prime Minister (although the costume is mistaken as the Hunchback of Notre Dame). Yes, very funny.
A journalist (Arturo suspects at first that he could be a member of the Mafia) arises in Arturo an interest in journalism.  Arturo is now an observer of the events while the Mafia goes on to killing its enemies. Surprisingly he also gets Flora at last.
This film about life in the shadow of the Mafia is a mixed bag. It got as prize as best European comedy of 2014, but it is particularly unfunny. How many laughs can you get from Mafia killings? So, although it is an interesting concept to treat the Mafia light-heartedly, this attempt leads to nothing but a growing irritation
3/10

Manuale d'amare 3 (2011, Giovanni Veronesi)

A set of three episodes. Probably they are designed to be funny, at least "feel good" and this they may be for the audience this film is designed for.
Episode one "Giovinezza" is set in a village. Of course the people there are hillbillies. What else? Roberto is there for work. Although he is closely attached to Sara, he gas violent sex on the beach with a local. She, however, is married already, so he returns to what he already had.
"Maturità" is strikingly immature. A news anchor (I think Berlusconi was the role model) is offered casual sex by a woman that turns out to suffer from bipolar disease. She returns to the institution, he is sent as correspondent to Nairobi. In episode #3 we learn that he was taken as hostage by local terrorists? Funny? Romantic? Really?
Even "Oltre" - beyond good and evil a heart can be set ablaze. The janitor's daughter gets infatuated by Adrian, an American professor of history. Everybody was waiting for this Robert de Niro and Mobica Belucci. It's funny to hear de Niro speaking Italian accent, elase also this episode develops as these stories do. They move to a smal town and have their first baby, although he realizes that he could be the baby's granddad.
This may be good for a rainy afternoon when you  don't want to go out to the library and you have watched everything else. Or for practising Italian.
3/10

Beautiful Things (2017, Giorgio Ferrero)

Beautiful things are made from oil, but oil also destroys the environment. Oil creates employment, oil destroys environment. Without oil we would "consums" completely differently, actually our world would be different.
This is a visual-acoustic odyssey into different aspects of oil in our world. The different chapters are called Petrokio / Cargo / Metro / Cenere / Coppia. In each chapter one person narrates in his own language.
Ferrero, who is also active as composer, contributed to the soundtrack of this film. The music is composed in different styles and moods. (I can hear that, but I cannot name them.)
Both the visual and acoustical aspects of this film are spellbinding. Viewers should make sure that they are not in a hurry and allow themselves to be absorbed by this film.
6/10

Pane e tulipani (2000, Silvio Soldini)

I might never have stumbled upon this, if not my good friend, the film connoisseur A. had suggested that we see it together. Yes, I am not a general fan of "romantic comedies", only if they are set in a somewhat different environment. It should be something like Barakah meets Barakah or or Bread and Tulips.
This is romance among middle-aged, a pledge to have the courage to run away from duties and routine and to dare something new. Rosalba, a middle-aged housewife, is abandoned on a rest stop during a family vacation. First after some time her husband notices that she is actually missing. In the meantime Rosalba decides to head back on her own, but she turns to Venice instead. Yes, forget Paris - Venezia is the city of love. Here she meets a handful of lovable characters, a sad waiter in a Chinese  restaurant, an anarchist florist and a woman that applies holistic massage. Rosalba experiences to be esteemed for what she is really is. Instead of being a clumsy housewife she becomes a complete person. After a short come back to her former life she follows her heart. Well done, Rosalba. That's how it should be.
This is pure entertainment, charming and witty. Feel good, hopefully not only for the aged, but hopefully for any generation.
I wonder if Soldini had Pane, amore e fantasia in mind, when he thought for a title of this film.
Bruno Ganz seems to become specialist for seducing older women, as he plays a similar role in the Swiss production Giulias Verschwinden.
In one scene the sad Bruno Ganz watches a flower bouquet that Rosalba gave him before returning to her former life. He watches the leaves falling down -- an allusion to Truffaut's Domicile conjugal? Maybe there are more quotations and allusions that an alert viewer might notice.
8/10

Buon inverno (2017, Giovanni Totaro)

I wrote this for IMDb, so I think I may also publish it here:
This is called a documentary film, but it seems to be in the mockumentary style of e.g. Ulrich Seidl. There is very little going on: someone is selling refreshments, another guy is campaigning to become mayor - probably without having a chance. The peak event of the season is a karaoke competition on August 15. Sometimes they think of the future, but not very often.

To view this film, you need a good portion of patience and a more than normal interest for ordinary people's ordinary life on a Sicilian beach, then this film is very rewarding.
5/10

 

Matrimonio all'italiana (1964, Vittorio De Sica)

Vittorio De Sica, the director of Umberto D. directed this farce. Can you believe it? Is this neo-realism barking up a wrong tree? Or is it neo-realism begging for a popular success?
First of all the script is very dated. In short: Domenico met Filumena during the war in a brothel. She became his favorite client. In a way he gave her a somewhat secure life by employing her as servant. But he had different hanky-pankies with younger women. She was also forced to work in her line of business. She gave birth to three children. Now after 20 years as mistress she wants to secure her status by tricking Domenico into marriage. She uses the "weapons of a woman" - she pretends to be terminally ill. The idiot Domenico believes her trick. But when he realizes that he has been fooled, he chases her with his lawyer. She, almost illiterate, gives up. At last they find out that they actually love each other and arrange a marriage of love.
This is supposed to be funny. OMG! A woman has been a macho's handmaid for 20 years. Nobody in this film sees anything wrong in that. Nobody! Even the priest who is going to marry them first time seems to regard this cohabitation as respectable arrangement. (Mind you, cohabitation is OK for me, but maybe not when the man has all the rights and the woman none.) The hooker as handmaid has only her charm as weapon. How fair is that?
It should be obvious that Domenico (played by Mastroianni) is a sick bastard. Of course, he is a product of his society, but never we are in doubt that he has the money and therefore also sets the moral norms for his habitat. Script and direction never put as much as a bit of doubt into that.
This said, there is delightful acting by Mastroianni and Loren. This gives this film also today a bit of charm, but s a whole it is not even nostalgic, because nobody really wants those times back.
3/10