What's your favorite Italian movie?

Some of Fbaezer's and my fav's cross....

Agree with him on Night of the Shooting Stars, We all Loved Each Other So Much - his number 6 (have seen it 4 times), Amarcord, The Organizer. My top ten revolve...

I tend to like Visconti, Scola, Rosi, Rossellini, the Taviani brothers, as directors.

Cinema Paradiso was long to me. I liked it, certainly, but not among my killer group. On the other hand, it might be perfect for learning italiano.

Can't remember what I listed before, have to go look back, but if I do I'll lose this post. Did I say Open City? Umberto D?

Try Kaos (Chaos) from the Taviani brothers, several short stories without too much lightning fast conversation.

Yes, I agree. I had typed it in my post, and then figured I should curtail my list. I particularly liked "The Jar" segment of Kaos.

Thanks for all the great ideas. I will definitely check out "Kaos".

There's a movie coming to one of the independent theaters in a couple weeks called "Remember Me, My Love"

Directed by Gabriele Muccino. Starring Fabrizio Bentivgolio, Monica Bellucci, and Laura Morante. Nominated for 10 Italian Oscars, this must see film is one of Italy's most successful of 2003.

Anyone heard of this one? Just seeing Monica Belluci is worth the money for me.

I saw Umberto D. once. It didn't really do much for me, but I didn't hate it. I guess that's the reaction I have to that realism stuff. I can appreciate the art of it, but I can't get all that excited about it.

I liked "Umberto D." and also "The Bicycle Thief" by Vittorio De Sica

"Cinema Paradiso" was Ok. A bit too draggy and corny. Done before by Scola in "Nuevo Cinema Splendor" (not that I particularly love that one, either)

"La Dolce Vita" is not my favorite Fellini, either, even if the Trevi fountain scene is among my all time favorites.
A much better film, IMHO, about "l'Italia del miracolo" ('50s, '60s) is "Il sorpasso", by Dino Risi. Another praised film about that era is "Una vita difficile". By Risi too, I think.
Also very good, IMHO, are the comedies about Don Camillo and Onorevole Peppone (Don Camillo is the priest of a small town in the Emilia-Romagna region; Onororevole Peppone is the Communist mayor). Examples of true Italian popular culture of the XXth century.

Burt Lancaster is one of the most loved and celebrated American actors in Italy. He also stars in "Novecento" (1900) and Visconti's "Gruppo di famiglia in un interno". Plus he filmed several miniseries for the Italian TV.
I've even heard jokes in dialect, playing with his name.

I'm sure I read a good review of that, Kicky... but I guess I failed to save a copy of it. (I'm an articles-about-italy scavenger.)

Malena with Monica Bellucci is very good. I rented it a few weeks ago. Bellucci is used mainly as eye candy, but the story is good, set during WWII.

One of then films I disagreed with Ebert -- he gave it two stars. Stephen Holden of the NYT, however, gave it a good review and was the reason I went to see this movie. Bellucci is potentially the new Sophia Loren.

I looked up in my italian movie review file (not very large) and found two reviews which I won't link as they are NYTimes and it is hard to link to older items there as I think one has to pay a fee to read them. Anyway, some of the movies I haven't seen but am keeping an eye out for are:

The Best of Youth with Maya Sansa, a 28 yr. old iranian italian, who was also good in an entirely different role in Good Morning, Night.

The Blind Fairies (La Fate Ignorante) by Ferzan Ozpetak, a fellow from Turkey who was studying film in italy and stayed twenty five years) and
Steam, the Turkish Bath (Il Bagno Turco), also by him.


edit -
I'll be glad to add the links or even the reviews if there is interest.

I'm building a new list of films from this thread that I haven't seen for many, many years. Just saw "8-l/2" and it's still stands as an evolutionary missing link in filmmaking. Italian realism influenced the filmmakers in America from the 50's through the 70's. The 80's could be the dryest decade for great films.

Not to short the French New Wave.

Life is beautiful... But if you're asking for the best of the best - "The Godfather", of course. Unfortunately, this won't be useful for your purposes as it isn't in Italian... But hey, you can take the DVD and select the Italian audio

Well, since starting this thread, I have seen a few of the movies people have suggested. My favorite Italian director is now Giuseppe Tornatore.

I rented the movie Malena, which I loved, and last night I watched Cinema Paradiso. Oh my god, that movie was so beautiful! I wish someone would have told me how frickin' sad it is though. If I weren't such a macho stud, I would have been bawling my eyes out! Che triste!

Okay, so I did bawl my eyes out a little bit.

I still haven't seen Malena, need to...

Yes, you do.

My favorite Italian movie is Fellini's 8 1/2, however there are many, many others which I love. I'm Italian-American so maybe Italian movies have a special significance for me. The greatest of the so-called neorealist movies is SHOESHINE by DeSica...heartbreaking. I like most Fellini, a lot of Antonioni, and much of Visconti who I think is an underrated director--WHITE NIGHTS and THE LEOPARD are my favorites. Any Italian comedy starring Alberto Sordi is worth watching. Bertolucci I have mixed feelings about. Another underrated director is Marco Bellocchio. I haven't seen too many great Italian films in recent years--hated CINEMA PARADISO, so sentimental and formulaic. But once in a while Italy produces a good, solid movie still. I'm afraid the glory days of Italian cinema are over. The French are better off since their filmmakers often get state subsidies.

Has anyone seen "We All Loved Each Other So Much"? It is a great story about four friends and contains homages to De Sica and Fellini. It was made in 1975 and starred Vittorio Gassman and Stefania Sandrelli.

Lovely film, wandeljw. It is the one on bold letters.