The Legendary Giulia (2015)

Here is an Italian buddy comedy with a message: a message that had me rolling my eyeballs and impatiently checking my watch. Four oddball numskulls decide, after one meeting, to buy equal shares in a fixer-upper holiday resort. They proceed to fend off the local mafia while improbably working out differences and achieving financial success.…

Mia Madre and My Mother

Not long after I began university, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Almost everyone has to one day deal with the mortality of their parents and, like almost everyone, I dealt with it terribly. I slid right into the ‘denial’ phase and never really left; rather than do the logical thing and try and…

South is Nothing (2013)

South is Nothing (2013)

Soderbergh’s recent interpretation of Raiders of the Lost Ark as a black-and-white silent film has critics pondering the essence of cinema: “moving images.” I was reminded of such power watching South is Nothing. Fabio Mollo’s feature-length debut focuses on a father (Vinicio Marchioni) and daughter Grazia (Miriam Karlkvist, playing a convincingly-boyish tomboy) coping with the…

The Mafia Only Kills in Summer

The Mafia Only Kills in Summer (2013)

Featuring in the Italian Film Festival program, The Mafia Only Kills in Summer is perfectly calibrated for a film festival audience, weaving a lightweight romantic comedy through a scaffolding of historical mafia murders in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The title is taken from an offhand comment made to young Arturo (played by Alex Bisconti…