MY ITALIAN CINEMA CLUB: THE ITALIAN FILMS

21 OF MY FAVOURITE ITALIAN FILMS.

After completing the list of my favourite books set in Italy, I got to thinking about all the wonderful Italian films I have seen over the years. My love affair with Italian cinema began in the 1990s with such films as Cinema Paradiso and Mediterraneo and continued after I was introduced to films like The Bicycle Thief and Fellini’s La Dolce Vita in film school. After we moved to Italy, I began rewatching all my favourites as a way to improve my Italian language skills, and during this, I came to realise just how well these films are made and have stood the test of time. No wonder Italy has taken home more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film than those of any other country; they have had an impressive 14 wins and 31 nominations.

Below are my top 21 Italian films: I’ve tried to include something for everyone, from the brilliant modern classic Life is Beautiful to the laugh-out-loud Il Sorpasso and almost everything in-between. Enjoy.

Most of these films can now be viewed on YouTube, Netflix, and other streaming services. All the titles are linked to previews for your convenience.

Watch on…..

1. La Dolce Vita directed by Federico Fellini.

In Federico Fellini’s lauded Italian film, restless reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts through life in Rome. While Marcello contends with the overdose taken by his girlfriend, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), he also pursues heiress Maddalena (Anouk Aimée) and movie star Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), embracing a carefree approach to living. Despite his hedonistic attitude, Marcello does have moments of quiet reflection, resulting in an intriguing cinematic character study.

2. Cinema Paradiso directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.

Young Salvatore Di Vita (Salvatore Cascio) discovers the perfect escape from life in his war-torn Sicilian village: the Cinema Paradiso movie house, where projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) instills in the boy a deep love of films. When Salvatore grows up, falls in love with a beautiful local girl (Agnese Nano) and takes over as the Paradiso’s projectionist, Alfredo must convince Salvatore to leave his small town and pursue his passion for filmmaking. Oscar winner in 1987.

3. The Bicycle Thief directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Unemployed Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. His wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), sells the family’s bed linens to retrieve Antonio’s bicycle from the pawnshop so he can take the job. However, disaster strikes when Antonio’s bicycle is stolen, and his new job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his lively son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), Antonio combs the city, growing increasingly desperate for justice.

4. The Great Beauty directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza is a compelling tragicomedy of Italy’s leisured classes in the tradition of Antonioni’s La Notte or Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. An ageing writer has spent many years seducing his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday, he starts to look past the nightclubs and parties to find a landscape of exquisite beauty. Oscar winner in 2013.

5. Life is Beautiful directed by Roberto Benigni

This beautiful and heartbreaking film gives us a glimpse of the Holocaust, but it is really about love and the indomitability of humanity, even in the midst of inhumanity. It tells the story of a Jewish father and his family, who are surrounded by Nazi death camps. Living in this hostile environment, he uses humor to shield his young son from the grim realities of war. Oscar winner in 1998.

6. Il Postino directed by Massimo Troisi.

When exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret) arrives on a tiny Italian island, there’s so much new mail that Mario (Massimo Troisi), an unemployed, uneducated layabout, is hired as a postman. His job is simply to deliver Neruda’s daily mail. Mario soon becomes a student of the poet, learning the art of poetry to woo a local barmaid (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) and tell about the struggles of the working-class villagers. A firm friendship develops, and the postman turns into a changed man.

7. 8 1/2 directed by Federico Fellini.

Troubled Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) struggles with creative stasis as he attempts to get a new movie off the ground. Overwhelmed by his work and personal life, the director retreats into his thoughts, which often focus on his loves, both past and present, and frequently wander into fantastical territory. As he tries to sort out his many entanglements—romantic and otherwise—Anselmi finds his production becoming more and more autobiographical. Oscar winner 1963.

“My dears, happiness consists of being able to tell the truth without hurting anyone.”  8 ½

8. Marriage Italian Style directed by Vittorio De Sica.

When handsome, successful Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) first meets the sexy young woman Filomena (Sophia Loren) in Naples during World War II, he is instantly smitten. Flash forward to the postwar years, and the two meet again, sparking a passionate affair that spans two decades. But when Filomena, who has now become Domenico’s kept woman and has secretly borne his children, learns that her lover is planning to wed another, she stops at nothing to hook him into marrying her instead. Oscar was nominated in 1965.

9. The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor’s young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.

 10. Il Sorpasso directed by Dino Risi.

The ultimate Italian road comedy, Il sorpassostars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, Il sorpasso is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.

11. Bread and Tulips directed by Silvio Soldini.

Rosalba (Licia Maglietta), a middle-aged woman on a bus trip to Venice with her husband and her sons, is left behind at a rest stop off of the highway. As the days go by with no word from her family, she settles into a room at a local hotel and takes a job at a flower shop. When her husband and sons begin to miss her, they send a friend looking for her. “Bread and Tulips” is a warmhearted comedy about love, family, and friendship.

12. Johnny Stecchino directed by Roberto Benigni.

Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria’s stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.

13. Gomorra directed by Matteo Garrone.

In the slums of Campania, the Camorra crime syndicate has created a fortune out of cocaine, corruption and chemical waste. Some try to fight back, like teens Ciro (Ciro Petrone) and Marco (Marco Macor), who decide to steal a Camorra weapons cache in a bid to take control themselves. Others try to hide, like Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo), a tailor trying to get around paying protection fees. But the realization sets in: The Camorra is too large, too deeply embedded in Italy to be fought.

14. Mediterraneo directed by  Gabriele Salvatores.

An Italian ship leaves a handful of soldiers on a little greek island; their mission is to spot enemy ships and to hold the island in case of attack. The village of the island seems abandoned and there isn’t a single enemy in sight, so the soldiers begin to relax a little. Things change when their ship is hit and destroyed by the enemy, and the soldiers find themselves abandoned there. Actually, the island isn’t deserted and when the Greeks understand that those Italians are harmless, they come out of their hiding places in the mountains and continue their peaceful lives. Soon the soldiers discover that being left behind in a God-forgotten Greek island isn’t such a bad thing, after all.. Oscar winner in 1991.

15. La Strada directed by Federico Fellini.

La strada is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Federico Fellini from his own screenplay co-written with Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano. The film tells the story of Gelsomina, a simple-minded young woman bought from her mother by Zampanò, a brutish strongman. Oscar winner in 1956.

16. Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow directed by  Vittorio De Sica.

Three different stories of Italian social mores are presented. In “Adelina,” unemployed Carmine Sbaratti and his wife Adelina Sbaratti survive through Adelina selling black market cigarettes on the street. They are unable to pay for the furniture they bought (which is under Adelina’s name), but are able to avoid the bailiff when he comes for the money or to repossess. They come up with a longer-term solution to avoid Adelina being prosecuted for non-payment, but that solution has a profound effect on the family, especially Carmine. In “Anna,” Anna Molteni, the spoiled wife of a successful businessman, and an artist named Renzo are on the cusp of an affair. Anna is feeling neglected in the marriage, as her husband seems more concerned about success and money than her. But a car accident shows both Anna and Renzo if an affair with each other is really what they want. In “Mara,” Mara is a prostitute who works out of her apartment. Oscar winner in 1964.

17. La Notte directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

In Milan, Lidia (Jeanne Moreau) suddenly storms out of a posh gathering held to honor her husband, Giovanni (Marcello Mastroianni), who has just written a new novel. Distressed at the news that her friend Tommaso (Bernhard Wicki) has a terminal illness, Lidia begins roaming the streets of the city, questioning her marriage to Giovanni. Meanwhile, Giovanni, seemingly oblivious to his crumbling relationship with Lidia, attempts to seduce beautiful ingénue Valentina (Monica Vitti).

18. Happy as Lazzaro by Alice Rohrwacher.

This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village, Inviolata, is dominated by the terrible Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping. This strange and improbable alliance is a revelation for Lazzaro. A friendship so precious that it will travel in time and transport Lazzaro in search of Tancredi. His first time in the big city of Lazzaro is like a fragment of the past lost in the modern world.

19. Perfect Strangers directed by Paolo Genovese.

Seven long-time friends get together for dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email, and phone call they receive, many secrets start to be revealed, and equilibrium trembles.

20. Malena directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.

Malèna is about the peril of beauty through the eyes of a 12-year-old kid named Renato. He experiences three things on the same day: the beginning of war, getting a bike, and seeing the arrival of Malèna in town. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed to be dead, and through his soul, we see his love for her

21. Nights of Cabiria directed by Federico Fellini.

The magnificent Giulietta Masina (Fellini’s wife) plays an eternally optimistic Rome streetwalker with a heart of gold and a head of cotton candy in her husband’s Oscar-winning masterpiece. This funny, poignant classic inspired the musical “Sweet Charity” and is a must-see. Oscar winner in 1957.

“A different language is a different vision of life.”Federico Fellini

Well, I hope within this list you have found something new to watch that ‘tickles your fancy’ or perhaps rediscovered an old classic you may have forgotten about.

Do get in touch to let me know if I have missed one of your favourite Italian films or if you have a film suggestion to add to my list.