Italiano

I am back to Kolkata for reasons known to devils in paradise but I am.
Was outmost been bored, when out of the blue the Italian Consul decided to save my afternoons and evenings. I guess the angels of hell where being nice to their future companion.

A basket of six films in an interesting variation was screened in Nandan from the 1st to the 3rd of April.
The first in the basket was Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio.

The experimental theatre director and actor’s work had a Benigni’s signature to the film. This 2002 film is apparently one of the expensive of Italian films and bombed badly midst his audience and critics. That kept me wondering why must the festival start with a film like that?
Based on the original story developed by Collidi there was nothing much to look for in the film. It was more of a Sunday afternoon DVD viewing type of a film. And at several points Benigni overplayed the character, his remorse did not even feel or make believe as comedy. Thank god for the story has a nice memory of kindergarten for most of us.
Back home on google I was not too surprised to discover on Rotten Tomatoes it had a 0% collection!
The next film was Fellini’s La Sceicco Bianco -The White Sheikh. The 1952 flick was played by Alberto Sordi in the title role. And to me is one of the funniest works of Fellini that I have been witness to on the silver screen.

It is a comedy dramatized on a true Fellini style. And it was sheer delight since I was watching Fellini’s directorial debut!
The story starts when Ivan Cavalli, a punctilious clerk comes to Rome with his virgin pretty wife Wanda for their honeymoon. He has set appointments wit the Pope and meetings of the couple with Ivan’s uncle and aunt. While Ivan is set to take a nap, Wanda takes off to meet The White Sheikh, the hero of a soap opera comic strip of a romantic magazine that Wanda lives on. In the process she lands up 26 kms away from Rome at the shoot of the opera and is thrilled to meet her White Sheikh, here Ivan cannot believe that Wanda has vanished and lies to his relatives saying Wanda is ill. Wanda discovers the web of deception that the Sheikh has portrayed to her and loses track of her path back to Rome. That night she wanders in the streets attempting to suicide while Ivan is tempted by whores. However the next day at 11 the couple is to meet the Pope and the aroma of Fellini is spread in the film when the starstruck Wanda and sordidly cautious Ivan are led to the Pope as the ‘innocent and Pure’ newly weds.
The comic timing of the film and the typical English mannerisms along with portrayal of the ‘will be by you till death do us apart’ kinda feel to both Ivan and Wanda at several points of time. A typical of its time Albert Sordi perfectly slipped into the role of a white sheikh. And what makes it interesting is throughout the pandemonium one knows that all will be well but the curiosity of how is what kept me glued.
The camera work is indeed good, the vision of the director and experimenting with such angles was a delight as an audience.
And everytime I am thinking about the film I am just getting humble about the vision the man had back in 1950s. The entire shoot on the beach saw him using very interesting angles. The light through shaft is a Fellini trademark, and now I know the White Sheikh is where it was born. Overall I would rate the film 3.75 out of 5 and definitely recommend one to watch it for the 50s comic drama is definitely not a miss!

The second day we saw Callas Forever and Once upon a time in the West.
Callas Forever is a biographical film on the legendary Maria Callas.

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli the film released in 2002. The story is that of the legendary opera diva Maria Callas whose friends (and her former manager) Larry and confidante Sarah convince her to revive her career by lip syncing to her old recording and creating a musical around it. Callas’s passion for music and trust in her friends and herself helps the unit to finish Carmen. However she insisted that she would sing for Tosca on her own voice. When Larry presented this to the investors they backed out. Callas then asks Larry to destroy Carmen for it would be dishonesty to her profession and passion, and to her fans who would find this dispassionate and would feel cheated. She felt the lip sync and recreating Carmen is no price to pay to revive her ending career. One who is an opera literate would be able to comment more on the content but as a musical drama one expected more of colors and dramatization. But one would definitely have to find Fanny Ardant carrying off the role with as much might as the production allowed her. Larry played by Jeremy Irons ….also played his part to the skin. Overall as one learns it is a tribute to the friend Maria Callas, I would agree the Zeffirelli successfully portrayed the sacred thread of the artist integrity with the art and the audience, and that’s what Callas stood for as experts tell me.

The last sequence can definitely boast of a good set of dialogues, true to the diva’s spirit.
Once upon a time in the West is a typical western cowboy film by the legendary Sergio Leone that released in Italy way back in the1968 and then in United States in 1969.

For me it was Sergio Leone and a complete delight and definitely lucky to have caught on to the undeniable classic of our times. The fun was to watch Henry Fonda play Frank and the irresistible Claudia Cardinale’s sensuality as Mrs.Mcbain. The woman on the screen was hot. Pardon my PDA in words but I enjoyed the almost three hour flick to my hearts content!
All set this out and out action flick was cinema that had its own charm. Considering Leone came into my life much later, it gave me the same thrill that a Sholay did!
The story goes like the McBain family is killed by Frank and Mrs.McBain comes home for the first time to nothing. Harmonica is introduced in style time and again till one realizes that avenging Frank is his objective. After several twists and turns he avenges Frank with help from Cheyyene (played by …..) the most vibrant character in the film and helps Jill alias Mrs.McBain have her fortune of Sweet water.
The location (Italy and Spain) was captured with its spirit intact. Though Charles Bronson did the best but the true hero was the cinematography of the film. It was like remembrance of the cowboy fairy tales. The scene of waiting at the train station with credits rolling accompanied by the perfect synthesis of natural sounds of water, windmill, fly, footsteps and Directed by Sergio Leone as the train pulls into the station was just sensational.
The use of minimum dialogue adds the spice to the film. The flow of beautiful images looked like it was being effortlessly weaving itself into a story with several others embedded in them but they linked perfectly with one another. It was brutal and bloody but was picturesque and poetic and sensual. And I felt I watched a flawless film with an original soundtrack still ringing in my ears.
Leone celebrates West and from that a Classic was born!
The final film was I am not scared directed by Gabriele Salvatores.

The film is based in Southern Italy 1978 and is set in an Italian countryside. It opens with children playing games in a deserted fort and the protagonist Michelle goes back to find his sisters glasses only to discover a mysterious creature in a hole in the ground.
The character of Michele was interesting.Played by Giuseppe Cristiano,the boy was a inquisitive youngster who lived with his parents and kid sister in a rural rundown village. his daily life was simple;roaming around the gorgeous arid fields with his friends, and then rushing home to eat dinner and arm-wrestle with his father.As Michele discovers the mystery was a pale creature kept captive.He makes a bond with this ghost, who turns out to be a boy his own age named Fillipino, feeding him and taking him out for air. At the same time, Michele tries to understand the mysterious ongoings at his house, where men including the violent and rude characters his father brings home, quarrel viciously.The fact that Cristiano develops the insight to deal with his parents as characters is quite commendable,his maturity to understand that the film pretty much is on his shoulders makes it as delightful.
I am not quite sure if Salvatores was trying to also hint at the developing north and economically downridden Italy when Fillipino's parents make announcements on news channels but looked like a pretty vague attempt if at all the socio-economic and political aspects were supposed to play an undertone.
The pace of the film was smooth but the use of sephia and several filtered lenses to get the perfect ambiance in the fields and the sky was overdone. The dreamy bit definitely undermined the struggle of the child.
Overall a pleasant experience where to begin with one gets caught in the crime and the suspense of the plot but what the filmmaker succeeds in achieving is the portrayal of an innocent child's struggle to face the real world and eventually emerging as an individual.

8th April, 11.36 hrs
Kolkata