‘Signore & Signori’ or — Brutally Funny?Pietro Germi’s ‘Signore & Signori’ (1966), or ‘The Birds, the Bees and the Italians’, is an Italian sex comedy consisting of three tales…7h ago7h ago
‘Buddha’s Palm’ or — Reaching a State of Idiotic Nirvana?Despite the superhuman abilities of their heroes the Wuxia films of the 1970’s still tended to be relatively grounded and realistic…4d ago4d ago
‘Bitter Rice’ or — The Americanisation of Silvana?Giuseppe De Santis’ ‘Bitter Rice’ (1949), or ‘Riso Amaro’, opens with a gag. A serious looking man directly addresses the audience to…5d ago5d ago
‘Airport’ or — Funnier Than ‘Airplane!’?I’ll admit that I was somewhat pissed when I returned home last night which could explain why I loudly announced on walking through my…Jan 29Jan 29
‘Il Posto’ or — “Rational Madness”?Despite Ermanno Olmi’s ‘Il Posto’ (1961) opening text describing how families migrated from rural areas of Italy to industrial Milan in…Jan 28Jan 28
‘Bread, Love and Dreams’ or — Tickled Pink?Apparently some of Italy’s more radical critics were somewhat dismissive of films such as Luigi Comencini’s ‘Bread, Love and Dreams’…Jan 25Jan 25
‘Caveman’ or — The Biggest Build-up in the History of Cinema?The memory is both clear and eternal.Jan 21Jan 21
‘Ulysses’ — Seriously Bewitched?Mario Camerini’s ‘Ulysses’ (1954) doesn’t get off to the most promising of starts with the first 25 minutes or so consisting of nothing…Jan 19Jan 19
‘L’Amour Fou’ or — Mutually Assured Affection?If I was to describe Jacques Rivette’s ‘L’Amour Fou’ (1969) you’d probably run a mile as a four hour-plus black and white French film…Jan 13Jan 13
‘Juggernaut’ or — Attack of the Lesterisms?Apparently Richard Lester defended his bombs-on-a-ship thriller ‘Juggernaut’ (1974) by declaring that “the mistake most people make is to…Jan 7Jan 7
