The Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Cinematheques are giving movie lovers a much-needed taste of la dolce vita in contemporary and classic Italian cinema, with the program, “From White Phones to Smartphones: Media and Humor in Italian Cinema.”
This program is already running in Tel Aviv and starts on December 31 in Jerusalem. “White Telephone Cinema” was the name for the escapist comedies popular in Italian cinema in the 1930s.
The highlight of this series is Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a new, engaging black-and-white film about a woman in post-World War II Rome who struggles with an abusive husband and who searches for a way to take control of her destiny.
Cortellesi is well-known as an actress, singer, comedian, and screenwriter, and this film, in which she stars, is her directorial debut. Although it may sound like a grim subject, she manages to create a moving and often comic story that is graceful and surprisingly upbeat.
The movie had its world premiere at the Haifa International Film Festival in early October, and Cortellesi was a guest of the festival. It has since opened in Italy, where it became the most popular movie of the year, beating Barbie at the box office. The Cineuropa website called it, “The country’s film event of the year.”
Classics as well as contemporary films
Davide Minnella’s The Perfect Dinner is a rom-com/crime caper that tells the story of Carmine, a kindhearted mobster who runs a restaurant used to launder money, where he meets Consuelo, a chef in search of culinary perfection. The two are drawn together by their love for food and their dreams of winning a Michelin star.
Riccardo Milani’s Thank You Guys is a fact-based drama about an out-of-work actor who takes a job staging a production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in a prison.
Another movie by Milani, Run to You, is a comedy-drama about ladies’ man who pretends to be disabled to attract women, but who then gets into trouble when he falls for a woman who actually needs a wheelchair.
Liliana Cavani, the 90-year-old director best known for The Night Porter, starring Charlotte Rampling, has a new movie in the program, The Order of Time. It’s about a group of friends who meet every year to celebrate a birthday and discover that this time around they may be just hours away from the end of the world.
In addition to the contemporary films, several classics will be screened. There will be a tribute to master neorealist director, Vittorio De Sica, who also worked as an actor. In the movie, Mario Camerini’s 1935 I’ll Give a Million, he starred as a millionaire who impersonates a homeless man to meet people who care about him for himself, not his money.
Other classics on the program include Mario Mattoli’s 1939 film, Imputato, Alzatevi! It tells the story of an Italian who works as a pediatric nurse in Paris and gets involved with gangsters when he tries to become an entertainer. Alessandro Blasetti’s 1935 film, The Old Guard, is set in 1922 and is about the struggle between fascist blackshirts and rival socialists.
For more information and to order tickets, visit the Jerusalem Cinematheque website at https://jer-cin.org.il and the Tel Aviv Cinematheque website at cinema.co.il.