Luchino Visconti "Bellissima" (1951)

If there is one thing I can state for sure about this film is that it is annoying. I don't mean this in the sense that the film was not enjoyable or meaningful; quite the contrary. When I use the word annoying I am referring to the emotions I felt while watching the film. The first thing that struck me was that I literally started to get a headache from how much yelling there was in the film. It is as if Visconti took the most "galline" of all women and put them into one film and then pressed play for two hours. The second thing that made this film "annoying" was the ignorance and selfishness of Maddalena to what she was doing to her young daughter. In this sense, the use of the word "annoying" means that the director did a really good job in making the viewer connect to the film, in making the viewer feel. The point of the film was to see this mother's desperation, neuroticism, and naivety…I was annoyed or “bothered” so much that I even started to get a little angry! The film did a really job in getting a reaction by it’s characterization of the “gallina,” the sleazy nature of the film industry, but ultimately the sacrifices a person is willing to make to become a star.

The film was also a bit ironic in the parallels it drew between the narrative of the film and the situation of the film industry in Italy during the time period. The 1950's saw the rise of beauty pageants like Miss Italia, that in the end were basically contests searching for "beautiful new faces" for the film industry. This film draws on this same idea of the beauty pageant winner, but instead it is young girls competing against each other for their big break, or in reality their mothers. Indeed the children rarely speak in the film as the mothers speak in their place, in many ways exploiting them and trying to find the fame that they never had. The rise of the "star" figure in Italy and the beauty pageants that often created these figures created the dream of stardom among the populace. This film broke down the romanticized view of become a star. At the end in the film testing room Maddalena hears the story of the film editor, whom she recognizes from a film she had seen. The girls story about the “truth” of the industry debunks the myth of stardom. But what really changes Maddalena is when the directors laugh at her daughter’s screen test and call her a dwarf. By the end of the film Maddalena’s dreams for her daughter are crushed and the “ugly face of fame” is revealed. In my opinion the film remains a favorite even today because it is still pertinent. When the film started I immediately thought of shows like "Toddlers in Tiaras," where the same thing is happening that is happening in this film. The film is not only well-constructed and well-acted, it is also criticizing its own industry! Notably the lead performer, Anna Madnani was an actress by profession, and  did not come from the beauty pageant circuit, keeping the film in line with the values it seems to preach. It is not enough to just be “Bellissima.” 

Overall the film achieved what it wanted to achieve. It was enjoyable yet also "annoying," but salvages the main character and the story in the end when Maddalena refuses to sign the film contract for her daughter.

Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola

Lost in Translation really has nothing to do with Italians or Italian Americans but what renders it a possible film for study is that it's director, Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, is the director and thus she is of Italian descent. What I think makes the film "Italian" however is its style. While watching the film I was brought back to the films of Fellini and the Italian neorealists because the film was once again character driven. As viewers we are shown a glimpse of the life of two people in Tokyo and their search for happiness and belonging. The things that happen around them are secondary to their relationship and the things that are happening inside them. In this way I see the influence of Italian film on the movie. There was even a reference to La Dolce Vita in the film, a film by Fellini himself, and a story that in my opinion somewhat parallels the story of Charlotte and Bob; they are two people who meet in a city and find comfort in each other.

The second thing that I noticed is while the film deals with two peoples from America going to Tokyo, their experience could be seen as the "immigrant" experience of the Italians who came to America and the struggles they went through to try and fit in. Bob and Charlotte struggle with the language, the culture, and a sense of belonging, and instead of integrating themselves into the Japanese lifestyle, they stick together, the two "Americans" in Tokyo. This also parallels the idea of Little Italy and that when the Italians came over instead of dispersing into American society they formed there own "Little Italy," sticking together, continuing their culture and speaking their language. This is much the same thing that Charlotte and Bob are doing in the film. They are creating their own culture within the dominant culture.

The Godfather by Coppola

The Godfather is another Italian-American based film, but what really separates this film from the others that we have watched is that the story is very plot driven. While we do have complex and changing characters like The Don and Michael, we see that their personal internal changes are due to the plot or the "action" of the movie, while many of the other films we viewed character driven. The action of The Godfather was the changing force of the characters in the movie; the environment/plot acted upon them instead of them acting upon the plot.

While the set-up of the movie may be something new in comparison to the other films, many of the same Italian-American themes that we saw in the films of Scorsese are still present, most notably the idea of family loyalty and the Church. The family is the central theme of this film, for if it wasn't for the family, there would be no story. 

Protecting one's own becomes a central theme in The Godfather although many times it leads to violence, but surprisingly this film makes the viewer feel sympathy for the Corleone family, and because of this the violence almost seems justified. When I was watching the film I thought about it like this: everyone is bad, but who is the least bad. Coppola creates a Corleone family quite different from the book in fact, and these changes he made act in favor for the like-ability of the Corleone family. Coppola knew that he couldn't create a movie where his viewers hated the main characters. This dichotomy between loving and hating the Corleone's is what renders the film so intriguing. While the family at the beginning of the film is strong and loyal, the film perpetuates itself on the downfall of the Corleone family. The Don is shot, Michael takes over and at the end kills his sisters husband, and by the end the Don is dead and Michaels attempt to keep his family together is really just tearing them apart.  

The Church is also a main institution in the film. Here, the Church seems to support the violence that happens in the film in the sense that the characters go out and kill, yet repent in the Church therefore "justifying" there actions and being forgiven for them. The Church once again plays a confusing role in the characters' lives as it represents Old World Values that the characters are trying to apply to a new life in America. The hypocrisy this creates is evident, and one of the most volatile and cinematographically beautiful scenes is the scene of the baptism where Michael is literally and symbolically becoming the "Godfather." It is his baptism into his new role as the Don. Yet as Michael swears to denounce the devil and to believe in God, we see his men out shooting down their enemies. The hypocrisy is blatantly obvious. 

Overall I really liked this film for it's entertainment value, but what made me enjoy it even more is that it's cinematography, character development, and soundtrack all worked harmoniously together to create the world that is The Godfather. It dealt with many different aspects of the Italian-American experience and how the Italian Old World Values mix with the the new American values creating a cultural dichotomy for the people living in this world. The character's feel attached to both cultures and can't seem to find their identity. 

Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese

Yet another film by Scorsese, this film continues much of the same dialogue found in Who's That Knocking yet in a more developed way. One of the main characters, Charlie, is in essence an older version of J.R. in Who's That Knocking. This film also has strong ties with religion, and Scorsese himself said that the film has "'more to do with Catholicism than with being Italian-American'" (as cited in Lourdeaux 240). The first scene of the movie even talks about the idea that a person does not make up for their sins in the Church, but in the streets. The film focuses once again on the main character's struggle to reconcile his religion and culture with his real-life situations. While Charlie has good intentions, in the end he is incapable of succeeding because his religion and culture hold him back. He is in love with his friend's epileptic sister, but because of her disease and the fact that she is not a virgin he is incapable of considering here as a serious prospect, and he feels obligated to watch out for his older cousin Johnny Boy because he is family. What we see in this film however, is that he is essentially held back by his beliefs. His hopes can never truly be realized until he can break away from his "naive religious attitudes" (Lourdeaux 242). Until he does he puts himself at risk in the streets. He seems himself as a sort of priest, trying to do the "right thing," but essentially the streets don't work that way. In my opinion, in this film Scorsese is drawing a parallel between the Church and the streets and that while playing by rules is what should be done, neither "institution" plays completely in this manner.

Martin Scorsese's "Who's That Knocking at My Door?"

Who's That Knocking at My Door? is one of Martin Scorsese's earlier films, the "second" film of a meant to be trilogy beginning with Jerusalem, Jerusalem which was never produced. This second film is a documentary like film set in Little Italy, and continues the story of the character of J.R., whom in Jerusalem, Jerusalem was a young boy, and is now a young man. The film explores J.R.'s confusion about women and religion. Of course the most important part of the film is when J.R. finds out that the Girl is not a virgin to what she claims is because of a rape, and J.R's inability to reconcile his love for the Girl and his ingrained religious "beliefs". While J.R. may be truly confused by this Madonna-whore dichotomy, I find J.R.'s true dilemma is that of conformity. In reality J.R.'s "beliefs" that he can only marry a virgin are not so much beliefs as they are J.R. conforming to the expected norms of his society. The film shows J.R. among his group of friends and how they all follow the same rules in order to belong. Therefore, J.R.'s conflict is not so much that he truly believes these rules (he even decides to "marry her anyway" and "forgive" the Girl), as that he must conform to these rules as to not be ostracized by his community. J.R.'s inability to reconcile his wants and his felt obligations to the group are what finally close the relationship between the Girl and J.R. What makes the situation even more ironic is the fact that J.R. is adhering to the rules of a culture that he is almost completely removed from yet still identifies with. His "Italianess" is essentially nonexistent. He can't even pronounce the word "oggi," yet he values its rules like the ten commandments. In this sense the film also presents the struggle J.R. goes through applying these values to a situation that cannot be defined strictly within these Italian-American stereotypes. Unfortunately by the end J.R. is still unable to reconcile his cognitive dissonance. The ending scenes of the film show him in the Church trying to internally reconcile his situation. 

Michelangelo Antonioni, La Notte (1961)

La Notte (1961) by Micheleangelo Antonioni is another film featuring Mastroianni as a "lost" latin lover. In the film Mastroianni is a novelist doubting his marriage to his wife Lidia. The film is another internally based film where the actions in the film serve to further the internal narrative of the film's main characters. What is interesting about this film in comparison to 8 1/2 for example, is that the marital doubts are coming from both husband and wife. It is not only the husband that is seen as a sort of "betrayer." Instead La Notte goes beyond the male figure and begins to explore Lidia's internal state as well. For example after the couple visits their dying friend in the hospital, Lidia wanders off into the city alone. The scene expresses a sense of solitude and sadness in Lidia. Nobody knew where she went and at the end even her husband begins to show concern. The film deals with the complex relationship of the couple and not only the male character. In order to understand  Giovanni and Lidia as individuals in the film, we must also understand them as a couple and what we see is boredom within their marriage. A perfect example is when in hopes of livening up their evening Giovanni and Lidia go to a night club. The scene focuses and the sensual black dancer, Giovanni's interest in the dancer and the couple's lack of interest in each other. The rest of the film goes on to show how they try to find passion again. While neither actually cheats on the other, both find themselves interested in other people when they attend a lawn party at a wealthy estate. 

In all the movie itself is like a narrative, relating to Giovanni's profession in many ways; Giovanni is an author who can't seem to write the narrative to his own life. At the end of the film Lidia states that the narrative of their marriage has come to an end, but Giovanni, the "narrative constructor," won't allow such an ending and promises to continue writing their story. The ending leaves us the the couple in the grass embracing each other with Giovanni's promises to fix things. The ending is rather ambiguous as the viewer is left to speculate about Giovanni and Lidia's fate. In my opinion, the ending while possibly leaving viewers unsatisfied, speaks to the reality of life; that nothing is certain and that even in our own lives we can't know how our narrative will end. 

Fellini and "8 1/2"

The film 8 1/2 (1963) by Federico Fellini is a film that may be hard to understand the first time around as nothing really seems to "happen" in the film. The focus is not on the plot but the internal state of the main character Guido played by Marcello Mastroianni. Guido is a film director trying to create the story of his next big film, but is stuck in a rut that he can't seem to get out of (many say that the film was inspired by Fellini's own troubles with his creative process at the time, yet he made this film). Moreover the film deals with one man's personal crisis to find happiness. The character of Guido seems to have everything. He is the "latin lover," with money, a wife, women, work as a film director. He portrays an image of masculinity and force, yet as is demonstrated in the film the character himself is hollow and empty; he is weak. Throughout the film the viewer is guided through scenes of reality and fantasy as we navigate Guido's internal state. When Guido can't seem to take reality, the let's us see Guido's thoughts and fantasies. One of the most famous scenes of fantasy is the harem scene where Guido is surrounded by all the women in his life including his wife, mistresses, and sexual interests. The scene is cinematographically strong with use of camera angles, lighting, and short sequences that jump from one person to the next and long sweeping sequences where the camera follows the characters movements around the room. All these things play a role in expressing Guido's internal state. The music along with the cinematography is fast, frantic, and confusing thus visually expressing Guido's internal state; he too is overwhelmed and confused. When Guido takes out a whip and starts snapping it in the air it is his attempt to put the women, but symbolically his life, back in order. 

Many may ask "what happens" in this film, and the truth is that the film is not plot driven but character driven. The film is a film about making a film and the process that Guido goes through in order to find inspiration. Therefore, when watching this film one may need to put aside their common notions about what a film should be, and watch 8 1/2 for its value a film and not only a story on a screen. The cinematography is well done, the music well placed, the actors well casted. The film to me is like an orchestra where all the little pieces are put together to create a masterpiece. The film conveys human emotion through filmmaking instead of mere storytelling.