Siamo solo a inizio settimana e io sono già distrutta dalla stanchezza. Tutto il weekend a far strapazzi e finisce che mi trasformo in un cadavere ambulante per tutta la settimana.
Feste, festine, feste, alcool, sagre, cazzate, amici e a dormire non ci si pensa neanche... per lo meno fino al lunedì mattina quando la sveglia suona sempre troppo presto.

E dirò che lunedì mattina è stata dura. Mi son dovuta incollare alla scrivania molto prima del solito per finire delle traduzioni che dovevo consegnare in giornata e non mi son mossa di lì se non per mangiare o per fumare un paio di sigarette.
Inviata questa traduzione ne sono arrivate altre due, con scadenze molto brevi. L'unico problema è che i tempi di consegna sono molto ristretti.
Devo ammettere che però mi piace tradurre, non mi dispiacerebbe farlo come lavoro, son stata scema quella volta che ho scelto l'università. Se avessi continuato con le lingue straniere a quest'ora mi sarei laureata e non mi sarebbe pesato niente studiare. Ma va beh. Un rimpianto nella vita lo abbiamo tutti, no? Questo è il mio unico.

Rimpianti a parte, ieri sera Eli è venuta a trovarmi per una birretta fresca e tante chiacchiere. E queste seratine casalinghe mi piacciono sempre molto.

Oggi ho passato un piacevole pomeriggio di chiacchiere con Manu, è sempre bello anche se ci vediamo molto meno di un tempo.
E poi non posso che sorridere visto che mi hanno riportato il mio bambino (il mio portatile, che non pensiate male) perfettamente funzionante. :)
Così stasera posso starmene sdraiata sul letto a guardare Mio fratello è figlio unico di Daniele Lucchetti mentre proseguo le traduzioni :)

E domani siamo a metà settimana. E sarò ancora stanca. Ma va beh.

It's the story of two brothers in the 60s/70s, the older one a communist, the younger one a fascist. But their differences don't stop there. 

Manrico, the communist, is a ladies' man (and Riccardo Scamarcio definitely looks the part...), he's wild, unreliable, charming and never really lets anybody close.
Accio (Elio Germano), on the other hand, is shy, hot-tempered, loves Latin, has a strong sense of right and wrong and always wears his heart on his fingertips.

They live together with their parents and their sister in a small, crumbling flat in Latina. They fight a lot, but in the end, they get along. Then one day, Francesca shows up, Manrico's newest girlfriend and also a communist, and Accio falls in love with her...

The film follows the family throughout 2 decades, shows their ups and downs, their struggle for survival and for meaning.

It's a wonderful film. Extremely well acted with an engaging story. It has an end, which surprises and leaves room for your own interpretation (a beautiful ending, by the way) and it doesn't "sell" you any morale.

Although it gets long sometimes, it never gets boring, and I can definitely recommend it.

Sarà la sua faccia un pò da duro (o la pelata che ricorda qualcuno?) ma chissà perchè ogni film ambientato nell'epoca fascista, o con protagonista un fascista o un poliziotto, ha sempre come protagonista/coprotagonista Luca Zingaretti.

Nella sua filmografia compare difatti (non in senso cronologico e limitato alla mia conoscenza):  Il Commissario Montalbano, Mio fratello è figlio unico, Cefalonia, Il giovane Mussolini, Una questione privata, La Piovra 8, Perlasca un eroe italiano, Sangue Pazzo, Prima dammi un bacio.

Il bello è che il fratello di Luca Zingaretti è il presidente della Provincia di Roma, Nicola Zingaretti. Del Partito Democratico!

My beautiful Laundrette: un giovane Daniel Day Lewis in questo film sulla comunità pakistana a Londra. A proposito...proibito chiamarli Paki, non sarebbe politically correct. Non mi entusiasma ma non è malvagio, 6

High Fidelity: il libro aveva il suo perchè. Il film è orrendo.  Nulla, ma proprio nulla, da salvare, anche la colonna sonora, che è buona, sembra messa a casaccio.  4.5

Reservoir Dogs:  un Tarantino da me sconosciuto. I dialoghi sono eccezzionali, al solito (il primo su "Like a vergin" e quello sulla distribuzione dei nomi" sono strpitosi), un pò di pulp, un buon Keitel, insomma, da guardare. 7 

Tutto quello che avreste voluto sapere sul s***o e non avetemai osato chiedere:  non l'avevo mai visto. Mia colpa. Un capolavoro, una pietra miliare....il capezzolo gigante, il dottor Bernardo, la pecora e Gene Wilder...Mostruoso. 8.5

My Brother is an Only Child

Something beautiful is happening for all Italians in San Diego. As a natural follow up to last year’s CinemaSud: the (much needed) San Diego Italian Film Festival is born.

On April 29, 2008 at 7:00pm 300 people showed up at the Landmark Cinema in Hillcrest to view the free screening of the movie: “Mio Fratello e’ Figlio Unico” (My Brother is an Only Child), a contemporary Italian movie chosen to promote the newly born festival.

Professor Clarissa Clo’ of SDSU did, as usual, a great job at introducing the film, which has won the “David di Donatello”, the Italian Oscar equivalent. Victor Laruccia, Managing Director also introduced all the Italian groups and associations collaborating with the Italian Film Festival.

The room was packed. 50 people could not be accommodated and so they were offered free tickets to other movies showing at the theatre. A success night by all standards, with the exception of a few American viewers who, unable to relate to the movie, left the screening early and others who were heard expressing their disappointment as they were leaving the theatre at the end of the screening. Perhaps it had an excessive political charge, or maybe the characters were too aggressive and situations too harsh for a public used to edulcorated Hollywood material. We will never know. The only thing we know is that to fully appreciate this movie one must have lived those years. Or least must have lived in Italy for a while to understand its socio-political dynamics. Then again, an open mind might just do the trick.

The Italian San Diego Film Festival online: www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com

Mio Fratello e’ Figlio Unico on the web:

Official movie website

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes

Here's your only ever chance to watch someone kick the shit out of somebody else while shouting "since when do you give a fuck about Beethoven?!"

Daniele Luchetti's movie My Brother Is An Only Child tells the story of two brothers growing up in an Italian smalltown in the 60s. Manrico gets laid and joins the local communist movement while his younger brother Accio doesn't get laid and becomes a neo-fascist bully. So far, so familiar, but changes are underway.

Initially attracted to the fascists by their radical posturing, uncompromising methods, and the strong sense of social justice they seem to espouse, Accio eventually learns they aren't the revolutionaries they claim to be. When local commies perform a hilarious leftist take of Beethoven's Ode To Joy in concert, they face a violent attack by a fascist troupe ("leave Beethoven alone!"). Accio recognizes the fascists for the scared little arch-conservatives they really are, anxiously holding on to brittle myths of European male superiority when the zeitgeist threatens to kick them off their imaginary pedestal. For a little while, he then dabbles in his brother's communist group. But ultimately, he cannot seem to muster up enough faith in the revolutionary potential of a working class of which he preceives his God-fearing, Christian Democrat father as a typical example. Meanwhile, Manrico proves that he really means it by becoming an urban terrorist in Turin and has to face the consequences of that choice.

A love triangle is thrown in for good measure, and the disappointingly limp and family-friendly message at the end seems to be: political radicalism leads to no good, your family is what really counts because blood bonds never fade. When Accio stages a petty rebellion against the corrupt housing council, the movie seems to say that with a bit of courage and initiative, you can change little things for the better without actually having to go 'too far'.

Vague links are drawn between Accio's sexually repressive Catholic upbringing and his later turn to far-right politics, such as fascism generally seems to serve as a sort of psychological life raft when heterosexual manhood fails. The local wannabe Duce is stuck in a sexless relationship with a woman that married him out of pity. When the inexperienced Accio gets to shag her, he begins to drop his fascist attitudes very quickly. If this looks simplistic on paper, it's because it is. Maybe the film should have taken the time to examine such aspects more closely in order for them to appear more plausible.

What My Brother Is An Only Child really succeeds at is making us root for its protagonists no matter what politics they espouse. Because Accio seems righteous enough as a character, I had no difficulties mustering up a great deal of sympathy for what looked like naive, taboo-breaking rebellion. Which of course begs the question: where exactly is the point in this kind of wishy-washy liberal fimmaking that prompts us to look at fascist activism from an understanding, even sympathetic "boys will be boys" point of view? Are we supposed to conclude that fascists are people too?

That said, My Brother Is An Only Child is a persistently high-energy movie. It draws most of its steam from the first rate performances -aside from the two leads, Angela Finocchiaro as Accio's mother stands out in particular- and the sheer Italianness of it all. If you're prepared to look at the political backdrop only in terms of its entertainment value, you will find a classic coming-of-age story with huge chunks of 60s nostalgia thrown in. My Brother generates a genuine warmth in an old-fashioned way and only turns a tad sentimental at the end.

Based on the novel 'Il Fasciocomunista' by Antonio Pennacchi and shot in 2007, My Brother Is An Only Child is out in UK cinemas now.

(c) Zuri Z 2008

Margot at the Wedding
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Naissance des Pieuvres/Water Lilies
Paranoid Park
The Band's Visit
Mio Fratello e Figlio Unico/My Brother is an Only Child

Margot At The Wedding

It's rare enough to find strong, complex, intriguing, thoroughly flawed characters. It's even rarer for them to be female. And yet here, that's what we have: Nicole Kidman is absolutely brilliant as the passive-aggressive Margot, who's both repulsive and alluring, scary and oddly familiar. And while she is undoubtedly the center of the movie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black and beginner Zane Pais are just as precisely drawn and sharply observed as Margot's sister, her brother-in-law-to-be, and her son, who you can tell she's already irrevocably screwed up, despite the fact that she does love him.

One moment I love is with Margot's husband - John Turturro, for once playing the most normal person in sight). He does something nice - something wholly insignificant, but totally altruistic. And Margot gets furious. She can't stand it, because somehow her husband doing something good highlights how not good she is. And the scene in the bookstore, where she's asked about her inspiration, and misinterprets the question in a telling way... well, whether Noah Baumbach uses his family as inspiration of not, that's good writing.

The film's too raw to be called perfect, and the business with the neighbors isn't quite necessary, but I wish there were more films like this: sharp, funny, and with at the center a woman who's not only strong but fully-fleshed out, uncompromising, and uncompromised. IT takes balls to be such a bitch on screen, someone who's not just unlikeable but unlikeable in a non-stereotypical, almost too-close-for-comfort way.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Praise has been heaped on Lumet's latest, but I don't quite get it. I agree, the performances are stellar and some individual scenes are incredibly strong. But what's with all the jumping back and forth in time, and why the jarring way of doing it? I know, playing with continuity is all the craze....or wait, what's that? It's not the nineties anymore? Nope, it isn't, and while I have nothing against playing with timelines in general, I do have something again pointless jumping back and forth in time.

And pointless it is. No new information is given that we couldn't have guessed, the "perspective shifts" have no use since the storytelling remains wholly objective, and it makes the story drag. Lumet wanted to make a Greek tragedy, it seems, but this has none of the grace of gravitas of a Greek tragedy, and the conclusion is based more on (mis)fortune than on a decisive character flaw.

I feel like I might be too hard on this film. After all, some scenes (like Marisa Tomei's departure and what follows) are really good. But with all the acclaim the film's been given, I feel like a dissenting voice is called for.

Naissance des Pieuvres/Water Lilies

One of my absolute favorites from the film festival in Rotterdam, this moody, beautiful film is one of the best depictions of adolescence ever put on screen. And like Margot, this one's exceptional also for the gender it chooses to imagine. I don't think any other film evokes so strongly the feeling of being a 15-yo girl. It made me remember all too clearly...and I was relieved when I realized I've now truly left that stage of my life behind.

Marie, Anne, Floriane: the three main characters are stereotypes, at least in their broad outline. The still childish girl, the chubby girl, the pretty one: we've seen them before. These stereotypes make the story accessible, and make this at least look like a general story. Luckily, the details are also sufficiently filled in to make sure these are also real girls, full of insecurities and shattered hopes. They're not innocent - children never are - but they do lose, in the course of the film, a certain sort of innocence.

The French title means "birth of the squids". The legs of the synchronized swimmers, seen in gorgeous underwater shots, do look like the tentacles of a squid. Most of all though, the synchronized swimming serves as a potent metaphor for, to paraphrase director Céline Sciamma, the plight of being a girl/woman: all smiles on the surface, and a frantic struggle below.

Paranoid Park

Yet another languorous meditation on, well, stuff, from Gus van Sant, and a nice pairing with Water Lilies as this is again a film from a teenage perspective in which adults are almost absent. The faces of the parents in Paranoid Park stay out of focus, and the only one we see clearly, detective Lu, is clearly an outsider trying - but failing - to breach the teenage world.

This van Sant film unfortunately lacks the clarity of the so-called death trilogy (Elephant, Gerry, Last Days) and is sometimes a bit too reminiscent of his older work (it takes place in Portland, there are long tracking shots through school corridors, there's music by Elliott Smith etc.). However, it does have an amazing soundscape, with everything from Nino Rota music to country to electronic bleeps. Also, Gabe Nevins, a non-professional recruited on MySpace, is entirely devoid of the self-consciousness you usually see in teen actors, and his narration is pitch-perfect.

I whined about the time shifting in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - well, here the device is used correctly, i.e., with a purpose. This purpose is not to withhold information, as we figure out pretty soon more or less what happened. But as the whole story is told from the perspective of main character Alex, it makes sense that he circles around the crucial event, that he focuses extensively on the periods just before and just after the moment that he'd rather not think about too much.

The Band's Visit

Not many films start by a statement of their own insignificance. "Once-not long ago-a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this...It wasn't that important." And it's the truth: this is not a grand, important story, there isn't even much story there. But these people are a delight to spend some time with, and it's one of those films that thrives on beautiful little character moments. That it doesn't address the conflict in the Middle-East is, to me, not a cop-out but a reminder that behind all the hatred that we keep hearing about on the news, these really are just people.

And let's not forget: it's funny. Very funny, even, though not necessarily in a laugh-out-loud way. There's much visual humor: director Kolirin loves placing the men, in their baby blue uniforms, in frames, and the contrast between their formality and the desolation of their surroundings is funny in itself. But there are also great moments of character humor, for instance in how Haled's standard way of seducing girls is to start singing my funny Valentine.

At the heart of the movie, there's a great atypical romance. Ronit Elkabetz is beautiful as diner-owner Dina, and Sasson Gabai makes it entirely believable that he's the one she would choose to pursue over the pretty (and easy) Haled. In the lines of his face you can read the whole story of his life, and it's fascinating.

Mio Fratello È Figlio Unico/ My Brother is an Only Child

Like La Meglio Gioventú/The Best of Youth, by the same screenwriters, this film follows a family to show a part of Italy's turbulent history. Accio joins the fascists after he leaves the seminary (it's not strict enough for him); his brother Manrico, looser and more charismatic, is a communist. Throw in a girl they both fall in love with, and you have yourself a story.

It's all very entertaining and very nicely done, and I have to admit I initially was very enthusiastic about this movie. Three months later, however, very little lingers, and I don't quite feel like I now know more about Italy than I did before. The movie doesn't quite dig deep enough - that said, it does feature some very sympathetic actors, some great scenes, and it's certainly not a bad way to spend a couple of hours - but maybe watching it at home, and not in the cinema.

Some other films I've already written about:

Strongly recommended: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, I'm Not There and (if you happen to live in Stadskanaal) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Recommended: The Darjeeling Limited, Atonement, Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Das Leben der Anderen, You, the Living

Interesting but unsatisfying: Lady Chatterley, Persepolis, Sweeney Todd

Not Recommended: Jumper

mifratellofiiounnico

"NOI CIAVEMIO ERCORE GROSSO
MEZZO FASCIO
E MEZZO ROSSO"

chenfatti ammifratellofiiounnichio cestà nafammia teribbile morto sfortunata peddavero chenfatti astipori gennitori ienascheno tre fii: dù rosci e scamarcio allora infatti però cestà sto roscio chenfatti è popio strano che fa le cose unpo' daroscio
e sbrocca sempre eppiia unzacco de ceffoni allora poi infatti cestà scamarcio chessammucchia conzacco depischelle ellui invece no ellui umpo' forze cerimane male allora poi allui iesuccedeno le cose umpo' avventurose e umpo' no eppoi allafine va apprennese uncaffè corfratello eallora lui iedice mapperché tu tammucchi conzacco depischelle e io no? allora erfratello iedice eeeee ma che ne sai te daavita io ciò unzacco dempicci io ciò nesistenzia dencerto livello io ciò tuttongiro decose io sò tormentatio io sò belleddannato io sò scamarcio!enfatti oriconoscono e ie spareno. allora poi erroscio torna accasa e sepenza trassé essé è vero sò nato roscio ma potevo nasce scamarcio.

noi pure semio nafamiia povera nata allintemperie. mio fratello è figlio umido.

dùm'aggiodumilessette

(Barberini sala 1 22.50 centralissimo. 7 Euri)

Rino è stato un artista eclettico, è impossibile rimanere insensibili ascoltando le sue canzoni. Nella musica italiana è stato un imprevisto, una di quelle cose che quando succedono ti lasciano stordito senza una direzione.

Il suo primo lavoro, Ingresso libero (1974), si apriva con la bellissima "Tu, forse non essenzialmente tu":

(Nota personale: la trovo una dichiarazione d'amore stupenda e trovo anche che dica una verità, che tutti noi sappiamo ma non abbiamo il coraggio di ammettere: ci innamoriamo di qualcuno senza motivo! Tu, ma anche se non sei tu...ma è meglio che sia tu)

conteneva poi dei brani "ermetici" che giocavano con le parole e con le situazioni "A Khatmandu"

o come "Supponiamo un amore"

si concludeva con "L'operaio della FIAT (la 1100)", una bella canzone impegnata, qui in un video di un fan:

(Nota personale: non mi pare per nulla male come inizio! nel video c'è un Classico: il lavoro in catena di Charlot di Charlie Chaplin)

Nel 1976, usciva "Mio fratello è figlio unico", che conteneva la canzone che da il titolo all'album, qui in una esecuzione dal vivo:

Nell'album erano presenti anche "Sfiorivano le viole"

o "Berta filava"

(Nota personale: anche questo disco ci regala un grande Rino. I suo testi sono un po' più accessibili ma c'è sempre quel apparente nonsense che spiazza un po': Michele Novaro incontra Mameli e insieme scrivono un pezzo/tuttora in voga. Bisogno di aggiungere altro?)

Guardatevi il video di "Berta Filava": avete mai visto uno cantare con un cane in braccio? e quel ex-voto messo alla foto di Rito come se fosse lui il santo? Immagini che presentano un qualcosa di artistico/futuristico e forse un po' difficili da realizzare adesso...

L'anno dopo, 1977, esce l'album che diventerà il simbolo di Rino, perché contiene la canzone che tutti noi colleghiamo subito al suo nome "Aida":

(Nota personale: vogliamo cambiare l'inno italiano? Scegliamo Aida di Rino Gaetano)

mentre qui potete vederne un pezzo cantata da Rino dal vivo, così potete ammirare il suo look:

la forza di Aida è tale da oscurare canzoni come "Spendi spandi effendi"

(Nota personale: entrambe le canzoni mi sembrano quanto mai attuali! Ma cos'è quella pompa di benzina che ha in mano? )

1978, esce "Nuntereggae più", qui nel video orginale:

e la bella "Gianna" che presentò anche al Festival di Sanremo:

(Nota personale: allora Festival di Sanremo 1978, oggi Festival di Sanremo 2008, c'è stato un piccolo ricordo per Rino?)

Avete notato? Consegna di medaglia al maestro e al pubblico: per me questi sono gesti da avanguardia artistica.

e la canzone che da il titolo a questo post "E cantava le canzoni", qui al Cantagiro del '78 con una piccola introduzione dovuta alla trasmissione Ritratti di RaiTre:

1979, esce "Resta vile maschio, dove vai?"

(Nota personale: ahi ahi! Rino che mi combini? Vai via con una e te ne porti dietro un'altra? Non si fa così!)

"Ahi Maria"

(Nota personale: se guardate il video, al minuto 2, quando Rino ritorna sul palco e ci rimane un pochetto, in primo piano un tecnico entra di corsa e sbracciandosi gli fa segno di tornare verso il pubblico. La canzone un po' sudamericana è davvero divertente e piena di quelle frasi gaetaniane tipo "il caimano che non approva il progetto del metrò").

L'anno dopo, 1980, esce il suo ultimo disco "E io ci sto"

che contiene anche la canzone "Ti ti ti ti":

(Nota personale: certo che una rabbia come quella descritta dalla canzone, di solito, non la leghiamo mai a personaggi come Rino. Però io credo sul serio che lui la provasse.)

Questi sono tutti gli album fatti da Rino. L'anno dopo, nel 1981, perse la vita in un incidente stradale.

"Ma il cielo è sempre più blu" (singolo del 1975)

"Chi gioca a Sanremo", e lui forse ci ha giocato molto!

Ciao Rino.

e noi...

Al prossimo venerdì.

Aan te raden voor wie houdt van:

• "Tranches de vie"
• tetterende Italianen
• een verhaal gefilmd in close-ups van zonbeschenen gezichten
• discussiërende Italianen
• politieke geschiedenis van de jaren '60 en '70
• schreeuwende Italianen

Af te raden voor wie een afkeer heeft van:

• films over gewone mensen in een saai stadje
• tetterende Italianen
• een onduidelijke, schokkerige verhaallijn
• discussiërende Italianen
• politieke geschiedenis van de jaren '60 en '70
• schreeuwende Italianen

Senza dubbio entra in classifica dei film più belli visti quest'anno.
Versione leggera e riveduta de "la meglio gioventù", ma non per questo meno valida.
Elio Germano, con Santamaria e Favino, è uno dei migliori attori italiani in circolazione.