History of Italian Cinema

At this point, I have had two History of Italian Cinema classes as it meets once per week for almost three hours at a time. The class is taught by Tina Fallani, who has an incredibly cool personality and who did sound editing on Dead Poet's Society (which, if you know me, is an obsession).

For the first two classes we watched L'Ultimo Baccio and The Last Kiss. Notice the similarity in title once you translate it? Well, that's because L'Ultimo Baccio is the original Italian (and better) film and The Last Kiss is Zach Braff's American remake.

It seems like class is going to be less focused on film technique and more about how film transmits messages about culture and history. Our main discussion regarding the two above-mentioned films is how they are different based on the cultural contexts in which they were made.

Here the main cultural issues dealt with were relationships, divorce, cheating, family structure, and general social interaction. Definitely leaves the viewer thinking. My biggest complaint here deals with the Zach Braff version. Similar to how the U.S. version of Skins tanked because it copied the script of the first episode of the UK version word for word, the parts of The Last Kiss directly taken from the original were a flop. The only good/inspired sections occurred towards the end in how Zach Braff attempts to get his pregnant girlfriend back. Also, the acting here was fairly horrible on all counts (including disappointing performances from Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner). The Italian cast works a powerhouse show though.

Maybe things will change though once we start getting into Neorealism. Having watched Giorgio Manfredi's Open City and Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief, I am excited to go into Wednesday's discussion.