It seems The Great Beauty of Sorrentino is going to get the Oscar...
I just saw it last night, and I'm still rather overwhelmed. It's going to take me a while to process it all...
For now, I'll just say that I thought it was stupendous...not only should it win Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, it should win for best film of the year, and I'm joined in my opinion by professional critics.
Just who was the seriously mistaken person who stated that the best days of Italian cinema might be over? Could it possibly have been me? I am properly chastened.
Here is the trailer, for those who are unfamiliar with it, which is very badly done in my opinion, but still...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJfvX6zPAuQ
Gorgeous music accompanying the hauntingly beautiful visuals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGblDMuYK4
These print journalists have some interesting comments about it...
http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/15/the-great-beauty-sorrentinos-la-dolce-vita-2-0/
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/05/le-grande-bellezza-great-beau
I forgive this reviewer for saying the messages aren't subtle, (just because he only notices the obvious ones doesn't mean there aren't others) because he also says this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/golden-globes/10072554/The-Great-Beauty-review.html
"It certainly soars above Sorrentino’s earlier work, a shimmering coup de cinema to make your heart burst, your mind swim and your soul roar. When the credits began to roll at the press screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May, some critics rose to their feet and just stared dumbly at the screen. I’m happy to admit I was among them. "
This youtube commentary by three film makers has some insights, although they haven't dug deep enough yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8TgT6RuTOQ
For Italian speakers, I found this discussion of the Roma revealed by Sorrentino very interesting...unfortunately the journalist is as clueless as a foreigner about her own capital city. I mean, really, she had never heard of some of these "secret" Roman places? I'm not a Roman either, but I certainly have been to most of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCwlo05eUv8
I know this isn't necessarily a site for film buffs, so I hesitate to say more for fear of boring other members of the community, but there are so many layers here...sacred vs profane, the weight of history and the past on the present , the search for beauty, how it can grow so familiar that one no longer sees it, how beauty and love are intoxicating but also dangerous, the need for meaning, the perils of too much sophistication and decadence, the dilemmas of modern Italy, the heartbreaking nostalgia for the past which can blind us to the present...and then the cinematography, the obvious nods to Fellini, to La Dolce Vita, to 8 1/2, but also to Rossellini's Roma Aperta, the revisiting of the Stendal syndrome, the dreamy, lush visuals of Rome, the frenetic energy of the decadent high life of Rome...
It's a feast for the eyes, the ears, the mind, the heart and the soul. It's about so much more than the nudity and sexuality, or the travelogue features. I highly recommend it.
Oh, while not the optimal way of seeing it, it's available on Amazon.