Change Your Image
alhunter-1
Reviews
Unrelated (2007)
Great British Film
Saw this last night at the Glasgow Film Festival with the director and producer present. Joanna Hogg is really an exciting new talent in British cinema. Her influences would appear to be Bergman, Antonioni, Ozu and other classic art-house masters rather than the wan rom-coms and thrillers that tend to clutter up British cinema. The story of a middle-aged woman who joins her friends on holiday in Italy is intriguingly enigmatic but retains an air of mystery and unease as we are allowed to eavesdrop on conversations, hint at relationships and speculate on what seems to be a deeply unhappy existence. The whole film was scripted but the dialogue retains the feel of spontaneity and moments snatched from real life. A challenging film but well worth checking out. Hope it finds a British distributor.
Children of Rome Open City (2005)
Fantastic documentary on the Rossellini classic
Saw this at the Italian Film Festival in Scotland. It's a fantastic documentary revisiting the making of the Roberto Rossellini classic mostly through the eyes of the actor who played Anna Magnani's son in the film. Now in his seventies, he returns to the original locations, offering his recollections of the shooting. He also reflects on a career in which he frequently played Magnani's son and a career that virtually ended when he grew to adulthood. There are interviews with members of the Rossellini family including his first wife (the one before Ingrid Bergman and before his tempestuous relationship with Magnani). Magnani's real life son talks about his mother and there is also archive footage of Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi and Rossellini as they have talked about the film in previous interviews. A great introduction for those who know little of its creation in the ruined Rome of 1945 and a touch of nostalgia for those who cherish the film as one of the greats of Italian cinema. A perfect accompaniment to the Rossellini film and one that should be packaged with any DVD release of the film because of the information