<<< January 4 - 8, 2008 >>>

This series is an Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!

Join us for this all-too-short weekend showcasing some of the most hard-to-see-on-the-big-screen Italian cinema classics. Some, like Luchino Visconti’s THE LEOPARD, Bernardo Bertolucci’s taboo-smashing LUNA and Valerio Zurlini’s BLACK JESUS, were virtually ignored during their initial American releases. And Michelangelo Antonioni’s feature from 1982, IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN, was not exhibited widely in America until the mid-1990s. Only THE LEOPARD has undergone extensive "critical rehabilitation," but all demand to be seen.

Friday, January 4 – 7:30 PM

Restored Version

THE LEOPARD (IL GATTOPARDO), 1963, 20th Century Fox, 185 min. When director Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous historical epic set in mid-19th Century Sicily was initially released in America, it was shorn of over twenty minutes and received lukewarm reviews. In the 1980s, cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno spearheaded restoration efforts, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the film became widely available in the current uncut version. It is now commonly acknowledged as Visconti’s most superlative achievement. Adapted from Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s literary masterwork, Visconti focuses on philosophical, melancholic Prince Salina (Burt Lancaster), a Sicilian nobleman well aware that the violent Garibaldi-led upheavals then occurring in his countryside are inevitable. He is determined to see his family survive, in whatever form, and he watches approvingly as his nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes engaged to the smolderingly beautiful and sweet-natured Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), the daughter of a wealthy, wily merchant. With a sublime score by the incomparable Nino Rota. If you have never seen it in a theatre, now is your chance – it’s wonderful that it is on DVD, but the truly gorgeous production design and epic scope of the film need to be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. "…one of Visconti's achievements is to make that rare thing, a great film of a great book…The cinema at its best can give us the illusion of living another life, and that's what happens here…miraculous and emotionally devastating…" – Robert Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

Saturday, January 5 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! Matthew Barry In Person!

LUNA (LA LUNA), 1979, 20th Century Fox, 142 min. Bernardo Bertolucci’s study of the at-loose-ends teenage Joe (Matthew Barry) and his opera diva mother Caterina (Jill Clayburgh) met a generally hostile critical reception in literal-minded America. When Caterina’s decision to bring Joe along on her Italian tour results in Joe’s anarchic behavior and heroin addiction, Caterina tries everything, including a brief incestuous tryst to bring him back from the brink. With a stupendous supporting cast that includes Fred Gwynne, Laura Betti, Tomas Milian, Alida Valli and Roberto Benigni. "With its drug use and its frighteningly close mother-son relationship, LUNA feels like a film that was made to shock…But while there is no denying the more sensational aspects…Bertolucci does a magnificent job…his cleverest move is his use of Giuseppe Verdi's operas as they lend the film an epic quality. And as an opera, LUNA can get away with things conventional films usually can't. Vittorio Storaro's visuals and Ennio Morricone's big score also heighten the drama…rivals Bertolucci's best work." – Richard Luck, Channel 4 Film NOT ON DVD Discussion following with actor Matthew Barry.

Tuesday, January 8 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN (IDENTIFICAZIONE DI UNA DONNA), 1982, 128 min. In his last movie before his debilitating stroke (he did not make another feature until 1995’s BEYOND THE CLOUDS), director Michelangelo Antonioni follows filmmaker Niccolo (Tomas Milian) as he encounters, then loses contact with two beautiful women. On a search for both a committed passion and the ideal woman for his next film, Niccolo hungrily loses himself in sex, but he is unable to express love. When Niccolo decides near the end to change the subject of his next film, it symbolizes his desire to both transcend and escape modern civilization where it seems impossible to sustain relationships. With Daniela Silverio, Christine Boisson, Veronica Lazar, Enrica Fico (the future Mrs. Antonioni) and Marcel Bozzuffi. (The print we will be screening is somewhat faded.) "The most openly erotic of Antonioni's features, and…one of the most beautiful (what he does with fog in one famous sequence is particularly memorable)…" – Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader NOT ON DVD

IB Technicolor Print: BLACK JESUS (SEDUTO ALLA SUA DESTRA aka SEATED ON THE RIGHT HAND), 1968, 93 min. Director Valerio Zurlini (DESERT OF THE TARTARS) held the murdered Congo rebel leader, Patrice Lamumba in great esteem and concocted this thinly-disguised homage to him, starring Woody Strode in the lead role. Zurlini shapes the narrative as biblical allegory, with Strode’s non-violent resistance leader character, Maurce Lalubi, betrayed by one of his comrades, then tortured and martyred by white mercenaries. The film also features Pasolini regular, Franco Citti (ACCATONE) in a key role. Although the movie was greeted by indifference from the critical establishment on its initial release, there were still words of praise from various quarters. The picture still retains a surprising power and is ripe for re-appraisal. With Jean Servais (RIFIFI).