Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:24 am
In the meantime, Italians are only slightly more distracted this year counting Berlusconi's lolitas - not distracted enough, though, to completely ignore our new failure at the Oscars and to avoid finding a scapegoat.
They've easily picked Luca Guadagnino, a young director of mostly dreadful movies who suprised everyone here when his movie I Am Love - totally overlooked by the Italian critics and a box-office flop - for some reason was warmly receveid the US and England. Guadagnino isn't the nicest person in the world, I admit it - a clever publicity-seeker, he has become over the years Tilda Swinton's number 1 fan and self-proclaimed best friend; the dynamic duo had previously made a (terrible) movie and a documentary (which I havent seen) totally devoted to the Swinton cult; Guadagnino without Swinton then had the brilliant idea of directing the film version of an almost pornographic bestseller written by a smart and equally ambitious Italian teenage girl called Melissa P. (both her name and the title of the movie) - whose inventive sexual acts must have inspired Berlusconi's real life activities. Anyway, the movie was supposed to become a big hit, but it was so boring (a major crime for anything about sex) that after a strong first weekend it quickly faded into obscurity, thus once again destroying Guadagnino's dreams of glory. Luckily for him, his best friend was still there and their next collaboration, I Am Love - carefully prepared and with an obvious eye to the international market - finally hit the target.
After Melissa P. Italians were probably too prejudiced - the more innocent Americans praised it more than it deserved, but at the same time the reviews here had been too negative, because at least the acting in it - not only Swinton's - is very good. And one can understand that Guadagnino expected to represent Italy at the Oscars and must have been very disappointed when the committee chose another movie. At the same time, if the Foreign Film entry had to fully represent this - or any - country, it had to be one that SOME had seen and liked - and Paolo Virzi's The First Beautiful Thing had been at least a box-office hit. Guadagnino didnt take it well - he's Italian after all - and some of his comments to the American press are said to have heavily compromised Virzi's chances.
The truth, of course, is that The First Beautiful Thing was the wrong movie, just another in the long line of mistakes (we do make very good movies, I swear) that the committee has done in recent years. One can only hope that they have finally learned their lesson, for the future.
They've easily picked Luca Guadagnino, a young director of mostly dreadful movies who suprised everyone here when his movie I Am Love - totally overlooked by the Italian critics and a box-office flop - for some reason was warmly receveid the US and England. Guadagnino isn't the nicest person in the world, I admit it - a clever publicity-seeker, he has become over the years Tilda Swinton's number 1 fan and self-proclaimed best friend; the dynamic duo had previously made a (terrible) movie and a documentary (which I havent seen) totally devoted to the Swinton cult; Guadagnino without Swinton then had the brilliant idea of directing the film version of an almost pornographic bestseller written by a smart and equally ambitious Italian teenage girl called Melissa P. (both her name and the title of the movie) - whose inventive sexual acts must have inspired Berlusconi's real life activities. Anyway, the movie was supposed to become a big hit, but it was so boring (a major crime for anything about sex) that after a strong first weekend it quickly faded into obscurity, thus once again destroying Guadagnino's dreams of glory. Luckily for him, his best friend was still there and their next collaboration, I Am Love - carefully prepared and with an obvious eye to the international market - finally hit the target.
After Melissa P. Italians were probably too prejudiced - the more innocent Americans praised it more than it deserved, but at the same time the reviews here had been too negative, because at least the acting in it - not only Swinton's - is very good. And one can understand that Guadagnino expected to represent Italy at the Oscars and must have been very disappointed when the committee chose another movie. At the same time, if the Foreign Film entry had to fully represent this - or any - country, it had to be one that SOME had seen and liked - and Paolo Virzi's The First Beautiful Thing had been at least a box-office hit. Guadagnino didnt take it well - he's Italian after all - and some of his comments to the American press are said to have heavily compromised Virzi's chances.
The truth, of course, is that The First Beautiful Thing was the wrong movie, just another in the long line of mistakes (we do make very good movies, I swear) that the committee has done in recent years. One can only hope that they have finally learned their lesson, for the future.