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PSYCHOcatholic

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here's something for BA:

Top 10 Greatest Italian Directors

I don't know enough about the topic to say whether that's an accurate list though ;)

Off the top of me head:

1. Michelangelo Antonioni

2. Michelangelo Antonioni

3. Michelangelo Antonioni

4. Michelangelo Antonioni

5. Michelangelo Antonioni

6. Michelangelo Antonioni

7. Michelangelo Antonioni

8. Michelangelo Antonioni

9. Michelangelo Antonioni

10. Michelangelo Antonioni

Here are the runner ups:

- Dario Argento: Suspiria (he directs very stylish gore and horror movies)

- Marco Bellocchio: I Pugni In Tasca

- Bernardo Bertolucci: Il Conformista, The Last Emperor (he has directed crap, though)

- Tinto Brass: La Chiave (great erotic films)

- Federico Fellini: Le Notti Di Cabiria

- Lucio Fulci: Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna, Zombie 2

- Sergio Martino: Lo Strano Vizio Della Signora Wardh (this guy reigns supreme when it comes to Gialli and slasher movies)

- Pier Paolo Pasolini: Mamma Roma

- Gillo Pontecorvo: La Battaglia Di Algeri (one of the best war movies ever made)

- Roberto Rossellini: Roma, Citta Aperta

- Salvatore Samperi: Malizia (I always have to mention this one :cool: )

- Vittorio De Sica: Ladri Di Biciclette

- Luchino Visconti: La Caduta Degli Dei, Il Gattopardo, Le Notti Bianche

I just read this list and, while I agree with the majority of the choices (pretty much 7 or 8 of the 10 they listed)... Roberto Benigni? HUH?! How much did he pay the writer to have his name included with the masters of cinema? I can name 10 other Italian directors who are way better than this dude. La Vita E Bella?! Crazy. That was Patch Adams set in a concentration camp! The writer was high on fumes after trying to fix his Alfa Romeo when he chose Benigni. I do like Johnny Stecchino and his segment in Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth, but he has not paid his dues. He needs to create something for which nobody else can lay claim to. Everything up to this point is slapstick comedy that harks back to Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and the Keystone Cops. He's good, but he's nowhere near the best Italy has to offer. Hell, Giulietta Masina was better at slapstick.

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TOTALLY SERIOUS !!

Bitter Almonds knows more about films than 50 other people at this site (imo).

:popcorn: :thumbsup:

Once I reach the level of knowledge in movies as you have in Blues music, I will be complete :beatnik:

Even though some of the best films come from Italy, not much has come from there in the past 30 years, except for the few random Argento and Brass project. They pretty much rest on the laurels of their past. France is getting to that point as well. England, Scotland, Germany still make a hit-or-miss. I see some weird things coming from Japan and Korea. A lot of the recent horror movies here in the US are remakes of their movies. They got something going there.

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Roberto Benigni? HUH?! How much did he pay the writer to have his name included with the masters of cinema? I can name 10 other Italian directors who are way better than this dude. La Vita E Bella?! Crazy. That was Patch Adams set in a concentration camp! The writer was high on fumes after trying to fix his Alfa Romeo when he chose Benigni

I´m glad we agree on this point too... :cool: I thought I was the only one to hate Benigni and "La Vita È Bella"... :P

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Actually, it's kinda weird to come up with a top 10 list of directors who are strictly Italian. Even the most avid fan of Italian cinema would be hard pressed to name 20 Italian directors. I could probably name 75 US directors, 25 Italian, 20 French, 10 Japanese, 5 Germans, and about 2 Latin Americans. That top 10 list should be more like the top 3 or top 2, which would then narrow it all down to Antonioni and either Fellini or Visconti. I used to think Fellini was the be-all, end-all of Italian cinema, but, after watching L'Eclisse, La Notte, Il Grido, Ossessione, and Blow-Up I knew he had 'im beat. It's weird, though. I think Fellini might be regarded as better on sheer volume alone. Yes, they're mostly high quality films, but there's something about Antonioni's cold and calculating way of editing his stories which never tried my patience. Both told the same stories of urban alienation, yet I didn't feel so emotionally-drained after watching Antonioni's movies. Try watching Le Notti Di Cabiria and see if you really wanna sit through it a second time right afterwards. I saw La Notte and I immediately wanted to re-watch certain scenes after it had ended. The best thing to do in this instance is to not rank them at all. They're both two of the best directors in the world :beatnik:

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I also forgot to mention Mario Bava, who single-handedly brought Eurohorror to new levels. Back then, there was either Hammer Horror or Mario Bava.

Bay Of Blood? Without it, we wouldn't have slashers. Friday The 13th owes its entire existence to this movie.

Viva Bava!

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Italian directors???

I like Scorcese, Coppola, Capra, De Palma, Tarantino and a few others.

I know, I know...Italian-American. I know.

Ayy, whassa madda you?

Damn right :beatnik: All, except tarantino, have directed some of my favourite Hollywood films. I'd happily trade tarantino for Vincent Gallo :cool: The Italian-American really gets the American Experience - as do most foreign directors: Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Lasse Hallstrom, and Jim Jarmusch, to name a few.

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Fellini is a Maestro :bow: and Antonioni too. And De Sica.

But Visconti is very special for me. He´s more "standard", yes, I admit...

Now, Passolinni is so unique in his way...

I think of Visconti as the total opposite of "standard." He's like Italian Baroque! You see his movies and the style of photography is nothing short of Renaissance-inspired with a modern twist. Pasolini has been known to do this (in his short film, La Riccota) as has Tinto Brass. You see their movies and they are unmistakeably Italian. Visconti is the type who coulda done an epic based on the Rockefellers and make it look Italian Romantic replete with Rococo decor and such haha. Whereas Antonioni and Fellini had a more... "international" way of depicting their ideas. They show the same things we're all familiar with, but they make it look suave and smooth. I still think Teshigahara Hiroshi must've drawn inspiration from these two.

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I think of Visconti as the total opposite of "standard." He's like Italian Baroque! You see his movies and the style of photography is nothing short of Renaissance-inspired with a modern twist. Pasolini has been known to do this (in his short film, La Riccota) as has Tinto Brass. You see their movies and they are unmistakeably Italian. Visconti is the type who coulda done an epic based on the Rockefellers and make it look Italian Romantic replete with Rococo decor and such haha. Whereas Antonioni and Fellini had a more... "international" way of depicting their ideas. They show the same things we're all familiar with, but they make it look suave and smooth. I still think Teshigahara Hiroshi must've drawn inspiration from these two.

BA, why not get a job a s a movies critic? You´re good and you know it.

By the way, Visconti was quite "standard" back int he early seventies. Yet he´s a real painter, his movies are -for me- works of art and I believe I saw them all...

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