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Ferzan Özpetek, the director of Diamonds (Diamanti):”There are certain costume designers I was thinking of, Milena Canonero, yes. Piero Tosi who was a good friend …”

Ferzan Özpetek’s sparkling Diamonds almost entirely takes place in a Roman film and theater costume atelier in the 1970s, owned by Alberta Canova (Luisa Ranieri) and her sister Gabriella (Jasmine Trinca), who after a personal loss seems more and more out of sorts to handle all the detailed requirements requested by demanding costume designers, movie directors, and stars.

Ferzan Özpetek with Anne-Katrin Titze about his encounter with Monica Vitti: ”She turned around and came back to me and said, you are going to make a lot of beautiful films!”

The fabulous ensemble cast sheds light on the various concerns of women in the garment business and their personal relationships through humorous and sometimes almost tragic vignettes.

The...

“Monterossi: Season 2” finds Monterossi (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) still stuck with his producing role on the sleazy talk show he created, “Crazy Love”, that he’s been regretting since it started sliding into lowbrow exploitation. Flora (Carla Signoris), the domineering host, continues to push for the most lurid guests and topics, much to his chagrin. It’s akin to the havoc Dr. Frankenstein unleashed despite his laudable reanimation intentions. Monterossi had hoped for an “Oprah”, only to see his project devolve into a “Jerry Springer”.

The first season was six 45-minute episodes split evenly over two separate mysteries. This one covers one set of crimes in five.

My review of Season One of this charming light crime series from Italian TV, “Monterossi” will bring you up to speed or refresh your memory. This next round again delivers the goods on scripts, performances and settings.

“Monterossi” – TV series review

Three bodies of...

The Lotus and 3 Marys Entertainment production directed by Nicola Abbatangelo will be set in 1920s New York. Shooting on the musical The Land of Dreams, which is already earning a name for itself “the Italian La La Land” and which is directed by Nicola Abbatangelo, the thirty-something Molise filmmaker and author of the award-winning musical short Beauty, is currently underway in Bulgaria. Shot and sung in English, the film boasts an international cast: Belorussian actress Caterina Shulha (currently touring cinemas in Into the Labyrinth), England’s George Blagden, Scottish actor Kevin Guthrie (Sunset Song), Ryan Reid, Nathan Amzi and Italy’s Paolo Calabresi, Marina Rocco, Carla Signoris, Stefano Fresi and Edoardo Pesce (the winner of the Best Supporting Actor David di Donatello award for Dogman). The Land of Dreams is produced by Marco Belardi on behalf of Lotus Production (Leone Film Group), as...

Out April 13, 2017 in Italian theatres, Francesco Amato’s comedy sees the Neapolitan actor playing the role of a rigid psychoanalyst who winds up in trouble

by Camillo De Marco from Cineuropa.org

Toni Servillo in “Let Yourself Go!”

Toni Servillo in a comic role? Yes it is possible, and happens in “Let Yourself Go”/ “Lasciati andare” by Francesco Amato (“Cosimo and Nicole”), in theatres as of today with 01 Distribution. With a beard and glasses à la Sigmund Freud, Servillo plays a psychoanalyst who lives and works in the Roman ghetto, a beautiful neighbourhood in the historic city centre which is rarely used in films. Separated from his wife Giovanna (played by a Carla Signoris on top form) — but with a very thin wall separating their respective bedrooms — Dr. Elia Venezia lives a methodical and rather self-centered existence, livened up only by the weirdness of some of his clients, until one...