Italy
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Cannes Best Actor winner Marcello Fonti gives an incredible performance as the lowly proprietor of a dog salon, whose life becomes violently intertwined with that of a local hoodlum in… Read More
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In 2017, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino achieved worldwide recognition for his coming-of-age drama Call Me by Your Name, which earned four Academy Award nominations and made a star of its… Read More
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Politics, religion and the mafia collide during one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent Italian history, depicted here as a Michael Mann-esque crime epic of shimmering neon and pulsating… Read More
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Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson and a fantastic Ralph Fiennes star in this sexually charged and drug fuelled drama that is one of the year’s very best films. Listen… Read More
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After winning Italy the Oscar for The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino delivers a wryly amusing meditation on humanity and old age. Listen to my review (at 14:25) Read More
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I had put off watching Sergio Leone’s final western for many many years, believing it to be a lesser film in the director’s canon, but in fact it’s an incredibly… Read More
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2 hours+ of beautifully shot, brilliantly conceived, yet pitifully acted sex, poetry and slapstick. It can only be Pasolini. Is there a Pasolini supercut anywhere of characters laughing at each… Read More
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I had always harboured fond memories of Dario Argento’s 1982 slasher flick, as it was the very first of his films I ever saw. I had not rewatched it until… Read More
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This late colour entry from Federico Fellini sees Marcello Mastroianni play a philandering womaniser who follows hs latest conquest off a train and into a dreamworld populated solely by women.… Read More
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Pasolini’s films are challenging but I like to challenge myself from time to time, and his body of work has become one of my go-to selections when I’m looking to… Read More
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Of interest almost solely because of a rare acting performance from Alejandro Jodorowsky, this Italian psychodrama proves a baffling, underwhelming dud. As our heroine battles depression and an incredibly frustrating… Read More
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Typically ridiculous zombie movie from Lucio Fulci that is also the second part of his unofficial “Gates of Hell” trilogy. There isn’t much in the way of a plot –… Read More
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I continue my sporadic exploration of the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini with this first part of his Trilogy of Life. Lighter in tone yet no less subversive than the… Read More
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I only heard about this film from the special features on Arrow’s excellent Zombie Flesh Eaters disc, and it seemed the perfect late-night splatter flick. For large parts, Contamination seems… Read More
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I recently picked up Arrow Video’s double pack of Lamberto Bava’s Demons, which also included the sequel. I had not seen either film before, but this second entry seemed to… Read More
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Lamberto Bava directs this ridiculous 80s giallo splatterfest, from a script co-written with Dario Argento. Two college girls in Berlin accept an invitation to a mysterious film screening, only for… Read More
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I jumped at the chance to finally strike what is arguably Antonioni’s most famous film off my List of Shame, only to find the 2.5hr experience incredibly tedious. Sure, the… Read More
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One of my favourite films from last year stands up remarkably well to repeat viewing at home. This fetishised exploration of Italian giallo filmmaking, analogue sound recording and foley effects,… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 