Cinema

Stromboli
Sat 20 April, 13:15
Sadly, Stromboli is best known as
the film which lured Ingrid Bergman
from Hollywood and marked the
beginning of her tempestuous affair
with director Roberto Rossellini. The
perceived immorality of the couple
prompted the American distributors
to mutilate the film. However, shown
in its original form as it is here, this is
clearly a major work which is ripe for
rediscovery. The plot is simple: a
wartime refugee marries an Italian
fisherman but finds life with him on a
volcanic island difficult. However, the
film’s brilliance lies in its naturalistic
details, including a superb sequence
depicting the fishermen at work; the
unadorned dialogue, which often
grew out of improvisation; the
superb performances, with Bergman
working brilliantly with a cast of nonprofessionals;
and the potent
symbolism of the volcano, which
towers over the film. Moreover, far
from being immoral, this is one of the
great films about the spiritual quests
of ordinary people.
Dir: Roberto Rossellini
Italy 1950 / 1h21m / Digital / 15
Italian with English subtitles
Nina
Sat 20 April, 18:00
Elisa Fuksas' much-admired debut
feature provides a plum role for
Diane Fleri as Nina, a lost soul
drifting through life in a sun-bleached
Rome that everyone else has
abandoned for the summer. Nina
has agreed to spend the sweltering
months house-sitting a friend's
apartment and caring for his
hamster, aquarium and depressed
dog. She has no plans, no
relationship and no great ambitions
other than a desire to visit China. As
she strolls the streets, whizzes
around on a vespa and satisfies her
sweet tooth, Nina's niggling
existential angst makes her the
modern equivalent of a character in
an Antonioni film. Her friendship with
10 year-old Ettore and the
acquisition of an admirer in shaggyhaired
cellist Fabrizio set her on the
road to a summer she will never
forget.
Dir: Elisa Fuksas
Italy 2012 / 1h20m / Digital / 15
Italian with English subtitles
The Son Did It
È stato il figlio
Sun 21 April, 18:00
Daniele Cipri's rowdy, bittersweet
comedy is like a cross between
Shameless and exuberant grand
opera as it charts the life of the
spectacularly dysfunctional Ciraulo
family. Toni Servillo is on top form as
the head of a clan struggling to
survive in the crumbling ruins of a
housing estate on the outskirts of
Palermo. They scrape by even as the
water runs out and the television
goes on the blink. A family tragedy
threatens to make them rich with
compensation money but merely
sows the seeds for further woes. A
vulgar, scathing satire on the cruel
ironies of life in the Mafia-dominated
Italian South, Cipri's first solo feature
was one of the prime Italian prizewinners
at the most recent Venice
Film Festival.
Dir: Daniele Cipri
Italy 2012 / 1h30m / Digital / 18
Italian with English subtitles
Tickets 01382 909 900 19