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“A pity party that has no business being so much fun,” UNA VITA DIFFICLE opens in the U.S. after a 62 year wait.

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The long-awaited U.S. premiere of Dino Risi’s Una Vita Difficile, starring one of the most beloved of all Italian actors, Alberto Sordi (Mafioso, Il Boom, Fellini’s The White Sheik and I Vitelloni, etc.), was greeted with big crowds and admiring reviews when Rialto Pictures opened its restoration in New York last month. Laemmle Theatres opens the film about a resistance fighter-turned-journalist and his wife (Lea Massari) navigating life in post-war Italy on Friday, March 17 at the Royal and Town Center and March 24 at the Monica Film Center and Laemmle Glendale.

The New York Times’ critic A.O. Scott hailed it as “a stellar specimen of commedia all’italiana.” In his review for Air Mail, Michael Sragow proclaimed, “Alberto Sordi triumphs at jet-black comedy…(he’s) Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their prime, rolled into one.”

In Italy, Una Vita Difficile has long been cherished as a highlight of the 1950s and 60s golden age of Italian comedy, which also gave the world Big Deal on Madonna Street, Divorce Italian Style, Mafioso, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and Risi’s own Il Sorpasso (made the year after Una Vita Difficile). While these and others were major arthouse hits in the U.S., Una Vita Difficile was inexplicably never released here…until now.

 

“A stellar specimen of commedia all’Italiana by a true maestro of the form. Pulsate[s] with the breathlessness and disorientation of a country simultaneously grappling with the past and speeding toward a confusing future…Belongs in the company of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Risi’s Il Sorpasso. It also stands by itself as an exuberant bad time, a pity party that has no business being so much fun.” — A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“It sounds absurd to even contemplate: an unreleased 1961 epic romance starring the legendary Alberto Sordi that tackles the decades after WWII — a mixture of sentiment and grand historic sweep that the Italians always did so well — that’s somehow just getting a U.S. release.” — Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

“Risi’s deft seriocomic panorama, from Mussolini’s fall to the rise of the postwar Roman oligarchy…Alberto Sordi triumphs at jet-black comedy when the antihero fails as an idealist, a husband, even as a sell-out. The closest America has come to Sordi is Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their prime, rolled into one.” — Michael Sragow, Air Mail

“John le Carré by way of David Lynch,” PACIFICTION opens Friday at the Royal, March 10 in Glendale.

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The gorgeous political thriller Pacifiction, from Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra (The Death of Louis XIV), was nominated for nine César Awards (winning two, Best Cinematography and Best Actor for Benoît Magimel). It’s set in Tahiti and follows the French government official De Roller (Magimel). A.O. Scott of the New York Times described the character this way:

“Played by Benoît Magimel with shambling delicacy, De Roller is like the French cousin of a character you might find in a Graham Greene novel or a tale by Joseph Conrad. He is a world-weary, somewhat dissolute avatar of colonial power — “a representative of the state” in his own assessment, which sounds both humble and boastful — going to seed in a tropical paradise. He is a diplomat, a fixer, a bon vivant and, thanks to Magimel’s louche charisma, a lost soul whose wandering and dithering carry a hint of pathos.”

Scott goes on to say of the film:

“It suggests John le Carré by way of David Lynch — a feverish and haunting but also wry and meditative rumination on power, secrecy and the color of clouds over water at sunset.”
  

“I can only say I was captivated by the film and its stealthy evocation of pure evil.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“A hallucinatory, disquieting, languid epic, Pacifiction willfully disorients. Prosaic plot specifics are ancillary to creating unfading images; it’s concerned more with sensation than sense. What tethers us to the film is Magimel’s superb performance.” Melissa Anderson, 4Columns

“Ultimately, the film’s greatest feat is in providing moments for delightful reverie through its sumptuous visuals while constantly making clear the colonialist reality of the island.” ~ Joshua Minsoo Kim, Chicago Reader

“Pacifiction is not a vicarious experience of luxury; it is an experience of life. Set to its own tidal rhythm, it is one of the most beautiful and rigorously introspective movies of this or any year.” ~ Christian Blauvelt, indieWire

“A magisterial, philosophical three-hour mood piece.” ~ Adam Nayman, The Ringer

Oscar Doc Features – A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS, NAVALNY & ALL THAT BREATHES

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The already formidable 15 films shortlisted for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar have been whittled down to five, and it’s no exaggeration to say they’re all masterpieces that hit about 100 times harder when seen in a theater. People just had a chance to see Fire of Love on Valentine’s Day, and we’ve been playing All the Beauty and the Bloodshed for weeks (but Thursday is the last day!). We are bringing the remaining three to a big screen near you, so now is your chance.
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We’ll have Navalny at the Monica Film Center for 02/24 – 03/02.
A House Made of Splinters plays weekend shows in Glendale (02/25 – 02/26) and at the Royal (03/04 – 03/05).
And we’ll have All that Breathes on March 1 in Glendale and March 2 at the Royal.

ONLY IN THEATERS touring the Bay Area.

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The acclaimed documentary about Laemmle Theatres Only in Theaters is touring the Bay Area with in-person Q&As by third-generation Laemmle Theatre president Greg Laemmle and his wife Tish:
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02/25 – East Bay Jewish Film Festival (Pleasant Hill)
02/25 – 3Below (San Jose)
02/26 – Carmel Valley Jewish Film Festival (Lighthouse Cinema, Pacific Grove)
02/27 – Elmwood, Berkeley
02/28 – Roxie (encore)
03/01 – Rialto Cinemas, Sebastopol
03/02 – Smith Rafael Film Center
03/03 – Cameo, St. Helena
03/04 – Cameo, St. Helena (encore)
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If you have friends in the Bay Area, tell them to look for the film. It isn’t just for Angelenos and Dodger fans. Art houses across the country are fighting to come back, and in some communities (Berkeley in particular) the post-pandemic period has seen a number of theatre closures.
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And if you are based in L.A., some screenings with Q&As are in the works for the end of March and beginning of April.  Stay tuned!
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Buoyed by her peers, “spectacular” Andrea Riseborough and TO LESLIE return to theaters.

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Chameleonic English actress Andrea Riseborough earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress this month but got some flack because the campaign to push her over the top was unusual. Rather than rely on a Hollywood studio’s massive publicity and advertising budget, which was unavailable to her because her film To Leslie — which we are returning to our Glendale theater this Friday — was released by the tiny film distributor Momentum Pictures, some of her more famous friends rallied online urging people to see the film and her bravura performance. Surprise! It worked. She now has her first Oscar nomination, something film critics understood she deserved but probably would not get.

“Riseborough’s performance is nothing short of spectacular. She doesn’t compromise, she doesn’t hold back, but she doesn’t endow the character with any sort of fake flamboyance.” ~ Owen Gleiberman, Variety
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“A personal and heartfelt drama with yet another stellar turn from the always-great Andrea Riseborough.” ~ Brian Tallerico,
RogerEbert.com
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“In To Leslie Riseborough presents the rough and tumble of the films eponymous character with a tender and sensitive rawness and authenticity.” ~ Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ.org
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“Unglamorous and unflinching, lilting from dive bars to motels across an errant desert wind. So too is Riseborough’s performance as Leslie.” ~ Fran Hoepfner, TheWrap
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“This week’s shocker Oscar nomination for British actress Andrea Riseborough as an alcoholic single mother from West Texas who squanders her $190,000 lottery win on booze turns a movie no one ever heard of into an absolute must-see. Prepare to be wowed!” ~ Peter Travers, ABC News
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“A work of handcrafted beauty,” THE BLUE CAFTAN opens February 10 at the Royal.

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“The blue caftan, both the clothing and the piece of cinema, are crafted like an elegant act of welcome resistance.” ~ Namrata Joshi, New Indian Express
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“Not only about abiding love, but also about a deep, unspoken understanding between two people who are committed to each other.” ~ Shubhra Gupta, Indian Express
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“Touzani has introduced the caftan as a symbol, and it’s touching to see how the film uses it in the end.” ~ Peter Debruge, Variety
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“Stunning…working with an intricacy that rivals that of the craftsman at the center of her film, the auteur crafts a surprisingly warm story that subverts expectations at almost every turn.” ~ Christian Zilko, indieWire
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The Top Ten Films of 2022 contest results are in!

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And the Top Ten Customer-Chosen films of 2022, in order from 1 to 10, are [drum roll]:

  1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
  2. The Banshees of Inisherin
  3. TÁR
  4. The Fabelmans
  5. RRR
  6. Top Gun: Maverick
  7. Nope
  8. Aftersun
  9. Triangle of Sadness
  10. Decision to Leave

It’s a terrific list, arguably better than the one AMPAS announced this week, which excluded RRR, Nope, Aftersun and Decision to Leave. Films 2-4 and 9, hyperlinked for your convenience, are still in theaters!

Randomly chosen winners for free Laemmle movie passes are:
1) Jodi Siegner
2) Drew McAnany
3) Jacob Berman
Thanks to everyone who played!

Top Ten Films of 2022 contest ends Sunday: Tell us your favorites for a chance to win free movie passes!

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Keep those Top Ten contest entries coming. You have until this Sunday, January 22 to give it some thought and enter here. So far, unsurprisingly, it looks like many Laemmle moviegoers are kvelling about Everything Everywhere All at Once, Top Gun: Maverick, and RRR. We’ll have final results next week. You can read Greg Laemmle’s list and leading American film critics’ lists if you need inspiration. Personally, my favorite is Jordan Peele’s spectacular Nope. No doubt my reaction was influenced by the fact that I saw it in a packed, sold-out theater on opening night, because movies are better in theaters!