What I Watched in March
An overview of what I watched in March.
PS. Guess who finally got a Criterion Channel subscription and is blazing through the library like greased lightning...
PPS. I also watched a ton of Barbara Stanwyck movies, since she was TCM's Star of the Month, and those reviews will be published in a separate post tomorrow!
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ieri, oggi, domani) (1963)
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I've never been disappointed by either Sophia Loren or Marcello Mastroianni, so when this popped up as a suggestion on the Criterion Channel streaming service, I clicked play without checking the logline.
This was so perfect: three separate stories highlighting three different areas in Italy.
The first, Adelina of Naples, focuses on Adelina, a woman who will go to prison once she has her baby, so to circumvent the laws, keeps getting pregnant by her husband, Carmine. Honestly, this was hilarious. The physicality of Sophia playing the put-upon pregnant woman trying to avoid prison and Marcello playing her exhausted husband. I'm chuckling just thinking about it.
The second, Anna of Milan, was my least favourite of the trio. It stars Sophia as Anna, a bored Milanese housewife who's driving with her lover, Renzo. It was still funny, but it didn't really tickle me the way the other two did.
Finally, there's Mara of Rome, in which Sophia is a Roman prostitute who is just trying to have 'quality time' with Augusto, but the neighbour boy, who's been away at the seminary, returns home to his grandparents for a visit and ends up falling totally in love with Mara. The rest of this segment is Mara and the grandparents trying to convince Umberto that he really does want to be a priest while Augusto just wants...quality time. If you know nothing of this, like I did, you'll recognize this segment from the poster: Mara does a striptease at the end to reward Augusto for his help (though he doesn't really do much) in convincing Umberto to go back to the seminary.
This was hilarious. I'm going to have to find it in physical format, it's just perfect.
The Swimming Pool (La Piscine) (1969)
Honestly, just hot. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider? Sign me up. This was a fascinating character study of two tragic, terrible people; and the Riviera setting didn't hurt.
Divorce Italian Style (1961)
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Another hoot! I thought I'd seen this, but it turns out I was thinking of Marriage Italian Style (rookie mistake, I'm sure). A perfect satire, a great comedy, and further proof that Marcello was a master. I must see more of his films!
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
The production design? Gorgeous. I'm not usually one for slow stories but this, I could not get enough of. I'm going to quote from my Letterboxd review here, cause I can't think of anything else to say: "You mean to tell me that I've been waiting since 1975 to watch this movie (I was born in 1987 and only learned that this movie existed a week ago) and I don't even get to find out what happened to the girls?"
Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika) (1953)
Guess who wants to move to the Stockholm Archipelago and live out the rest of her days there amongst the rocks! I haven't seen many Ingmar Bergman movies, and Persona so thoroughly unsettled me that I haven't made it a priority, but after watching Summer with Monika, I'm definitely on the hunt!
Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) (1962)
This was fascinating.
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Potential controversial opinion here, but I didn't really care for this? I'll see myself out.
I Knew Her Well (Io la conoscevo bene) (1965)
Hit after hit for Italian movies in this household this month!
Les Créatures (1966)
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Unsettling but I quite enjoyed it.
Lola (1961)
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If Jacques Demy has no fans, I'm dead.
ALSO WATCHED:
Ladies of Leisure (1930)
So Big! (1932)
Skylark (1941)
The Secret Bride (1934)
The Gay Sisters (1942)
BF's Daughter (1948)
No Man of Her Own (1950)
Cry Wolf (1947)
Jeopardy (1953)
Witness to Murder (1954)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle) (1967)
There's Always Tomorrow (1956)
These Wilder Years (1956)
East Side, West Side (1949)
The Irish In Us (1935)
Capricious Summer (Rozmarné léto) (1968)
The Executioner (El verdugo) (1963)
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