A sentient buffalo, a foolish servant sent across time and a shepherd whose days are numbered become mythical figures in Marcello’s magical realist docu-tale that features ravishing images of bucolic Italy, though the film rarely resonates in a deeper way than imagined.
Rohrwacher’s strong debut feature is naturalistic yet enigmatic in style as a young girl comes to terms with living in a new city where religion almost exclusively determines the way of life.
Illegal makeshift houses without a roof will be torn down by the police in this underrated and heartfelt piece by De Sica, as a poor newlywed couple forced out onto the streets struggle to build theirs in time.
A Fellini classic featuring Giulietta Masina with arguably her greatest performance, this spirited tale of a prostitute who desires to change her life is at once heartbreaking and life-affirming.
De Sica is in a more commercial mode here before he caught the neorealist bug as he tells a largely compelling story of rivalry and friendship in a convent for girls, with a bout of action as nationalist politics get in the way.
Visconti’s screen treatment of the Wagner-obsessed King of Bavaria is inevitably tragic and melancholic, as this 4-hour epic charts his rise and downfall into madness.
Anna Magnani is at her raucous best, playing a mother hoping that her daughter would become a child star, as this early comedy-drama by Visconti reveals the exploitative nature of the film industry.
Largely satisfying as a personal-political journey of an Italian sailor trying to escape his working-class background by dreaming about being an intellectual writer.
Fellini’s first solo feature as director would lay some of the artistic groundwork for his career in this sporadically entertaining comedy about a newlywed’s rendezvous with a ‘romantic ideal’ on her honeymoon in Rome.
Frammartino’s first feature in more than a decade, this dialogue-less wonder of a film is an immersive journey into one of the world’s deepest caves where Man must treat scientific discovery and human mortality with the same curious brushstroke.
Eternality Tan 