Perth Voice Interactive

IT out performed Barbie and Oppenheimer at the Italian box office last year and there wasn’t a hint of CGI in sight.

The period comedy-drama There’s Still Tomorrow smashed a bunch of records in Italy and amazingly it was the directorial debut of Paola Cortelessi, who also played the lead role.

Set in postwar 1940s Italy, the film follows Delia as she breaks free of suffocating family traditions and her abusive husband, after receiving a mysterious letter.

Shot in black-and-white, Rome’s inner-city provides a bleak backdrop with the city ravaged by poverty after Word War II and allied troops roaming the streets.

But there is a glint of hope on the horizon – an upcoming referendum gives Italians the chance to vote out the monarchy and become a more egalitarian republic and enjoy a better life.

With all this bubbling away, Delia starts feeling the urge to shake things up and retake control of her life, before her daughter is consigned to the same misery she endured.

Touching on themes of feminism and patriarchy, the film was praised by critics, who particularly enjoyed the neorealist direction and Cortelessi’s natural performance.

It won a slew of awards and has been selected as one of the lead movies at this year’s Italian Film Festival in Perth.

Festival director Elysia Zeccola says the film masterfully blends weighty themes with a light touch.

“The much-loved comedic actress Paola Cortelessi masterfully conveys a strong message about a difficult subject by setting the film in the past, almost as a reflection on how this issue has not improved over the decades, while using her comedic touch to make the film entertaining cinema. It packs a punch,” Zeccola says.

Other standout films at the festival include Marcello Mio, an homage to the legendary Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, who starred in Fellini classics La Dolce Vita and 8½, and co-starred with Sophia Loren in eight films between 1954 and 1994.

Although a megastar and the partner of Faye Dunaway in the late 1960s, Mastroianni largely shunned Hollywood and spent most of career starring in movies in his homeland, cementing his reputation as a true Italian thespian.

In a quirky meta twist, Marcello Mio stars Marcello’s former partner Catherine Deneuve, and their real-life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni.

Featuring a bevy of well-known Italian and French actors, some playing versions of themselves, the film follows Chiara as she confronts her father’s legacy and attempts to break free of his shadow.

Held over three weeks, the Italian Film Festival features a diverse line-up of movies including comedies, historical epics, dramas and family movies.

Screenings include Comandante, a gripping maritime thriller starring festival favourite Pierfrancesco Favino, and The War of the Nonni, a fun family comedy starring Vincenzo Salemme and Maz Tortora as competing grandfathers. 

International audiences perhaps still associate Italy with movies about crime, with the shadow of The Godfather still looming large more than half a century after its release.

In recent years, hit crime shows like Suburra and Gomorrah have reinforced that image, but festival director Elysia Zeccola says Italian cinema has a lot more to offer if you dig beneath the populist surface.

“Italians also make great relationship dramas like Trust by Daniele Luchetti, and their comedies are a lot of fun!” Zeccola says.

The 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival runs from October 3-23 at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and the Windsor Cinema. For tix and more info see http://www.lunapalace.com.au.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK