Il Film nella Città

The Salvadoran and I had the pleasure of seeing a great Italian movie at a
field trip in our Beginning Italian class ITAL1A. The story revolves around a poor Sicilian boy who, after the death of his parents, made a choice to make sacrifices to take care of his little sister and a grandmother. The movie is set in a small coastal town in Italy's southern island of Sicily. The movie has a melodramic tone and, in a lot of ways, unlikely to happen in real life. This reminds me of another good Italian movie entitled 'Ciao, Profesorre'.

Before the feature presentation, the director, Gian Paolo Cugno, spoke briefly to the audience with the help of an interpreter. Che bello! He spoke really fast or at least it seemed that way to my untrained ears. His sentences sounded like a big long Italian word. It was so elegant, it flowed smoothly. Without the interpreter's translation, only the last part of his speech registered perfectly in my brain where he is encouraging anyone who has questions to talk to him after the movie. The Salvadoran kept insisting that he understood 70% of the entire talk.

Coming from almost a similar town as the main character in the movie, I was moved. I also have a soft spot for Foreign movies. The outing was great too since we have not been out a lot these days. We’ve been watching more home movies lately so we could enjoy the house (read as: we’re trying to cut down on entertainment expenses because of the astronomical mortgage!).

The movie was sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society’s New Italian Cinema at the Embarcadero Center. Almost half of the class was there.

The Salvadoran and I typically ask each other the ‘top five’ of this or that. Since 2006 is almost o-v-e-r and I probably won’t see another movie because I will spend most of December outside the States, here’s my list of personal favorites that I’ve seen on the big screen.

• The Last King of Scotland. I only agreed to see this movie because it was playing at the Century theatres inside the new mall (Bloomies). I heard the place is great – great, comfortable faux leather seats, more leg room, better view, better sound, better popcorn and we get $2 off because we are registered 'students' (at the city college). I was in for a surprise because the movie is very good. The movie is about Idi Amin. I am not at all knowledgeable on African history so I could not attest on how historically accurate the movie is. The entire cast gave a great performance. I hope this movie gets nominated for something.


• Little Miss Sunshine. This is probably this year’s funniest movie even though I think this is more a dramatic movie than comedy. That’s the good thing about this movie. It wasn’t trying too hard to make people laugh or be sentimental. I remember laughing so hard for a good 15 minutes or so. Great acting too.


• The Devil Wears Prada. This is in the league of the first ‘Legally Blonde’, at least for me. And that says it all.


• Superman Returns. I was debating between this and Mission Impossible 3. No, the decision wasn’t based on how good looking the main actors are. You should have seen Tom Cruise in his priestly outfit (just kidding!). I'd have to go with Superman. Afterall, this is ‘the Superman’ movie and I thought it was a good one.


• Pride and Prejudice. Just like with science fiction, I am a sucker for love stories especially when it is set in an earlier era.

I haven’t seen ‘Click’ yet. I heard a lot of good feedback from my friends about it. I also enjoyed several home movie titles but that is another list (allconsuming.net).

~ral