CAPOLAVORO!

Regular Russ Kilbourn and today's guest Roberta Cauchi-Santoro have just edited a collection of essays on screen adaptations of the novels of internationally successful Italian novelist Elena Ferrante. In this episode Roberta introduces us to Ferrante and her fiction then we discuss those adaptations, including the 34-part Sky series 'My Brilliant Friend' (2018-24) and the 6-part Netflix series '...

In this episode we talk about three films by director Paolo Sorrentino, about whose cinema Russ published a book in 2020: his most recent movie 'La Grazia (2025), about a fictional president of Italy at the end of his term, and two films based on real politicians in the later stage sof their career, 'Il Divo' (2008) about Andreotti who was premier on seven occasions i and 'Loro' (2018), based on t...

In this podcast we discuss Maria Giménez Cavallo's concept of 'cinema dell'anima', (Cinema of the Soul), an idea triggered by three Italian films from the last two decades. Maria's concept has three elements and she highlights a film for each: transcendental - ' Le Quattro Volte' (2010) directed by Michelangelo Frammartino; posthumanism - 'Bella e Perduta' (2015) directed by Pietro Marcello; poeti...

Frank Burke is a leading film scholar with a long interest in Italian director Federico Fellini (1920-1993). Few artists were more obsessed with their dreams than Fellini. In this conversation we talk about his early interest in puppets and circus, and his jobs, before moving into film, as an illustrator and caracaturist. Drawing was always an important part of his preparation for movies but he al...

Introducing the Capolavoro podcast: 20 movies from 20 different directors, from Luchino Visconti’s influential 1943‘Ossessione’ to Maura Delpero’s brilliant 2024 ‘Vermiglio’. If you want to know more about post-war Italian cinema the Capolavoro podcast is a great place to start. Participants: Russ Kilbourn, Professor of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (Canad...

In this extended series finale we talk about 1968 film 'Once Upon a Timer in the West', Sergio Leone's operatic and big budget return to the Spaghetti Western. Russ discusses the script, elements of the story assembled from earlier westerns, the main characters and the cinematography. We discuss the central role of Claudia Cardinale and a problematic scene with Bronson, Fonda's inspired casting ag...

In Mario Martone's 2022 movie, based on Ermanno Rea's 2016 novel, 'nostalgia' is not a bittersweet reflection on the past but an obsessive need to return to the Naples of the main character's youth. We talk about the contrast with 'Gomorah', another movie involving the Camorah discussed earlier in the series, and the excellent award winning performances, particularly Pierfrancesco Favino as Felice...

In this episode we discuss the 1978 film - ‘L'albero degli zoccoli’, 'The tree of wooden clogs', directed, scripted, shot and edited by Ermano Olmi. We talk about the four stories that make up the film, the way in which Olmi slowly evokes the lives of his protagonists, all local people rather than professional actors ,and the extraordinary performances he gets from them. Russ talk about the links...

In this episode we discuss the 2024 multi-award winning film 'Vermiglio' written and directed by Maura Delpero, set in Trentino and based on interviews and her own family history. We discuss the casting, of many untrained local children and adults alongside experienced professional actors, the extraordinary colour palate, inspired in part by paintings by nineteenth century artist Giovanni Segantin...

In this episode we discuss the penultimate film of Vittorio De Sica, one of the giants of Italian cinema. 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' (1970) is based closely on the 1962 semi-autobiographical novel by Georgio Bassani andtells the story of a group of people, mostly in the Jewish community in Ferrara, as racial laws are introduced in fascist Italy in 1938 and the aftermath in 1940s. We discus...

After discussing Liliana Cavani's backstory, which included documentaries on the 3rd Reich and women in WW2, we unpick the unusual mix of storylines in 'The Night Porter', an English languarge film that, despite a critical mauling in the US and UK on release, has endured and perhaps increased in stature. After discussing the extraordinary lead performances, the marketing use made of critical accus...

In this podcast we talk about Visconti's first feature film, based on the James M. Cain the novel 'The postman always rings twice', though set in the Ferrar region of Italy. Hated and banned by the fascists, the film survives because the director kept a copy, but it had to wait until 1977 for its US release as film rights hadn't been obtained to use the novel. We talk through the acting, great cin...

In this podcast we discuss Giani Amelio's neglected 1994 film on Albanian migration to Italy, 'Lamerica', multi award winning at the time and still resonant. The conversation moves from the opening, a fascist propaganda film about Italy colonising Albania in the 1930s, to a discussion of the mass migration that followed the collapse of the repressive communist regime at the end of the 1980s. We ta...

In this podcast we explore what is generally agreed to be Paolo Sorrentino's masterwork, La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty, 2013). Russ talks about why he decided to write a book about his movies and why he thinks this, and Il Divo, are his stand out works. After outlining the plot, we talk about the cinematography, most striking scenes the religious and seculalr themes in the movie. We discuss...

Nichetti's film ( 'Ladri di Saponette' is the Italian title) is both an affectionate homage of 1940s neorealism and a critique of the effects of consumerism, and particularly Berlusconi's media, in 1980s Italy. Russ discusses the social historical background to the making of this film before we talk about Nichetti's background in circus, children's TV and adverts in addition to film directing. The...

In this podcast we talk about Nanni Morreti's 1994 film 'Caro Diario' ('Dear Diary'), in which the director plays himself. Russ explains the three chapter structure, the first following him around Rome on his Vespa, the second a trip around Italian islands with a friend and the last an account of a year in which a chronic itch was eventually diagnosed as a malignancy, a lymphoma (successfully trea...

In this episode we discuss Matteo Garrone's 2008 adaptation of journalist Roberto Saviano 2006 book about the Naples mafia (Camorra). Russ talks about the way the book is adapted, dipping into the many activities of the Camorrah, from drugs to toxic waste disposal whilst also following younger characters aspiring to that lifestyle. We talk about the striking cinematography and lack of traditional...

In this podcast we talk about Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1964 film 'The Gospel According to Matthew' ('Il vangelo secondo Matteo' is the title in Italian) the unusual cast selection (non-actors), Italian locations and a Jesus depicted with more than a hint of Che Guevara. Russ talks about Pasolini's route to this film, via novels and poems and ealrier films, including a short film depicting the crucifi...

In this episode we unpack the delights of Alice Rohrwacher's 2023 movie 'La Chimera', a film about 'tomboroli' (tomb robbers) in the 1980s. Russ discusses the social and historical background, and the way the film explores attitudes to and roles of women and other aspects of Italian society then and now. We explore the various storytelling techniques Rohrwacher employs and the interwoven themes, i...

In this episode we discuss Pietro Marcello's 2019 film 'Martin Eden', based on Jack London's semi-autobiographical coming of age novel published in 1909. Russ unpacks some of the historical and political backstory of story, as filmed. Unconventional flashback-like sequences are highlighted and ambiguity over the time period in which the action takes place discussed. We compare and contrast the nov...

This episode explores Lina Wertmuller's 1973 film Love and Anarchy (D'Amore e D'Anarchia), the first female director they've discussed. Wertmuller's route to direction is outlined, including her early career with an avant garde puppets theatre, then work with Fellini, before we unpick some of the detail in this exhuberant film. Set in and around a legal brothel in prewar fascist italy, the film te...

In this episode Russ and Ken talk about Bertolucci's 1970 film The Conformist (Il Conformista), based on Alberto Moravia's 1947 novel of the same name. Set in fascist Italy, mainly before WW2, it tells the story of Marcello whose desire to conform makes him embrace and become a willing puppet of the regime and a plot to kill a prominent antifascist living in Paris, but that only scratches the surf...

In this episode Russ and Ken talk about Michelangelo Antonioni's classic genre defying masterpiece 'L'Avventura' from 1960. After discussing the use of black and white in art house cinema in this period Russ outlines how the film has been critically interpreted as a kind of filmic philosophical investigation of existentialism by a director who, for the time, seems unusually aware of female sensibi...

In this episode Russ and Ken discuss 'I Vitelloni' a Federico Fellini Classic from 1953, his first international success. We talk through the story, the main characters and what gives it classic status, including Fellini's use of humour, visual composition and characters. It's the story of a group of small town 'loafers' avoiding responsibility whilst hoping for better as Italy's post war economic...

In this podcast we set the scene for the series by discussing cinema under Mussolini including the creation of Cinecittà in Rome. We then talk about the director, and writers of 'Rome, Open City' (including Federico Fellini), the plot (execution of a priest and pregnant woman, based on true events that occurred only months before the film was made), problems in production, excellent performances,...