May 2010

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Features

#Italian Cinema: Maestros and mobsters

Cinematic nostalgia, endemic corruption and the deadening hand of Silvio Berlusconi have prevented Italy’s real story from being told on film for 30 years, says Nick Hasted. But now a new generation of film-makers is finding its voice

#The man who wasn’t there

Roman Polanski’s thriller about an ex-prime minister haunted by past crimes has acquired an extra twist of intrigue in the light of the director’s own arrest. Philip Horne unravels the tangled web of The Ghost

Cover feature: Italian Cinema

Fifty years after La dolce vita capped the golden age of Italian movies, things are stirring again in the land of Berlusconi, with new talents emerging fully formed, while old maestros rediscover lost form. Sight & Sound surveys the field

Italian Cinema: The food of love

It’s 11 years since Luca Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton started talking about working together on the film that would become I Am Love. Jonathan Romney talks to Guadagnino, and savours the director’s unique blend of opulence and passion

PLUS Nick James talks to Swinton about her new role as producer

Italian Cinema: Vicious appetites

Half a century after its controversial domestic release, Lee Marshall revisits the decadence and decay of Fellini’s masterpiece La dolce vita

Italian Cinema: The great seducer

With Vincere, Marco Bellocchio ventures where other Italian film-makers fear to tread, showing us the life of Mussolini through the eyes of his rejected lover. The result is a disturbing portrait of power and madness. By Guido Bonsaver

Bad education

A subtle blend of black comedy and horror, Dogtooth depicts a Greek couple who keep their children imprisoned in the family home. Jonathan Romney traces the film lineage of dysfunctional families

PLUS Kieron Corless talks to Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos

Selected reviews

#Film of the month: 24 City

An unclassifiable hybrid of documentary and fiction, Jia Zhangke’s 24 City finds a telling microcosm of the transformation of China in the story of a factory relocated to make way for a shopping mall. By Tony Rayns

#DVD review: Valley of the Bees

Marketa Lazarová director Frantisek Vlácil was much more than a one-work wonder, says Michael Brooke

#Film review: La Danse The Paris Opera Ballet

Frederick Wiseman’s documentary dissects both an institution and an artform with extraordinary skill and beauty, says Kate Stables

#Film review: Cherrybomb

Three rebellious Northern Irish teens form an increasingly dark love triangle in this spirited first-time feature. The acting's the thing, says Lisa Mullen

Reviews in this issue:

  • Alice in Wonderland
  • The Ape
  • Bananas!
  • Boogie Woogie
  • The Bounty Hunter
  • A Boy Called Dad
  • Cemetery Junction
  • Centurion
  • Film review: Cherrybomb
  • City of Life and Death
  • Crying with Laughter
  • Dance with Me
  • Film review: La Danse The Paris Opera Ballet
  • Date Night
  • Dear John
  • The Disappearance of Alice Creed
  • Dogtooth
  • Exit through the Gift Shop
  • Freestyle
  • The Ghost
  • Hachi A Dog’s Tale
  • Happy Ever Afters
  • How to Train Your Dragon
  • I Am Love
  • I Know You Know
  • The Infidel
  • Kick-Ass
  • Kicks
  • Life during Wartime
  • The Market A Tale of Trade
  • The Milk of Sorrow
  • My Name Is Khan
  • No Greater Love
  • Old Dogs
  • Remember Me
  • Revanche
  • The Sky Crawlers
  • Sons of Cuba
  • The House of the Devil
  • Film of the month: 24 City
  • Whip It
  • The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights
  • DVD review: Valley of the Bees
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011