424 Mafioso

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

424 Mafioso

#1 Post by souvenir » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:54 am

Mafioso

Image

In Alberto Lattuada's brilliant dark comedy Mafioso, auto-factory foreman Nino (Alberto Sordi) takes his proper, modern wife (Norma Bengell) and two blonde daughters from industrial Milan to antiquated rural Sicily to visit his family and get back in touch with his roots. But Antonio gets more than he bargained for when he discovers some harsh truths about his ancestors and himself. The first Italian film to dramatize the modern mafia, Lattuada's devastatingly funny character study is equal parts culture-clash farce and existential nightmare.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• A 1996 interview with director Alberto Lattuada by filmmaker Daniele Luchetti
• New video interviews with the director's son, Alessandro Lattuada, and wife, actress Carla Del Poggio (Variety Lights)
• Italian and U.S. theatrical trailers
• Stills gallery of promotional caricatures by artist Keiko Kimura New and improved English subtitle translation

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Feature currently disabled

User avatar
kinjitsu
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:39 pm
Location: Uffa!

#2 Post by kinjitsu » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:41 pm

souvenir wrote:Mafioso opens today in New York via Rialto. J. Hoberman weighs in.
A. O. Scott reviews Mafioso
Last edited by kinjitsu on Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

#3 Post by What A Disgrace » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:32 pm

I've wanted to see this movie for years, solely because of it was the only film on the Rialto slate at the time that I hadn't heard of.

Like the specs, and the movie sounds like a blast. I'll buy it.

BrightEyes23
Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2004 9:46 am

#4 Post by BrightEyes23 » Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:40 pm

excellent! I missed this when it played the DIA last year. now we just need the Mattei Affair...

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

#5 Post by Jeff » Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:11 am

I absolutely encourage people who aren't familiar with this to give it a shot. It was a huge discovery for me last year during its theatrical run. I loved the exquisitely handled tonal shifts. Sordi gives a deft performance in a tricky role. I recall the cinematography being particularly impressive as well. This is by far the most exciting title to me this month.

User avatar
pauling
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:04 pm
Location: St. Paul, MN

#6 Post by pauling » Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:34 pm

I can't agree with Jeff more. This movie is absolutely fantastic and (along with 'Killer of Sheep') was probably the best cinema experience for me last year. I'm a little disappointed in the extras, though. I was at least hoping to see Scorsese's name attached to this knowing his love of the film. Regardless, a must own film.

User avatar
Awesome Welles
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
Location: London

#7 Post by Awesome Welles » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:33 am

Excellent! I've been waiting to see more Lattuada. Bring on the Italians in 2008 [more Rosi and Petri especially]!

User avatar
ColtonicAndy
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:32 pm
Location: Ingmar Bergman's Tomb

#8 Post by ColtonicAndy » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:29 pm

Finally! I've been wanting to see this film for a good two years now.

Thank you Criterion. \:D/

User avatar
pro-bassoonist
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:26 am

#9 Post by pro-bassoonist » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:18 am

FSimeoni wrote:Excellent! I've been waiting to see more Lattuada. Bring on the Italians in 2008 [more Rosi and Petri especially]!
La Ciociara is long overdue in a decent English friendly form (the Cinema Forever print in particular).

Pro-B

Narshty
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:27 pm
Location: London, UK

#10 Post by Narshty » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:53 am

Slate slates it. My enthusiasm is undampened however.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#11 Post by MichaelB » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:47 pm

Just watched it. Absolutely fascinating stuff, and not at all what I expected from the culture-clash comedy opening - and Alberto Sordi is a revelation in a part that requires negotiating some very tricky tonal shifts.

The transfer is all but pristine too - certainly far superior to what I'd be more than happy to tolerate with a 46-year-old film.

Haven't watched the extras yet, but it's worth it just for the main feature.

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

#12 Post by zone_resident » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:46 am


User avatar
Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

#13 Post by Gregory » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:03 pm

I love the way Sordi is making such a similar face in three consecutive screen captures in that review.

User avatar
rohmerin
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:36 am
Location: Spain

#14 Post by rohmerin » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:54 pm

I can't wait untill it arrives to my hands. It doesn't ship untill end of month. #-o

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

#15 Post by zone_resident » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:25 pm


User avatar
Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#16 Post by Michael » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:12 am

I love when a movie enters the collection, unheard of before and shatters my expectation. Mafioso is simply magnifico and that Slant review has everything so wrong. Superficially it could sit snugly with the Germi films but I personally think Mafioso is far greater than them. Its beautiful lyricism surprised me. Every shot pops with so much stuff to look at. Fun and sadness melt together seamlessly while Sordi gives one of the greatest performances of all time. Being full-bloodied Italian, I can't tell you how much of a treat Mafioso is and it kicks Coppola and Scorsese in the ass.

I can't wait to watch the film again.

Jack Phillips
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 am

#17 Post by Jack Phillips » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:44 am

Michael wrote:I love when a movie enters the collection, unheard of before and shatters my expectation. Mafioso is simply magnifico and that Slant review has everything so wrong. Superficially it could sit snugly with the Germi films but I personally think Mafioso is far greater than them. Its beautiful lyricism surprised me. Every shot pops with so much stuff to look at. Fun and sadness melt together seamlessly while Sordi gives one of the greatest performances of all time. Being full-bloodied Italian, I can't tell you how much of a treat Mafioso is and it kicks Coppola and Scorsese in the ass.

I can't wait to watch the film again.
I enjoyed the film when I saw it a year ago. It is very good, but you'll have to admit the ending is rather abrupt.

User avatar
Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#18 Post by Michael » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:53 am

How else would you end the film? I tried to come up with an alternate ending but I couldn't. It's perfect the way it is.

Jack Phillips
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 am

#19 Post by Jack Phillips » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:03 pm

Michael wrote:How else would you end the film? I tried to come up with an alternate ending but I couldn't. It's perfect the way it is.
No, I'm dissatisfied with the ending. A few tears, and then back to Milan for work? Something better must be possible. The fact that neither of us can think of a better one doesn't mean that no one else can either.

User avatar
Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#20 Post by Michael » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:09 pm

I think it signifies that once we leave home, we will never come back to home. Does that make sense?

Jack Phillips
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 am

#21 Post by Jack Phillips » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:27 pm

Yes, but I'm not talking about the meaning so much as I am about what should happen dramatically. The air suddenly seems to go out of the piece. The film to that point has been a very sly satire, and we need something--a jolt, a laugh--to end on.

User avatar
Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#22 Post by Michael » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:23 am

After watching it again last night, I'm really loving Mafioso tons and tons more. Lattuada carries his characters with gorgeous sensitivity and warmth, unlike Germi who I think is cruel and cynical. I just couldn't stand Sandrelli getting slapped around in Seduced and Abandoned. Very much like the manner of Agnes Varda, Lattuada observes Sicily with more warmth, grace and poetry. Beautiful, rich details spilling beyond every corner of every frame. I get teary eyed because it's really like seeing the stories of my grandfather I listened to as a little boy - his memories of growing up in Sicily - blooming to life... the details, the customs, the food and so on.

Humor is never wasted, it's so breathtakingly subtle and humane. The sequence with towering skyscrapers complete with perfect music is really sublime. For being the first film to deal with mafia, I was struck by it not having a mean bone in it. Unlike Hollywood mafia films, Mafioso is quiet, dreamy and again, breathtakingly lyrical but manages to divert from romance and nostalgia that perfume Coppola's mafia. Mafioso suspends me in a beautiful, dreamy haze after it ends. It really gets under my skin.

User avatar
pro-bassoonist
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:26 am

#23 Post by pro-bassoonist » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:12 am

Michael wrote:After watching it again last night, I'm really loving Mafioso tons and tons more. Lattuada carries his characters with gorgeous sensitivity and warmth, unlike Germi who I think is cruel and cynical.
Could I recommend that you take a look at Salce's Il Federale? It was shot only a year apart from Mafioso, Tognazzi is as wild as Sordi, the humor is just as misleading, and the ending is practically a carbon-copy of the one favored by Lattuada. Only in Il Federale the "recipient" is...the Fascists.

Il Federale is slightly less easy to absorb by non-Italians as plenty of the humor attacks political cliches but I thought Salce was just as effective as Lattuada.

The Medusa disc is English-friendly (Il Federale).

Ciao,
Pro-B

User avatar
hammock
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:52 pm
Location: www.criteriondungeon.com
Contact:

#24 Post by hammock » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:37 am

Seing we have full blood Italians posting in here I have one question after watching this wonderful film last night... In the church scene where they praise the golden heart you will notice a pair of plastic tits hanging on the right side of Maria. They are similar to the ones you wear New Years Eve for fun outside your dress. What the hell were they doing there - what is the custom with this? It distracted me so much that I missed about 5-6 minutes of the film and will have to watch again. I can post a screendump if needed!

User avatar
Doctor Sunshine
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:04 pm
Location: Brain Jail

#25 Post by Doctor Sunshine » Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:56 am

hammock wrote:It distracted me so much that I missed about 5-6 minutes of the film and will have to watch again.
That's exactly what the pause button is for.

Post Reply