Fantozzi. Good old style comedy but also will give you a good insight of some Italian dynamics

I'll write some of my favourites, if I remember other important ones I'll add them. Not all of them are totally in Italian, a few have foreign actors who're dubbed mixed with Italians.

• Il Gattopardo, Luchino Visconti (1963) (in my top 3 films ever)
• 8½, Federico Fellini (1963)
• Il giorno della civetta, Danilo Damiani (1968)
• Amarcord, Federico Fellini (1973)
• Trilogia del dollaro, Sergio Leone (1964-1966)
• C'era una volta il West, Sergio Leone (1968)
• Ladri di biciclette, Vittorio de Sica (1948)
• I soliti ignoti, Mario Monticelli (1958)
• Roma città aperta, Roberto Rossellini (1945)
• La dolce vita, Federico Fellini (1960)
• Mediterraneo, Gabriele Salvatores (1991)
• Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore (1988)
• La grande bellezza, Paolo Sorrentino (2013)
• La vita è bella, Roberto Benigni (1997)
• Tre uomini e una gamba, Aldo Baglio, Giacomo Poretti, Giovanni Storti and Massimo Venier (1997)
• Chiedimi se sono felice, Aldo Baglio, Giacomo Poretti, Giovanni Storti and Massimo Venier (2000)
• Pinocchio, Matteo Garrone (2019)
• Il segreto del bosco vecchio, Ermanno Olmi (1993)
• Smetto quando voglio Trilogy, Sydney Sibilia (2014-17)

that is, indeed, truly a masterpiece.

everything in that movie is perfect. Acting, photography, music, story. It's just utmost perfection..

Aggiungo anche La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971). Volonté sempre immenso.

Oh FFS... That's Millennial's biased and completely unreasonable takeaway of what was and still is a scathing critique to the low-middle class and their attempts to elevate themselves further.

To quote the Simpsons themselves "a man who envies our family is a man who needs help".

And if you unironically think Fantozzi is living the life, you do need help and a lot of it. Also some sense of understanding dark comedy and satire as well.

Fantozzi wasn't, isn't and will never be a winner. Paolo Villaggio would laugh in your face at that notion!

Fantozzi's "stable job" is a soul-crushing exercise in futility, alongside lazy or brown-nosing colleagues, for merciless and morally reprehensible bosses (posing as Good Guys). His house is a mere place where he can be further humiliated by and humiliate his own family. A homely wife with no aspirations who "respects" him but doesn't love him. An ugly daughter who is a burden and will ultimately kick them out of their own house.

Enough money for affording the bare minimum and still feeling unfulfilled, chasing a hotter (still ugly AF) woman, a new career and a new life while failing every time and ending up in huge debt.

Seriously, I've never read a worse take on a movie.

If that's being a winner, I fear to find out who a loser is to you.

Fantozzi was a cautionary tale AND a prediction of the future. At least the current generation has started to realize that working til they drop down exhausted isn't the answer. But still they have all the misplaced ambitions Fantozzi had, they just don't feel like slogging to earn the money to pursue those dreams...

From the same director (and same trilogy), I think Marrakech Express (1989) is the best one

Ammetto la mia ignoranza siccome non l'ho mai visto nonostante sia nella watchlist da un secolo e mezzo, però ti do ragione sulla fiducia siccome ho sentito parlare solo bene di quest'opera.

Essential Fellini box set is an absolute must.

lots of great pics in this thread but I want to shout out Radiance, who have released a lot of awesome Italian cinema you should check out too. they've even released an amazing Bluray of Il Posto + I Fidianzati, which Criterion doesn't seem super interested in

Il Deserto Rosso (Red Desert)

La Dolce Vita

-The Leopard

-Bicycle Thieves

-La Dolce Vita

-8 1/2

-La Strada

-Nights of Cabiria

-I Vitelloni

-Amarcord

-Cinema Paradiso

-The Conformist

-La Norte

-L’Avventura

-Rome Open City

-Journey to Italy

-Stromboli

-Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom

-Battles of Algiers

-Paisan

-Umberto D

Thankfully there’s a LOT of classic Italian cinema in the Collection with exceptional releases full of additional content and reading material. Enjoy the recommendations, they’re all classics for a very strong reason.

Ngl, fonzies had some great movies. No La dolce vita or La vita è bella?

Probably the most iconic Finnish films are made by Aki Kaurismäki. The man without a past is still probably my favorite.

It's shite being asked what is the most iconic movie from your country!

Nosferatu

https://preview.redd.it/z6jt6yc522bf1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f9ccd18a9a07553fe9a4120e4f5d43390fde976

Its about a supermodel from east germany trying to make it in the west

For knowers of cinema, picrel

https://preview.redd.it/hbetnxq212bf1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b233797a1cd39eb6f1025ee7d81c6bf98f227bac

In my top 3 movies ever made

It’s a good one. It takes like 25 minutes before any of the characters says anything. Classic.

Ladri di Biciclette - De Sica

Roma, citta aperta - Rosselini

Il Conformista - Bertolucci

My Name Is Nobody directed by Tonino Valerii is one of the best spaghetti westerns out there. Would also recommend The Big Gundown directed by Sergio Sollima.

If you want something of a fantasy bent, try Conquest directed by Lucio Fulci. It's absolutely wild. I'd also recommend Fellini's Satyricon.

If you want more of a horror/mystery, check out The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh directed by Sergio Martino. Or you could go with Deep Red by Dario Argento.

If you want a crime movie, check out Almost Human by Umberto Lenzi. Or even Rabid Dogs by Mario Bava.

Depends on your taste and what kind of movies do you like. If you like Call by Your Name, maybe watch the other movies by Guadagnino (skip Melissa P., it's pretty terrible), imo his best his I Am Love, I think that movie is a masterpiece.

In general, for classics I'd say you could watch

Amici Miei for a comedy

Bitter Rice for a drama

Caliber 9 for an action/noir

The Great Silence for a western

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion for a psychological thriller

Suspiria or Black Sunday for an horror

For more recent movies

They Call Me Jeeg for a superhero movie

Suburra for an action/noir

Italian Race for a sports/drama movie

Rose Island on Netflix or Perfect Strangers for a comedy

Don't Be Bad and Dogman for crime dramas

The Double Hour for a thriller

Happy as Lazzaro for a drama

> I don't even know if cinema is that popular in Italy

Fellini's 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita are considered two of the greatest films in world cinema, and are most certainly worth check them out.

The same can also be argued for the films of Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci and Dario Argento, which are somewhat westernised in presentation, but definitely Italian in their roots and themes.

• The Dollars Trilogy

• Once Upon a Time in the West

• The Great Silence

• Django

• Suspiria

Bicycle Thieves

Red Desert (1964)

L’avventura (1960)

La Notte (1961)

Tenebre (1982)

Stage Fright (1987)

I think Antonioni might be my favorite director

I think mine are:

• Rocco and His Brothers (1960) or The Leopard (1963)…I honestly can’t choose between these two.
• Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
• The Conformist (1970)
• Amarcord (1973)
• The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) or Il Posto (1961)

1. Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

2. La Strada (1954)

3. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

4. Rome, Open City (1945)

5. Senso (1954)

Umberto D.

L’Avventura

8 1/2

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In my opinion, it’s Ermanno Olmi’s most confident film. It’s more concerned with atmosphere and character than plot. The premise involves a husband and wife sending their child off to school to be formally educated, thus sacrificing his help on the farm, but this storyline is relatively minor. Mostly, you just feel like you’re catching a glimpse of late-nineteenth-century Italy, the intricacies of peasant farming in a poor village. Every shot is like a painting. The film has moments of absolute beauty.

It’s my favourite Italian movie. Or, one of them, at least.

Nights of Cabiria

the best of youth. it's amazing it's actually a 6vhour miniseries but I watched in an unbroken version in one day. like a long film. loved it

Cinema Paradiso would be my recommendation.

La Dolce Vita (1960)

8 1/2 (1963)

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)

The Conformist (1970)

1900 (1976)

The Bird with the Crystal Plummage (1970)

Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Bicycle Thieves is a great classic

La Dolce Vita is a classic for a reason and definitely has an Italian ‘vibe’.

And one of my favorite movies of all time is Cinema Paradiso. So much emotion!

A couple I've seen recently:

Malena (2000)

Mixed by Erry (2023)

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

The Rome episode of Jarmush movie Night on Earth is the most italian piece of cinematography I have ever seen. Cab driver takes a priest around the tight streets of Rome and talks about sex all the time, hilarious

The Bicycle Thief

The best offer ( tornatore) This must be the place ( sorrentino) The great beauty ( sorrentino) Pinocchio ( garrone) Dogman ( garrone) 

The last night of Love is amazing

Parthenope.

Don't Be Bad is devastating, and the same two leads came back together in the equally powerful The Eight Mountains (2022).

Other titles I'd recommend: Dogman (2018), Martin Eden (2019), Reality (2012), Ennio (2021), La Chimera (2023), Fireworks (2023), Mediterranea (2015), A Ciambra (2017), Perfect Strangers (2016), Happy as Lazzaro (2018), Suburra (2015), Mafia is not what it used to be (2019), Corpo celeste (2011), On My Skin (2018), The Tale of King Crab (2021)

And beyond films, I'd definitely recommend the tv series Romanzo Criminale and the recent Mussolini: Son of the Century.

Consequences of love ( Paolo sorrentino) 2004 One of the most realistic italian mafia movies of all times

Se Dio Vuole (2015) con Marco Giallini e Alessandro Gassman

Here are a few that are "acclaimed", or have been shown at festivals, etc.:

• Youth

• La Grande Bellezza

• La Meglio Gioventù

• Zoran, il mio nipote scemo

• Resina