Italy Challenge (Official, December 2019)

[peeptoad]

Ciao e benvenuto alla sfida Italiana!



Italy Challenge
Goal
Watch as many Italian movies as you can from December 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019.

What is an Italian Film?
- Any film listed with Italy as first country of production on IMDb automatically qualifies
- Any film listed in one of the Official lists below automatically qualifies
- Any other film that you genuinely believe to be an Italian Movie qualifies (please state reasoning if one of the above does not apply).

Rules
- Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 60 minutes of short films counts as one entry.
- 60 minutes of TV episodes counts as one entry.
- 60 minutes of music videos counts as one entry.
- The usual miniseries rule applies (ask if unsure).
- Rewatches are allowed.


Official Lists
Il Grande Cinema Italiano
FilmTV's100 Greatest Italian Films
UNESCO / entries for Italy: 391-405
SWDB's Top 50 Spaghetti Westerns

Non-Official Lists
Italian Neo-Realism
Italian Gothic Movies
Giallo Checklist
Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
'I Capolavori' - The 4 and 5 star Italian classics, according to the Morandini dictionary
Jean A. Gili's Italian Cinema
iCM Forum's Favorite Italian Films

I will honor anyone who watches the documentary Palio for this challenge. It is a UK production, but is filmed entirely on location in Italy, and depicts a very "Italian" event.

Rank	Participant	Count
1	psychotronicbeatnik	72
2	Traveller	57
3	jeroeno	36
4	Tarris1	29
5	Lonewolf2003	27
6	sol	21
7	jdidaco	20
8	AB537	17
8	RogertheMovieManiac88	17
10	peeptoad	16
11	blueboybob	14
12	hurluberlu	9
12	morrison-dylan-fan	9
14	cinephage	7
14	ororama	7
16	albajos	5
16	blocho	5
16	maxwelldeux	5
19	sebby	4
20	nimimerkillinen	3
21	flavo5000	2
21	shugs	2
23	allisoncm	1
23	Cinepolis	1
23	connordenney	1
23	Coryn	1
23	weirdboy	1
23	zzzorf	1

I'll update the OP at least twice weekly. Since this is my first go at being host for an official challenge please let me know if I've forgotten anything. “Grazie mille” to sol, whose template I used from the 2018 Italy Challenge. Ciao!

[shugs]

Yeah, I'm in for a few. Thanks for hosting!

[albajos]

- Any film shot entirely on location in Italy automatically qualifies

Whaaa?

[sol]

- Any film shot entirely on location in Italy automatically qualifies

Whaaa?

This was already debated when I ran the Challenge last year - c.f. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3699

I wouldn't object to peeps changing that, but it's up to her. I haven't included that condition in any of the country/region challenges that I have hosted during the past 18 months. Quite on the contrary, these days I try to provide as limited guidelines as possible for eligibility since it is really not worth my time and energy getting into debates about this sort of stuff. It's just my hope that participants for any challenge will only include films that really think fit the challenge in question.

But yeah, totally up to peeps what she wants to go with. As a general rule, I would never recommend simply copy and pasting something from sol.

[Lonewolf2003]

Why do you hosts so often forget to include our list in these OPs? https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/icm+ ... ewolf2003/

[Tarris1]

Definitely an underwatched country from my side so I am in for a few. Ill try to reach 15ish, maybe more if I get my film-watching mood back

[Traveller]

In as well. Thanks for hosting, peeptoad.

[psychotronicbeatnik]

Ciao, peeps. I was going to exclusively focus on the doco challenge this month until you announced your plans to host this one. Buona fortuna with your first hosting experience here!

[peeptoad]

- Any film shot entirely on location in Italy automatically qualifies

Whaaa?

feel free to disregard that line if it offends you personally.

[peeptoad]

- Any film shot entirely on location in Italy automatically qualifies

Whaaa?

This was already debated when I ran the Challenge last year - c.f. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3699

I wouldn't object to peeps changing that, but it's up to her. I haven't included that condition in any of the country/region challenges that I have hosted during the past 18 months. Quite on the contrary, these days I try to provide as limited guidelines as possible for eligibility since it is really not worth my time and energy getting into debates about this sort of stuff. It's just my hope that participants for any challenge will only include films that really think fit the challenge in question.

But yeah, totally up to peeps what she wants to go with. As a general rule, I would never recommend simply copy and pasting something from sol.

I'll go ahead and remove it since it's upsetting some, but, yes, it was a tagalong from your previous post.

[peeptoad]

Why do you hosts so often forget to include our list in these OPs? https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/icm+ ... ewolf2003/

added, thanks.

[maxwelldeux]

Italian documentaries for Doubles (and one Triple):

https://trakt.tv/search/movies/?genres= ... untries=it

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Congrats on the first hosting gig, peeps! Thanks for doing it. I'll hope to watch some Italian films throughout December.

I like the images you selected - particularly the Cinecittà gates!

[Lonewolf2003]

Why do you hosts so often forget to include our list in these OPs? https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/icm+ ... ewolf2003/

added, thanks.

You're welcome. Our list is not official btw

I'm def in. I'm going to try to find a good balance between the genre stuff and the arthouse/"critically acclaimed" stuff.

[jeroeno]

One of those official lists sadly isn't official anymore. Sorry, I tried everything to keep it official.

[sol]

It starts!

First in.

1. The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971)



After an intriguing opening in which a wealthy man tortures and murders a prostitute who reminds him of his deceased wife, this luridly titled giallo becomes a dialogue-heavy affair with little of note happening until halfway in. The stuff that happens halfway in is enthralling though with suggestions of something supernatural afoot and things become especially twisted in the final quarter of the movie with many memorably macabre moments.

[Traveller]

01. The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) - 8/10

[Traveller]

02. Vincere (2009) - 7/10

[maxwelldeux]

1. Caesar Must Die (2012)

Not sure why this isn't tagged as a doc on IMDB, but oh well. It's a look at an Italian prison's performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Nice cinematography, shooting prison scenes in black and white, with the live performance in color. Lots of rehearsals with a few breaks in action so you get to see the prisoners themselves a bit. Interesting blend of documentary and drama and comes across relatively innovative to me.

[jeroeno]

01. Vincere (2009)

[zzzorf]

Forgot to put this here when I put it in the Travel the World challenge yesterday. Most likely the only one I'll watch due to that challenge but at least I contributed to the final tally.

1. Zombi 2 (1979) - 6/10

[ororama]

1. Respiro (2002) * 95 min.

*First time viewing

[shugs]

1. Paura nella città dei morti viventi [City of the Living Dead] (Lucio Fulci, 1980) - 6/10

[Traveller]

03. Before the Revolution (1964) - 8/10
04. Il Postino: The Postman (1994) - 6/10

[Tarris1]

1. Il Posto (1961) 8/10
2. La stanza del figlio (2001) 7.5/10

[peeptoad]

1. Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975) Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom 7

[jeroeno]

02. Ecce bombo (1978)

[morrison-dylan-fan]

Thanks for hosting Peep!

FTV:1: Baba Yaga (1973) 7.



Branching the rough looking cut footage into a film backed with interesting extras, Shameless presents a good transfer,with the audio kept clean,and the picture having a suitable level of grain.

Hypnotising Rosselli into her nightmare world lusts, Carroll Baker gives a devilishly seductive turn as Yaga, whose sexuality Baker uses to curl round Rosselli’s weaknesses, pulling her to reality blurring mind-tricks Baker plays with a bewitching spark. Joined by George Eastman in his welcomed loud shirts as Treves,Isabelle De Funes gives a terrific twirl as Rosselli, whose snapping of Yaga allows Funes to capture a curiosity in Rosselli, who despite fearing for her life, can’t turn away from being Yaga’s play doll.

Bonding Rosselli and Yaga in bondage, co-writer/(with Giulio Berruti and Francois de Lannurien) director Corrado Farina & cinematographer Aiace Parolin conjure up quality boobage in S&M- themed sex scenes, which are loaded up with bonus sleaze in Third Reich master/slave fantasies.A troubled production which saw original producer Franco Committeri leave, Anne Heywood quitting from playing Yaga early in filming, and Farina being stuck with Funes, (who he did not like) due to the French co-producers, all these issues actually help the film, thanks to giving the title a unpredictable fractured atmosphere, where everything can change from whip-pans over bursting with primary colours Giallo slashes, to whipping up raunchy set-pieces melted with Comic-Book/fumetti inserts, all within a snap of Baba Yaga’s spell.

[cinephage]

01. Teorema, by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1968) 5,5/10

Not too fond of Pasolini's cinema, even though I understand it broke many rules and made obvious the hidden structures of society. Still, you don't make a movie just with ideas.

[ororama]

2. La coda dello scorpione/ The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971) * 95 min.

Spoiler

1. Respiro (2002) * 95 min.

*First time viewing

[Lonewolf2003]

I'm off with a very good start.

1. La signora senza camelie [The Lady Without Camelias] (1953, Michelangelo Antonioni): 8.2 - Antonioni's third feature is a very good movie about the search of a young woman for her own independence and identity in a man's world with an absolutely stunning and solid Lucia Bosé in the lead. The final shot in which she has to accept her own fate is heartbreaking.

[peeptoad]

First update (which is a little earlier than I intended, but it is dead as a doornail at work right now due to the blizzard in my area)... hopefully I didn't miss anyone, but let me know if I did.

Traveller has jumped out to an early lead, so the race is young and all horses, er, participants, are still establishing early position. For now Traveller is content to set the tempo and taking a "wait-and-see" to see if the others can keep pace.

Rank	Participant	Count
1	Traveller	4
2	jeroeno	2
2	ororama	2
2	Tarris1	2
3	cinephage	1
3	Lonewolf2003	1
3	maxwelldeux	1
3	morrison-dylan-fan	1
3	peeptoad	1
3	shugs	1
3	sol	1
3	zzzorf	1

[Traveller]

05. The Consequences of Love (2004) - 7/10
06. Cemetery Man (1994) - 8/10

[psychotronicbeatnik]

...and another horse enters the arena...

1. Fellini Satyricon (1969 / Federico Fellini) FTV 7/10

[jeroeno]

03. Nostra signora dei turchi (1968)

[morrison-dylan-fan]

FTV:2:Catacomba (2016)

[psychotronicbeatnik]

2. Ercole contro Moloch (1963 / Giorgio Ferroni) FTV 6+/10
3. Il Leone di Tebe (1964 / Giorgio Ferroni) FTV 6+/10
4. Il grande silenzio (1968 / Sergio Corbucci) FTV 8+/10

The Italian Machine

1. Fellini Satyricon (1969 / Federico Fellini) FTV 7/10
2. Ercole contro Moloch (1963 / Giorgio Ferroni) FTV 6+/10
3. Il Leone di Tebe (1964 / Giorgio Ferroni) FTV 6+/10
4. Il grande silenzio (1968 / Sergio Corbucci) FTV 8+/10

[cinephage]

02. I soliti ignoti, by Mario Monicelli (1958) 7/10 - Rewatch

chi lo sa ? (01)

01. Teorema, by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1968) 5,5/10

[ororama]

3. A doppia faccia/ Double Face (1969) * 91 min.

Spoiler

1. Respiro (2002) * 95 min.
2. La coda dello scorpione/ The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971) * 95 min.

*First time viewing

[Traveller]

07. The Organizer (1963) - 7/10