“We are excited to show this film and are most grateful to the Italian Community Center for again sponsoring a film,” says Paul Salsini, chairman of the Italian Film Festival Committee about one of the eight films scheduled to be shown this year, La Pazza Gioia (Like Crazy). Milwaukee is one of only 12 cities hosting such an annual festival, coordinated nationally by Italian Film Festivals USA. As with past such events, movies selected for this 11th festival encompass comedy, drama and documentary and are full, professional, feature-length films from Italy.
La Pazza Gioia, directed by Paolo Virzì and starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti, is superbly acted and directed. It’s a warm and human take on mental illness that doesn’t fall into maudlin pits of parody or cliché. Tedeschi and Ramazzotti expertly portray two quite different women with one thing in common: They’ve both escaped from a women’s mental institution. Together, they embark upon a road trip through the Tuscan landscape—kind of Thelma and Louise meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Such a story as this could have ended up in a disastrous movie; here, however, it makes for a bittersweet tale about two fully fleshed-out characters that we want to spend time with, perhaps occupying a vacant seat in their car, and get to know much better.
April 28-30 in the UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Admission is free. For more information visit italianfilmfests.org/milwaukee.
