In a tiny lamplit corner of a huge reception room three tiny old women sit at a table playing cards. Buona sera, principessa
A 65 year old man finds out there's more to life than going to parties. Yes, fine, but I made that discovery while I was still a kid. So where's the beef?
This movie won all the prizes last year- including the Oscar for best Foreign Language Movie- and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe the critics were indulging their nostalgia for Fellini and Antonioni. Because if you know those two guys you'll have seen this sort of thing before. And even though it's not badly done by Sorrentino and his team, the old timers did it better. Antonioni was bleaker and Fellini wilder and more impassioned.