However, I found it a bit manic.
Italians are a bit intense! That is what you may find slightly "manic" while I find that yet another attraction. Matter of taste, I guess. Maybe you were a real Swede or from Finland in a former life? Any genes from there? They tend to have a "cooler" attitude like yours...
Or maybe I'm an Italian American sick of all the drama. <g>
Seriously, I like quirky stuff......there was a Cuban film.....Strawberries and Chocolate, I think......that was quirky/manic. However, underneath the craziness was another story.....the struggle of people living in a dictatorship where considerable economic deprivation existed. Another was a Spanish film, Bread and Chocolate.........do you notice a theme here centered around chocolate? <g> In any case, this too was very light but nonetheless filling.
I also like the angst of Czech, Polish and German films. Last year, I saw a small German film.......I can't remember its name........that looked into the lives of some very average people, allowing the audience to watch how their problems entrap them and make their lives very difficult to live.
While Italian films have some of the above elements, I found the three I watched recently to be too sitcomish. In fact, in Chocolate and Cinnamon, I was amazed at how many American sitcoms the main characters had watched growing up.
Let me close by saying I am no expert on foreign film and certainly not on Italian cinema. Its like with music......I like what I like randomly...........but I am no authority.
BTW did you ever see the old Italian film.......the Garden of the Finzi-Continis? It was an incredibly powerful film that looked at the impact the Holocaust had on Italy's Jews. I saw it in college. Remarkably, later, I became friends with a descendant of the Finzis in Los Angeles.
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