Paolo Sorrentino directs Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo and Teresa Saponangelo in this coming of age drama set in 1980s Naples.

Sorrentino mines his own teenage landmark year in this thinly veiled cinematic memoir. Maradona, sexual awakenings, complicated morality and a desire to make films all jockey for attention. There is the definite whiff of Fellini in the heightened Italian nuttiness of the extended family and new acquaintances. That has always been present in Sorrentino’s visions. Cinema Paradiso also feels like another touchstone but not in the way you might first imagine. Probably this beautiful filmmaker’s most accessible flick. Satire takes a backseat and tragic surprises rear up from nowhere. The magical realist prologue is absolute fire cinema. A little self contained fable that is unnerving and sexy.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Family Friend (2006)