Despite the recurring crises and the many legislative shortcomings, the balance of the Italian cinema of the Eighties can be defined as positive at least as regards the confirmation of already established authors, the maturation of some ” promises ” and the emergence of new gifted authors of good flair and discreet originality.
Among the greatest, although soon hampered by health problems, M. Antonioni (see this Appendix), present with two films, one, The mystery of Oberwald (1980), in which he experimented with new electronic technologies in the cinema, with special attention to color, the other, Identification of a woman (1982), in the wake of her usual psychological insights into the female universe: with a tense and dry language. F. Fellini’s activity is wider (see this Appendix) than, with four films (E la nave va, 1983; Ginger and Fred, 1985; Interview, 1987; La voce della luna, 1989), has continued with coherence the paths already undertaken in the name not only of autobiography but of visionary, with creative inventions especially at the level of images, now reaching the most rounded and lively baroque, crowned in 1993 by an Academy Award to his career which, almost transformed into an apotheosis, partially compensated him for the inactivity he was forced to at the beginning of the nineties.
Supported by splendid researches not only formal but of new tastes and styles, it is the films of the brothers P. and V. Taviani (see in this Appendix), who arrived, with La notte di San Lorenzo (1982), to operate a perfect fusion of three different genres, cinema, theater, music, firmly welded them to the news, and later on (Kaos, 1984; Good morning Babilonia, 1986; Il sole di notte, 1990; Fiorile, 1993) to find the fairer and more creative connections between literature and cinema, establishing themselves among the most stimulating authors of the entire decade, also with class linguistic research.
According to Ejinhua, the older generation, represented above all by L. Comencini (see in this Appendix) and M. Monicelli (see in this Appendix), although descending, for works and inspirations, from the golden years of the ” Italian comedy ”, even where he continued to look at comedy, he diluted it in enterprises in which feelings often prevailed over irony. Comencini above all (Voltati Eugenio, 1980; Jesus wanted, 1982; A boy from Calabria, 1987; Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, 1989; Marcellino pane e vino, 1991), more than in the past inclined to study youth psychology to the point of drawing from it, even in apologetic figures, moments of intense emotions. More open to humor, however, albeit often also with sentiment, M. Monicelli (Temporale Rosy, 1980; Il marchese del Grillo, 1981; Amici mie act II, 1982; Bertoldo, Bertoldino and Cacasenno, 1984; We hope it is female, 1985; I Picari, 1987; Parenti serpenti, 1992), careful to keep in balance between the lively spectacle, even in caricature and mockery, and the fine considerations on today’s society, often analyzed also through literature and customs.
Among the exponents of the middle generation, two authors who had already established themselves in the previous decade, F. Rosi and E. Scola, have often continued to propose themselves with luck (see in this Appendix). No longer tied as in the past to polemical and civil currents, Rosi has nevertheless reached one of his highest stylistic and narrative moments with Tre Fratelli (1981); the following works are openly literary in taste (Carmen, 1983; Chronicle of a death foretold, 1985; Dimenticare Palermo, 1989). On the contrary, Scola, establishing himself as one of the most intense storytellers, both when he points to the news and when he relies on customs and history, has come to construct a work that is gradually more and more complete, in the right balance between feelings and memory. and the newspaper (Il mondo nuovo, 1982; Ballando ballando, 1983; Maccheroni, 1984; The family, 1986; Splendor, 1988; Che ora è, 1989; The journey of capitan Fracassa, 1990; Mario, Maria, Mario, 1993). Alongside them we can remember R. Faenza (after the prophetic Forza Italia!, 1977, My dear Dr. Gräsler, 1990, and Jona Who Lived in the Whale, 1992).
A place apart, alone, is claimed by P. Avati, certainly the most intense affirmation, in the decade, of a cinema which, intent on describing small things and simple feelings, has managed to propose itself with a linguistic and innovative novelty. a “ touch ” which, while recalling to a lot of critics the same ways of the first Camerini, has always revealed autonomous accents: in tastes, in research, in the approach to today’s world and to life (Gita scolastica, 1983; Employees, 1985; Graduation party, 1985; Christmas present, 1986; Stories of boys and girls, 1989; Bix, 1990; Brothers and sisters, 1992; Magnificat, 1993).
Always attentive to today’s news with strong polemical resentments but now lightened by more decisive inclinations for caricature, N. Loy (see this Appendix) has made himself appreciated with films that are not entirely similar to each other in taste and language (Café- Express, 1980; Mi manda Picone, 1984; Scugnizzi, 1989; Pacco, Doppiopacco e contropaccotto, 1993). dry chronicles or reread with love for song and ode. More solid and now more inclined to express himself through the support of international cinematographic structures, B. Bertolucci went on to win nine Oscars with The last emperor (1986), made with a great wealth of means and a warm and inspired sense of the great show, accompanied by rigorous quality music and costumes and once again illuminated by the magical photography of V. Storaro.
