Name: Garofano rosso
Genre: Drama
Released: 1976-03-24
Duration: 1 h 50 min
Rating: 5.7
Cast: Miguel Bosé, Denis Karvil, Elsa Martinelli

This film was based on the novel of the same name by writer Elio Vittorini, well known also for his highly praised "Conversation in Sicily." The film version of "The Red Carnation" has all of the substance and surface of the novel...the tentative youthful longings, the charged political background as Fascism in Italy of 1924 forces everyone, youth included, to examine their ideals and to make choices. 

Our hero is the 18-year-old Alessio Mainardi, who receives a token red carnation from a girl named Giovanna and becomes a symbol of love, desire, and even has political overtones as a symbol of the struggle for political freedom in opposition to Fascism. Alessio's first sexual experience is with the prostitute Zobeida, whom his friend Tarquinio is infatuated with at one point. Unfortunately, this story of personal turbulence and the restlessness of youth, loves lost, loves gained, should have become a better film. Instead, it remains, to me at least, a bland concoction from start to finish, uninvolving, and has the visual palette of a bad imitation of a film by Mauro Bolognini. 

Director Luigi Faccini is no Bolognini, and while the performers in the movie may LOOK appropriate, the script is tepid and the performances carry very little dramatic weight. Miguel Bose', in particular, plays Alessio in a vacuous monotone. The authentic settings of Sicily's Syracuse are convincing enough. The rock music score seems inappropriate to the 1920s setting, however. Director Faccini did a revised version of the film in 1999 and shortened it by 20 minutes. Perhaps that was an improvement. I doubt it. My comments are based on the original issue.

Italian cinema has deeply influenced world cinema through its socially conscious realism and modernist experimentation, but it also flourished in popular genres like peplum (sword & sandal), giallo thrillers, and broad comedies. Its narratives often weave together politics, contemporary social change, class consciousness, and family dynamics, balancing artistic ambition with entertainment that resonated widely.

Lamberto Maggiorani in Bicycle Thieves (1948)

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

Alessio and Tarquinio are two young students from Syracuse who share their love affairs and thoughts about the fascist regime. One day Alessio falls in love with the mature Zobeide.

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Garofano rosso

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