Rossellini

Or maybe that should say “mubi.com, yet again”. One of the few brilliant outcomes from lockdown was my discovery of this film site. They made it really tempting - three months free subscription, just to give it a try. After a month I was totally hooked, and have been ever since. I still watch on average ten films a month, because they keep renewing thepackage, offering extra fresh goodies all the time.

And it’s not a mindless mess like Netflix, where real treasures can hide undiscovered among a smorgasbord of trash. mubi is curate, with intelligence, to encourage you not only to explore films you’ve never heard of, but also to make connections, follow threads, see how a director develops and matures.

This month it’s been Rossellini. I sort of knew about Rome, Open City, and the impact of Anna Magnani, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched it all the way through. Then there was Ingrid Bergman, and Stromboli, with the real life drama of the Bergman/Rossellini affair woven in with the film. Then again, Paisan is totally different, a really thoughtful, complex look at the impact of the war on Italy - on a range of characters, in a range of locales. Intelligent film-making, which really makes you think.