(Filter/Shock)

Forget spaghetti westerns, here’s a different picture

Once again, as the latest Italian Film Festival is about to get underway around the country for this year, there is also an unofficial soundtrack to accompany it, the third in as many years. And like the earlier releases, it’s a grab-bag of tunes that stretch as far back as the ‘50s. It’s hard to say how some of these actually connect directly to Italian movies (Henry Mancini’s Moon River Cha Cha, for example, was used in 1961’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s) and we’re not really helped in this task by any clear explanation of how these 14 tracks were chosen. On the other hand, even a casual follower of Italian music should recognize some names here, Ennio Morricone and Luciano Pavarotti being the most famous ones. Add to these the classic cabaret-circus sound of Nino Rota’s Patricia (from Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita), the jaunty jazz-pop of 2005’s Gne Gne from Paolo’s younger brother Giorgio Conte, the TV variety show fizz of Amando Trovaioli’s Dove Vai Tutta Nuda from 1969 and veteran club singer Carla Boni’s busy 1958 reading of Jezebel. Okay, it’s all over the place but that is part of the fun of this compilation.    

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BILL HOLDSWORTH

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