Aprile (1998)

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Film essayist Nanni Moretti, winner of the Cannes "Best Director" Award for his memorable Caro Diario (1994), continues in a diaristic mode with this Italian-French comedy-drama blending his political observations with his personal life, a chronicle of a two-and-a-half year period that includes the… More Film essayist Nanni Moretti, winner of the Cannes "Best Director" Award for his memorable Caro Diario (1994), continues in a diaristic mode with this Italian-French comedy-drama blending his political observations with his personal life, a chronicle of a two-and-a-half year period that includes the pregnancy of his partner Silvia Nono and the April birth of their son Pietro. Moretti putts about Rome on his Vespa, visits childhood haunts, watches an Albanian refugee boat arrive, writes letters that are never mailed, looks over a rainy Milan anti-right demonstration, and begins work on a musical set in the '50s, including the iridescent production number seen here. Other music ranges from Latin-American songs to Afro and Italian pop. Moretti's anxieties and humor, along with the self-aware creative cul-de-sacs of his autobiographical approach, often bring Woody Allen to mind. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi