And of course, gets a Criterion Collection release. No other imprint is deserving of this landmark film, which is sadly little known. Admittedly, I have a faint recollection of the film itself, with a greater memory of how profoundly it affected me. I saw it 9 years ago, during a summer stay in London, at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts). I had just spent six months living in Rome, and felt more deeply attached to the country — and to my heritage as an Italian-American — as I ever had before. I also saw it with my ex-boyfriend, with whom I had a very turbulent post-relationship friendship, so this good cinema experience is colored by that fact as well. The film is set in the mid-sixties in rural Italy, where it explores a family’s claustrophia, dysfunction, and subsequent implosion. It centers around the intense and damaged son Alessandro, who is epileptic. I don’t want to give anything else away, other than that he has a hot mod-ish looking sister who loves him with an affection that seems to transcend certain societal boundaries. I have been looking forward to seeing this film again for years, and am happy I will finally get the chance. It is, of course, available on Indiepix.net http://www.indiepix.net/film/film.pl?film=2096

- Danielle