Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Lincoln Center 2018

[Chris Knipp]

RAINBOW: A PRIVATE AFFAIR/UNA QUESTIONE PRIVATA (Paolo Taviani 2017)

Paolo finished this literary adaptation alone, and his brother died last month at 88; they made movies together for 62 years. And this one, about partisans and fascists fighting in the Piedmont hills in the mid-Forties, goes back to the time of their first inspiration. This is a story about a man searching for a fascist captive to trade for a best friend just caught by them, for personal reasons, involving a woman they both love. The story and the execution seem oddly detached from the wartime hostilities. But there are some arresting moments.