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Photo courtesy Mongrel Media

Photo courtesy Route 504 PR

Photo courtesy Universal Pictures

Our City Tonight

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:10 PST, Fri February 28, 2025

Spotlight on two wonderful new films and 50 year-old classic for winter viewing

THE VIEW #1 – Parthenope

Italian writer/director, Paolo Sorrentino, first came to our attention back in 2014 when his The Great Beauty won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. We’ve been big fans ever since, even more so after seeing his 2022 Oscar nominated film, The Hand of God. His latest film is called Parthenope. It’s the story of a beautiful, smart, young woman named Parthenope growing up in Naples in the 1960’s/70’s (she is named after mythological Greek siren credited with founding ancient Naples). Her teen years are spent enjoying carefree summers that, like youth, never last as long as we’d like. As she grows, her journey involves the study of anthropology and a rigid but caring professor, flirtation with acting and writing, tragic loss, and a roomful of lovers, including a powerful bishop, who are all intoxicated with Parthenope’s alluring beauty and charm. But still she searches, never marrying and at times deep in sadness—as one character in the film says, “time flows alongside the pain.” Sorrentino, who continues a love affair with his hometown of Naples (beautifully captured by cinematographer, Daria D’ Antonio), has created a story and a character that reminds one of the great writer/director, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, with Parthenope as a younger, female version of the lost, cynical reporter, Marcelo. The Parthenope cast is superb, led by newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta in the title role, along with Gary Oldman as the sad, alcoholic, writer, John Cheever, Luisa Ranieri as the aging diva actress, and Peppe Lanzetta as the Bishop. mongrelmedia.com

THE VIEW #2 – My Dead Friend Zoe

My Dead Friend Zoe is the story of an Army veteran named Merit who, after her tour in Afghanistan, is struggling with PTSD, and isolating herself from the world with the constant presence of her best friend, Zoe, who is dead. Merit avoids a veteran support group and the counselor (Morgan Freeman), and seems distant, almost estranged, from her mother and (Gloria Reuben) and her grandfather (Ed Harris) who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. But Merit knows she can’t continue in this state, and though she is comforted by the company of Zoe, she decides to care for her grandfather and in doing so, possibly care for herself and deal with the horror she can’t bring herself to confront. My Dead Friend Zoe is touching, heartfelt, sensitive, but also funny and dark, and it benefits from an excellent supporting cast and the two leads—Sonequa Martin-Green as Merit and Natalie Morales as Zoe. The film—which won the Audience Award at the prestigious SXSW 2024—was inspired its director/co-writer, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ tour of duty in Iraq as a paratrooper and convoy commander. route504pr.com

THE VIEW #3 – THE CLASSIC – JAWS

If you were heading to a movie theatre 50 summers ago, chances are this classic film was part of your 1975. JAWS created the “summer blockbuster” that year and the summer season for movies has never been the same (or longer if you’re a Hollywood studio exec trying to market a summer film in mid-May). But JAWS is more than a cultural phenomenon that made going into the water a very scary thing for millions of people, it’s also a very good film. In the beginning it was a best-selling book that was to be made into a movie by a “novice” director and young kid named Steven Spielberg. With CGI still years away, the shark would have to be built and operated by technicians, but the film was over budget and behind schedule because the mechanical shark kept breaking down. As a result it was seen a lot less in the film than planned. It was a brilliant piece of luck as it only added to audience fear when combined with John William’s brilliant, ominous musical score. It also benefitted from an all-star cast including Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as the marine biologist, Robert Shaw as the professional shark hunter, Murray Hamilton as the inept mayor, and Lorraine Gary Brody’s wife. The script—scary, dramatic, and at times, silly and funny—was written by the book’s author, Peter Benchley, and Carl Gottlieb. If you’ve never seen it, or if it has been years since you have, this 50 year film will not disappoint. universalpictures.com