Where the Night Begins

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Where the Night Begins
Where the Night Begins.webp
Directed by Maurizio Zaccaro
Screenplay by Pupi Avati
Produced byAntonio Avati
Aurelio De Laurentiis
Luigi De Laurentiis
Starring Tom Gallop
CinematographyPasquale Rachini
Edited byAmedeo Salfa
Music byStefano Caprioli
Release date
  • 1991 (1991)
LanguageEnglish

Where the Night Begins (Italian : Dove comincia la notte) is a 1991 Italian mystery horror film written by Pupi Avati and directed by Maurizio Zaccaro in his directorial debut. It premiered at the 48th Venice International Film Festival.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Duea and Filmauro with the participation of Rai 1. [1] It was shot in Davenport, Iowa, where the screenwriter Pupi Avati was shooting at the same time his film Bix . [1] Film historian Roberto Curti noted "having the stories take place in an anonymous, cold, and squalid Midwestern environment was dictated not just by commercial needs, but mainly by the effort to provoke a similar disorientation as Avati's previous Po Val­ ley Gothics". [2] It had a budget of 800 million lire. [3]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 48th edition of the Venice Film Festival, in the Mattinate del Cinema Italiano ("Italian Cinema Mornings") sidebar. [3]

Reception

Corriere della Sera's film critic Maurizio Porro praised the film, calling it "a cleverly crafted film". [3] Paolo Mereghetti also lauded the film, noting it uses "a giallo premise as a framework for an effective collective psychodrama, depicting a reality in which everything wavers and disintegrates within an America portrayed as the European dream turned into a nightmare." [4] Roberto Curti described it as "an understated ghost story devoid of jump scares", in which Avati "uses the American Gothic tropes to construct a deeply Catholic meditation on the sense of guilt", but in a "so restrained and subdued way that it results in a self-punishing flatness that seems to echo that of the protagonist". [5]

For this film, Zaccaro won the David di Donatello for Best Directorial Debut and received a Nastro d'Argento nomination as Best New Director. [6] [7] [8]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Fusco, Maria Pia (1 July 1990). "Doppio Avati in America". la Repubblica .
  2. ↑ Curti, Roberto (2022). Italian Giallo in Film and Television: A Critical History. McFarland. p. 411. ISBN   978-1-4766-4645-9.
  3. 1 2 3 Porro, Maurizio (10 September 1991). "Complotti di famiglia «benedetti» da Olmi e Avati". Corriere della Sera . p. 25.
  4. ↑ Mereghetti, Paolo (2010). "Dove comincia la notte". Il Mereghetti 2011. Vol. 1. Baldini Castoldi Dalai. p. 415-6. ISBN   978-88-6073-626-0.
  5. ↑ Curti, Roberto (2011). Fantasmi d'amore. Il gotico italiano tra cinema, letteratura e tv. Lindau. pp. 421–2. ISBN   978-88-7180-959-5.
  6. ↑ Moliterno, Gino (8 December 2020). Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 576. ISBN   978-1-5381-1948-8.
  7. ↑ Grassi, Giovanna (7 June 1992). "Il Ladro fa razzia di David". Corriere della Sera. p. 24.
  8. ↑ "Tra Salvatores e Ricky Tognazzi c'è anche Agosti". La Repubblica. 29 January 1992. p. 22.
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