Offscreen Notes
Mario Monicelli: Italian Cinema Legend Dies
A strange turn of fate. One day after the death of comedy giant Leslie Nielsen on November 28, 2010, the cinema loses an even greater figure in the annals of film comedy, director Mario Monicelli, on November 29, 2010, at the ripe age of 95. I say strange because Monicelli is along with Nielsen, two of the greatest figures in film comedy that I had the good fortune to interview for Offscreen, see link below for interview. For someone who was at the forefront of creating the particular brand of ‘commedia all’italiana’ that was marked by tragedy and misfortune, it is a bitter irony that Monicelli threw himself from his 5th floor Lazio Hospital balcony as a quick respite from his terminal prostate cancer. I knew I was in the hands of a genius the first time I saw his groundbreaking comedy I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), with its wonderful moody lighting by Gianni Di Venanzo (another tragic figure, who died in a car accident at the peak of his career at age 45 in 1966), brilliant comic timing and brilliant ensemble acting from a young Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassmann, and an oldish Totò. The world is definitely a sadder place.
