‘Doors’ to Open Italian Cinema Weekend

The American Cinematheque’s nine-film weekend offering “Italian Cinema Now” begins Friday at 7 p.m. at the Directors Guild, 7920 Sunset Blvd., with Gianni Amelio’s Oscar-nominated “Open Doors,” the 1989 film about a judge’s fight to save a murderer from the death penalty. (The screening replaces the previously scheduled “Stolen Children,” the director’s most recent film and the grand jury prize winner at Cannes last month.)

With “House of Smiles” (Saturday at 7 p.m.), Marco Ferreri, maestro of outrageous pitch-black humor in the ‘60s and ‘70s, returns to top form. Ingrid Thulin, well-remembered for Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” and Luchino Visconti’s “The Damned,” triumphs as a vibrant 70-year-old widow whose affair with a dashing fellow resident (Dado Ruspoli) of a state-run home for the elderly scandalizes its staff. In lesser hands “House of Smiles,” which took the Golden Bear at Berlin, might be merely sentimental, but Ferreri, in taking aim at ageism, discovers absurd humor in every twist and turn of bureaucratic cruelty, ignorance and hypocrisy, and is able to view everyone in the round. “House of Smiles” rambles a bit but never loses its effervescence.

Every bit as major are Silvio Soldini’s “The Peaceful Air of the West,” screening Sunday at approximately 4 p.m., and Francesca Archibugi’s “By Nightfall” at 6 p.m. The first is about as acutely an observed depiction of the lives of youngish urban professionals-- not yuppies--as one could hope for; indeed, this is a time-capsule film about how life is, not only for these Milanese but for those of their class in every major city in the world. A lost address book proves to be a clever way of linking about a dozen individuals, all of whom are confronted with the usual personal and professional problems and choices. However, as soon as Soldini has established the routines of his peoples’ daily lives he commences both to lighten up, introducing a humorous note, and to step back, reminding us how much our fates are governed by the twin forces of chance and emotion, no matter how determined we are to take charge of our destinies.

“By Nightfall” charts the impact upon a now-retired professor of literature (Marcello Mastroianni, in one of his most complex portrayals), an intellectual of precise thinking and highly organized living, of his radical, messy post-hippie daughter-in-law (Sandrine Bonnaire). Having left Mastroianni’s son, Bonnaire, along with her 5-year-old daughter (Lara Pranzoni), takes temporary refuge with her father-in-law in his handsome Roman villa. Strong-willed and outspoken both, the two adults debate constantly, but they do make each other think and even feel; if Mastroianni is right to be concerned that Bonnaire has no direction or goal in life beyond a vague desire to “express herself,” he must also come to terms with the fact that he and his generation were too self-absorbed to give their offspring the love and guidance they needed. A thoughtful film that’s also almost a love story.

Alongside these four gems are two dreary offerings: Marco Bellochio’s preachy, tedious investigation of the nature of rape, “The Conviction” (Friday at 9 p.m.) and Fabio Carpi’s awkward English-language “Necessary Love” (Saturday at 2 p.m.), a pretentious, static, poor man’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” in which Ben Kingsley and Marie-Christine Barrault play a middle-aged couple preying upon a younger couple in what has got to be the world’s most boring resort hotel.

Also screening are Marco Risi’s “Street Boys” (Saturday at 9 p.m.), a portrait of Palermo street kids that is a follow-up to his recent “Forever Mary”; Felice Farina’s “Condominium” (Sunday at 2 p.m.), about a young accountant and his family caught up in condo hell, and Gabriele Salvatores’ “On Tour” (Sunday at 8 p.m.), about two actors in love with the same actress. There will also be a filmmaking symposium and reception Saturday at 4 p.m. Information: (213) 466-FILM.