The Great Dictators

Anna Migliarisi is an assistant professor in the English Department of
Acadia University, Nova Scotia.

The Great Dictators features interviews with contemporary luminaries
such as Bernardo Bertolucci (discussing Stealing Beauty and Little
Buddha) and Giuseppe Tornatore (discussing the making of Everybody’s
Fine on the heels of the Italian box-office disaster Cinema Paradiso);
independent directors such as Steve Buscemi (Trees Lounge), Tom DiCillo
(Box of Moonlight), and Michael Corrente (American Buffalo); and many
lesser-known directors, including “horror-meister” Dario Argento and
first-time director Richard LaGravanese. Standouts include Stanley
Tucci’s attempt to “show a different view of Italian-Americans” in
his debut feature, Big Night, Mimmo Calopresti’s account of breaking
with “conventional filmic rules” in La Seconda Volta, and Greg
Mottola’s search for a distributor for his quirky film Daytrippers.

The 21 alphabetically arranged interviews were originally published in
newspapers and magazines (including The Globe and Mail and Scene)
between 1991 and 1998. While each interview is followed by a useful
filmography, the individual profiles would require more depth and detail
to appeal to serious cinephiles and advanced students of film. The
book’s greatest shortcoming is the lack of an introductory essay
explaining the connections between these directors of Italian descent
and why the author has chosen to categorize them as “great
dictators.” In the absence of such explanations, the promise suggested
by this book’s intriguing title remains largely unfulfilled.