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Paolo Sorrentino's latest film, The Great Beauty, and Matteo Renzi's appointment as the prime minister of Italy, are probably the most significant recent events in Italian culture and politics. Even though Renzi belongs to the same political establishment that has been running the country for decades, most Italian newspapers praise him as the man capable of breaking the deadlock in which the nation has found itself since Silvio Berlusconi took power more than 20 years ago. The reaction to Sorrentino's movie has been very different. Although it has won a Golden Globe, a European Film Award, and a Bafta for best foreign language film – and could be honoured with an Oscar this weekend – it has been heavily criticised throughout the Italian media. Alessandra Levantesi Kezich of La Stampa says the characters "are nothing more than grotesque fragments of a puzzle incapable of composing a unitary design", while Paolo Mereghetti of Il Corriere della Sera thinks "in the end … [Read more...] about The Great Beauty portrays Italy more faithfully than its new prime minister

“When Banksy put the vest on me,” says Stormzy, a matter of minutes in to his second album, “it felt like God was testing me.” It’s the second time he’s mentioned his headlining appearance at this year’s Glastonbury in as many tracks, but who can blame him? A risky but ultimately triumphant, even epochal performance, it served to underline Stormzy’s unique position among his UK rap peers. Britain is currently teeming with fantastic MCs, but Stormzy is the only one your dad knows the name of. In the two years since the release of his debut album, Gang Signs & Prayer, he has become a boundary-crossing figure in British cultural life. Not only is he able to take a single as uncommercial as the dark, minimal Vossi Bop to No 1, but he has translated his commercial success into roles as a philanthropist, publisher and activist with enough clout to have his opinions raised by those interviewing the prime minister. He has attracted praise not … [Read more...] about Stormzy: Heavy Is the Head review – a bright light on the dark side of fame

Speaking in front of a photograph of Benito Mussolini at CasaPound's Rome headquarters, Simone di Stefano does not hesitate when asked if he subscribes to the Italian dictator's brand of fascism. "It's our point of reference, a vision of the state and the economy and the concept of sacrifice," said Di Stefano, who is vice president of CasaPound, the movement that reportedly has 5,000 members in Italy, alongside 15 loyal local councillors and the support of key officials at Rome city hall, where the mayor, Gianni Alemanno, is himself a former neo-fascist. Last year, a concert in Rome by the rock band led by CasaPound's president, Gianluca Iannone, was sponsored by one of the capital's borough councils. By holding cultural debates on themes as diverse as Che Guevara and Jack Kerouac, CasaPound has sought to separate itself from Italy's old-style, street-fighting neo-fascists. The group is named after Ezra Pound, the American poet who sided with Mussolini during the war. Mussolini's … [Read more...] about Italy’s fascists stay true to Mussolini’s ideology

When Matteo Renzi strode into the Italian prime minister’s residence of Palazzo Chigi 34 months ago, having outmanoeuvred the old guard in his party to become the country’s leader, he was widely regarded as Italy’s last best hope. The former mayor of Florence was a maverick reformer with big plans to turn around Italy’s moribund economy and – if he played his cards right – would stand at the helm of a centre-left majority that seemed strong enough to crush the rising Five Star Movement (M5S) and its angry anti-establishment rhetoric, and bury conservatives who were still reeling from the political demise of Silvio Berlusconi. “Today we have to have a huge ambition, which is to think that Italy cannot exist for the coming months and coming years in a situation of uncertainty, instability, quagmire, hesitation,” Renzi said at the time. But somewhere along the way, even as Italy saw slight improvements in the economy and rebuilt its … [Read more...] about Italy referendum defeat would complete Matteo Renzi’s rapid downfall

The Great Beauty has won the best foreign language film Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards, defeating a field that included The Hunt, from Denmark, Cambodia's The Missing Picture and Belgium's The Broken Circle Breakdown. In doing so, it becomes the first Italian film since Life Is Beautiful in 1998 to take the award. Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, whose previous films include The Consequences of Love and Il Divo, The Great Beauty is an evocation of a prosperous level of Roman society as seen through the eyes of jaded writer Jep Gambardella, played by Toni Servillo. The film has already won a string of awards, including best foreign film at the Baftas and Golden Globes. The Academy Awards are taking place at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles, and are being hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. • Xan Brooks liveblogs the ceremony• Full list of winners as they're announced Topics Paolo Sorrentino Oscars 2014 Oscars Awards and prizes World cinema Italy The … [Read more...] about The Great Beauty wins best foreign language film Oscar