Movies like Leopardi
If Leopardi's mix of italy, poetry and poet stayed with you, start here. Each film below was picked from what Leopardi's fans love most, with the reason it belongs on this list.
- 1
Lord of the Ants
2022 · Directed by Gianni Amelio · 134 min7.2
Why you'll like itWith Elio Germano and Valerio Binasco · Shares: poet · Also a Italian drama
Based on true events of the late 60s in Italy, poet, playwright and myrmecologist Aldo Braibanti is prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the love he shares with his barely-of-age pupil and friend, Ettore.
- 2
Kidnapped
2023 · Directed by Marco Bellocchio · 134 min7.3
Why you'll like itShares: italy, 19th century · Also a Italian drama
The story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian.
- 3
The Elephant Man
1980 · Directed by David Lynch · 124 min8.1
Why you'll like itShares: disability, 19th century · Also drama and history
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.
- 4
Safe
1995 · Directed by Todd Haynes · 119 min7.0
Why you'll like itShares: illness, chronic illness
Carol White, a Los Angeles housewife in the late 1980s, comes down with a debilitating illness with no clear diagnosis.
- 5
The Current War
2018 · Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon · 108 min6.7
Why you'll like itShares: 19th century · Also drama and history · From the same decade (2010s)
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
- 6
Rome, Open City
1945 · Directed by Roberto Rossellini · 104 min8.0
Why you'll like itAlso a Italian drama
During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.
- 7
On My Skin
2018 · Directed by Alessio Cremonini · 100 min8.0
Why you'll like itAlso a Italian drama · From the same decade (2010s)
The incredible true story behind the most controversial Italian court cases in recent years. Stefano Cucchi was arrested for a minor crime and mysteriously found dead during his detention.
- 8
Awakenings
1990 · Directed by Penny Marshall · 120 min7.8
Why you'll like itShares: illness
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment.
- 9
The Children's Train
2024 · Directed by Cristina Comencini · 106 min7.4
Why you'll like itAlso a Italian drama
In late 1940s Italy, a mother makes the difficult decision to send her son to the north, where he catches glimpses of a new life away from poverty.
- 10
Death in Venice
1971 · Directed by Luchino Visconti · 131 min7.2
Why you'll like itAlso a Italian drama
Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel…
- 11
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
1970 · Directed by Vittorio De Sica · 95 min7.0
Why you'll like itAlso a Italian drama
In 1930s Italy, a wealthy Jewish family tries to maintain their privileged lifestyle, hosting friends for tennis and parties at their villa.
- 12
Howl
2010 · Directed by Jeffrey Friedman · 84 min6.5
Why you'll like itShares: poetry · From the same decade (2010s)
It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his…