Okay, I'll just go out on a limb here as I never saw on stage the play by the late and great Eduardo De Filippo. I just know that this was a thing back in its day, and am pretty sure I saw at least one adaptation of it very early in my life, but I just don't racall if it was the 90s movies with Sophia Loren, or something I saw live in a theatre.
Now that they are remaking these classical plays with Sergio Castellitto as the lead, and given I have been watching them on RAI, I have a few things to say:
Society changed too much. Even though the core stories are still out there, people do not convey their emotions the way those characters did back in the 50s of 60s. How characters try to explain themselves, their feelings etc is not only "theatrical" now - it is also "outdated".
So, I am curious mainly about one thing: Did they even consider "updating" the source material? Like, keeping the dynamics the same, but adapting it to our times, and changing the script to be in line with "our times"?
Well, I know Eduardo De Filippo is too big an icon to consider that over. Must sound like some heresy to anyone who knows how he weighs in 20th century Italian theatre, TV and cinema.
But still, I just am not too sure that "remakes" are more a sign of respect than "reboots".
I see the effort in the production. The colors, the details, all the leg work to make it count as a fine period piece while employing the best of today's camera technology and and skills. It almost looks like a crew went back in time with their gear and shot those scenes with a real family from the 60s. That outcome is admirable. But also weird in some way, because the source material was meant to speak to contemporary people, while this one isn't doing so.
Nowadays, Spielberg's remake of The West Side Story is trying to attract American moviegoers to the theatre during the pandemic. And it's bombing bad despite all the "critical acclaim".
Why? Because, as I previously noted, times have changed just too much. So has society. The generational gap between today's teens and their gramps is way greater now than ever has been in history. The West Side Story matters only as an item of nostalgy for the elderly, and forcing some Academy Awards on it may not suffice to provide the desired outcome.
So... I have difficulty understanding the "desired outcome" with these remakes of Eduardo De Filippo's plays.
I, for one, am glad to watch them. I adore Castellitto, and cherish the effort on all levels. But my interest is "niche" almost by definition, and I cannot help but wonder how much more of an impact REBOOTS would make, and not mere REMAKES.
