LGM Film Club, Part 192: Italianamerican

I am firmly in the camp that Martin Scorsese is the greatest living film director (that includes Godard who last made a watchable film like 40 years ago). But I had never seen his interview with his parents, the 1974 film Italianamerican. That is, until last night. What a great film on the a generation of people from a time and place, that first generation of U.S. born kids of immigrants. The low-level bickering between the two is hilarious. Then of course there’s Scorsese’s mom’s sauce recipe.

You can watch the whole thing on YouTube

The other thing that struck me here is how generations are so different between now and the 1970s. When he made this film, Scorsese’s parents were in their early 60s. But they look like they are in their 80s. That’s not necessarily so much physically. It’s how they are dressed. They are dressed and have hair like people who got old young and don’t care anymore. Really, that’s OK. But today, someone in their early 60s is going to music festivals and wearing hip t-shirts. That will be me, so fine. Yes, I did indeed just get a t-shirt with the cover of The Louvin Brothers’ Satan is Real on it. But there really is a sense that youth should never end today that did not exist in earlier generations.