OK, forgive the idle question that follows, but it’s a Sunday. Something has been bothering me about the lyrics to Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano” number from “Nine”:
I feel my body chill
Gives me a special thrill
Each time I see that Guido neorealism
I love the dark handsome guys
With the skinny little ties
Dressed mod, looking out of sight…
And so on and so forth, as Hudson sings the praises of “shades in the middle of the night,” “the essence of Italian style” and Rome nightlife. You don’t need a PhD in film studies to gather that Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” is the key reference point here.