Italian Gay Movie "Nuovo Olimpo" (2023) on Netflix

Damiano Gavino

They’re naked!

Trailer

The young men are beautiful and I love how comfortable they are with their nudity, but the story is very contrived.

Oh, I agree. For me, the contrived story was primarily in the service of evokink a certain feeling of nostalgia and melancholy. The movie made me wistful, maybe because I know the feeling of having possibly missed a greater love than my husband, because the timing was bad back then...

Of course, the ending seemed unsatisfactory at first, if you want a resolution, but it's also poignant in a way.

Looks like there is some Italian sausage on display.

Thinking a bit more about the movie, I actually really like the ending. It's a movie about missed opportunities and how a lack of resolution and the associated "what if"s can dominate our lives in certain ways. I kind of like that the movie subverts the "fated love" trope (that was built up over the course of the movie), and eventually acknowledges that both protagonists had a well-lived life in the end.

I was thinking about checking this out. Can you give a jist of the story without spoilers? Is it coming of age? Long lost lovers? Us against the world?

[quote]I was thinking about checking this out. Can you give a jist of the story without spoilers? Is it coming of age? Long lost lovers? Us against the world?

In the late 1970s, two students have a night to remember and want to meet again, both infatuated with each other. When they want to meet, a demonstration escalates and they miss each other. The movie follows their stories in the following decades, both living their lives but also secretly pining for the "one who got away."

It's a (bitter-)sweet and melancholic story.

I wonder if you could fuse mainstream movies with porn? Say if this was a regular 90 min. movie but with a lot more graphic sex and nudity. The gay theme already ensures most breeders aren't going to pay to see it, so... why not?

The best example I can think of is "Stranger By The Lake". A perfectly good thriller with lots of dick flopping around.

There’s always “Short Bus,” R10

Lonesome comes close, R10.

Sunday is for gay cinema.

Where to watch R12?

I watched "Nuovo Olimpo" last night. Sexy, romantic, beautifully filmed, and very moving.

However {SPOILERS AHEAD}

{SPOILERS FOLLOW}

It was never explained why Pietro and Enea lost touch in the first place. Yes, there was a riotous protest and Pietro broke his arm. And that's it? He wasn't in a coma, fer chissakes. And the cinema was still there and Titti was still the cashier. Pietro even left a note for Enea with her, yet Enea never went back to the theater. Why?

R74

It was the late 70’s no cell phones and they never exchanged last names. who knows how long it was between when Pietro left that letter and their earlier meeting? I see your point but it didn’t bother me. I really enjoyed the film, much more than I thought I would. If you’re lucky, you’ve experienced Some form of puppy love that leaves a lasting impression on your heart. I am happy with my life now, but glad I still remember those youthful moments of love.

SPOILERS

It really doesn't matter that we don't know when Pietro left the letter. As Titti says to Enea when she gives it to him years later, Enea never came back to the cinema [italic]at all[/italic]. Not even to see a movie or to cruise the restrooms. And he had been a habitué of the place. Pietro was the virgin (in more ways than one).

I rewatched the protest scenes this morning, looking for a clue. Nothing. Titti points Enea to the theater's emergency exit and tells him to go, there are random shots of him and Pietro (not together) amidst the chaos of the protest, Pietro gets hit by a car, and then there's a long tracking shot of Enea running through the streets. He comes to a green door, opens it —and we are 10 years in the future.

Hoping for some insight, I even translated the Italian ballad that plays over this sequence, "Se ci sarà domani" [If There Will Be Tomorrow] by Ornella Vanoni.

You and my tomorrow / Strange friends that take me away / Because I would die if after this day / Love, you told me: "Tomorrow I won't return" / Because you are the road dug with hands / Because you are the house that I built / And I will never have to share with anyone

I also really enjoyed the film R15. I just think that the failure to provide a reason for the central plot device is a failing and that the film would have been even better had there been one.

Absolute schmaltz, but not a complete waste of time.

It's on Amazon Prime or Here TV, R13. You can also catch it on ok.ru./video.

Ok.ru/video, that is.

The English dub is not horrible but it’s goofy

R20: The tone of the English sometimes made me think it was for a different movie.

I actually really enjoyed this movie. If it was remade in America, the actress playing the role of Titti could get a supporting nomination. I thought it was really well done!

Loved it.

Unlike a lot of "gay movies" there appeared to be authentic heat between the two leads.

It was definitely hallmark ish but I’d rewatch it. I liked the sets and locations a lot, the actors were great too. Probably better if you knew Italian and didn’t need the dub.

It's on Netflix, not Amazon.

If they remade it in America, could Jennifer Coolidge play Titti?

I thought the first part was interesting and hot. But as R14 mentions, that he did not go back to the cinema makes no sense whatsoever. Also, Rome is not that big and they could have found each other. Also, the director seemed to want to make an Almodóvar film. Even the soundtrack sounded from an Almodóvar movie (I checked and it is not A's usual collaborator Alberto Iglesias).

R28

Rome is huge and a city of almost 3 million people. Have you ever been?

I don't go for that nudity stuff!

R29 I lived there for three years, and I go there, at least, twice a year. The gay world in Rome is not that huge. There's a detail in the movie rings true. When the doctor goes back to the movie theatre (10-15 years later?), he still meets the same people cruising around.

[quote] If it was remade in America...

...it would be shitty like most American gay-themed movies.

I tried to watch "Down Low" last night with Zachary Quinto and Lukas Gage. The usual American gay-themed tripe with lots of stereotypes. Europeans and Latin Americans usually do these things so much better.

One of those Italians unfortunately looks mutilated. Unusual in Italy and a damn fucking shame.

Picture it, Sicily 1982...

Has anyone of you seen Stranizza d'Amuri (2023) AKA Fireworks? It looks interesting.

What is it with gay Italian movies this year?

R34 [quote] Stranizza d'Amuri (2023) AKA Fireworks

Anyone know where it is being streamed viewing in the U.S.?

R35, it’s not available for streaming yet. But I recommend it when you are able to see it. I saw it at a film festival and thought it was terrific.

Thanks, R36. I'm always on the lookout for quality gay content.

I only want to see joyful, uplifting gay stories. Tired of every gay story involving secrecy or shame or misery.

I watched it this afternoon.

SPOILER:

I enjoyed it, but agree that the old age makeup was distracting.

I was disappointed with the ending as well. I found it hard to believe that the two of them wouldn’t have reunited considering how much they thought of each other over the years. Plus, neither man seemed particularly happy in their current long-standing relationship.

Otherwise, I liked it.

Enjoyed it, but it was all rather predictable.

Beautiful men...and I enjoyed the lovemaking scenes.

Some of the lines were beautiful, especially what the wife says to the surgeon at the end...something along the line, "For once in my life, I wish a man looked at me the way you looked at him."

I liked it and the leading men are all hot. Makes me want to go to Italy.

I started watching to see Damiano Gavino and enjoyed it more than I expected.

The fact Enen was a film student made it even harder to believe he never returned to the cinema.

I used to live in Rome, I know exactly the street that apart was on, overlooking the Roman Forum - Via Baccina.

[quote]The gay world in Rome is not that huge.

It's not that huge, no. But Pietro wasn't in the gay world. He only went to the cinema one time on his own and all the other times to see Damiano. And I would assume there was a long recovery after his accident AND with the events in the world, I can believe someone like him would vacillate between whether or not he was actually gay. And the fact that he got married to a woman points to the fact that for the most part he didn't think he was gay.

The ending is very plausible. As it's mentioned at some point in the film, if they had stayed together, most likely they would have run the normal course of a relationship and would have broken up - especially meeting each other at such a young age. And I think by the end they both acknowledge the importance of their meeting each other, but it was more the idea of the one that got away that was driving them. They are both different men now, and not the same as they were when they were kids.

Which apartment was on Via Baccina, R43?

Madre di Dio