We are happy to share the news that the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is streaming, free of charge and through September 15, the Italian movie Wondrous Boccaccio (Meraviglioso Boccaccio) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
While the plague ravages medieval Italy, a band of young friends flees the city of Florence, taking shelter in a nearby villa and setting rules for conjuring tales—their entertainment during the quarantine. Inspired by the fourteenth-century poet Giovanni Boccaccio, the filmmaker brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani reimagined the medieval master’s celebrated compendium The Decameron, toning down the original work’s bawdy humor but honoring its essential themes and structure. “We told these stories because we wanted to take a challenge: to bring into opposition the pale colors of the plague—which, then as now, in various forms, is everywhere—to the transparent colors of love, ingenuity, poetry. We put this challenge in the hands of ten youngsters who found strength by forming a community close to nature.”
Directors: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Italy, 2015, 120 minutes
Film in Italian with English subtitles
PREVIEW (via YouTube)