Remember Barbenheimer? While much of the movie-loving world was going crazy over 2023’s two biggest films battling it out at the box office, a very different film was taking Italy by storm. THERE’S STILL TOMORROW, a neorealistic, black & white film by co-writer and first-time director Paola Cortellesi, who is better known in Italy as a comedic television actress, was the box office winner in that country that year. It later went on to win six David di Donatello awards, the Italian equivalent of the Oscars. That film is now coming to Hong Kong.

In THERE’S STILL TOMORROW, Delia (Cortellesi, pulling triple duty) is a working-class housewife and mother of three in post-war Rome. In between looking after her family, she keeps busy caring for her ornery bedridden father-in-law, and earning a few extra lire each day mending clothes and doing laundry for the people who live in the wealthier neighbourhoods in town. Though she turns over much of her income to her abusive husband, Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea), she still manages to squirrel away some of the money which she plans to spend on a wedding dress for their teenage daughter, Marcella (Romana Maggiora Vergano). Delia’s life seemingly takes a turn for the better when Marcella becomes engaged to Giulio (Francesco Centorame), the son of a wealthy ice cream parlor owner, though she soon realises that Marcella’s marriage will be a lot like her own. Around the same time, Delia runs into an old flame, Nino (Vinicio Marchioni), a car mechanic who would like nothing more than to take Delia away with him and start a new life with her far from Rome. When a letter arrives addressed Delia, she struggles with what to do with the news it contains.

Brava, Paola Cortellesi, who adeptly threads the needle separating pastiche from something contemporary. Although THERE’S STILL TOMORROW looks like it could have been made 75-odd years ago by some of the masters of neorealism like Roberto Rossellini (ROME, OPEN CITY [1945]), Vittorio De Sica (BICYCLE THIEVES [1948]) or Luchino Visconti (BELLISSIMA [1951]), Cortellesi’s film has a very modern feminist bent to it. Punctuating her unique style, Cortellesi films a scene between Delia and Ivano that elegantly transitions from domestic violence to a balletic dance.

In front of the camera, Cortellesi’s performance is radiant, especially during those tiny moments when Delia finds happiness whether it’s with Nino, with her gossipy neighbours in her courtyard or with William, a young American G.I. who offers her some chocolate… a rare and much cherished treat in those days. Although we may want her to run away with Nino, we also know, just as Delia does, that her duty to protect her children from Ivano and to give them a better life than what she has outweighs her personal desires at least for now.

THERE’S STILL TOMORROW opens in Hong Kong on Thursday, January 16th. It’s an impressive debut so if you’re looking for something other than a big Hollywood film to watch, definitely check this one out!

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