The Adventures of Pinocchio

Luigi Comencini reads Collodi's book not as a children's tale but as a story about poverty. Geppetto is hungry, the village is hungry, the school is cold, and most of Pinocchio's escapes are driven by wanting to eat. Nino Manfredi plays Geppetto brittle rather than comic, with Gina Lollobrigida as the Blue Fairy. It was made for television in five parts and then cut into a feature, which is why the storytelling is broad and detailed. The dark material is not sanitised: the transformation into a donkey and the cruelty of the fox and the cat stand as written. It was shot in real locations in the Italian countryside, which fixes the fable to a place. Who it is for: viewers who like classic adaptations and seventies Italian television filmmaking. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a light children's film, since this is genuinely sad.