The Cricket (USA-Italy,1980) 101 min color DIR: Alberto Lattuada. PROD: Ibrahim Moussa. SCR: Ashik Elahi, Franco Ferrini, Alberto Lattuada. STY: Marina Di Leo, Natale Prinetto. MUSIC: Fred Bongusto. DOP: Danilo Desideri. CAST: Anthony Franciosa, Virna Lisi, Clio Goldsmith, Barbara De Rossi, Renato Salvatori, “Michael Coby” (aka- Antonio Cantafora). (NIR)
The title refers to the nickname given the waif-like character played by Clio Goldsmith, whose entrance into and departure from these debauched relationships bookends this fascinating drama, but the story arc is really about the hapless chanteuse Wilma (played by Virna Lisi) who befriends Cricket (her one fan), acting as a chambermaid in a hotel she is performing at. In about ten minutes of screen time, they are ejected from the hotel, and hit the road together. Soon they meet a man (Tony Franciosa) and turn his rundown gas station-restaurant-hotel complex into a lucrative business. When he and Wilma marry, the former singer sends for her daughter, in the hopes that they can have a normal family life. But happiness proves elusive in this neon-lit morality play, as sexual curiosity and repression leads to tragedy. As with Stay as You Are, a previous film by Alberto Lattuada (whose six-decade career includes Variety Lights, co-directed with Federico Fellini), this straddles between an arthouse aesthetic and exploitation film elements, but has a uniquely bluesy poetry. Even when it veers into melodrama in the final half hour, this remains a thoroughly compelling, complex study of good people who screw up; characters whose sexual liberation leads to doom. Highly recommended! Check it out! This was once available on DVD this side of the pond by Mya Communication.