Bread and Chocolate

I’m not sure why I resurrected this once-popular Italian comedy. I must have put it in my Netflix queue before I went to Italy last summer, though it retains some topicality as the story of a “guest worker” from Southern Italy in Switzerland. Franco Brusati is a nondescript director, and while star Nino Manfredi has his moments, he’s more like Roberto Benigni than Marcello Mastrioanni. There is some amusing byplay between Italian and Swiss viewpoints, and Anna Karina provides a charming cameo, but the dvd is of poor quality and the film is not particularly deserving of revival. (1973, dvd, r.) *6-*