Review of Italianamerican (1974) by Ricardo O — 17 Mar 2011

Italianamerican is a documentary made by Martin Scorsese where he interviews his parents, Catherine Scorsese and Charles Scorsese. Catherine prepares some tomato sauce and meatballs while she explains how she learned to cook from her mother as well as her mother-in-law.

Marty gently guides his parents in revealing stories of their past as they look at some vacation photos they took while on their belated honeymoon. They tell stories of how their parents came to the country, about how the neighborhood of Little Italy was like when they were younger, and eventually have dinner.

The stories they share are very personal and often humorous, especially the stories that Catherine tells. It's a film that really sheds some light on the environment and the early inspirations of a young Martin Scorsese and the things that may have eventually shaped his creativity.

The film even ends its credits with Catherine's recipe for her sauce and for her meatballs, which I thought was a bit funny and very fitting with the overall tone of the film. I really recommend watching this movie just to get a look at the two people that probably influenced the filmmaker the most, his parents.

It's a really interesting and sometimes funny movie. It's a real treat to listen to these two talk about their past. 8/10.