Cronaca Familiare is based on an autobiographical novel by the Florentine writer Vasco Pratolini. The book, written in 1945, is in the form of a dialogue between the author and his dead brother through which the narrator attempts to expiate his early failure to understand the young man's true qualities. In its restraint, its ethereal inwardness, the solemnity of its rhythm, and the contemplative qualities of its narrative, this intimist and elegiac Italian film is closer in spirit to the world of Ozu and Mizoguchi than to that of Fellini. Zurlini is one of the great landscapists of Italian cinema (and) Cronaca is a painterly film. Zurlini was a close friend of Ottone Rosai, whose haunting views of deserted cities, empty streets, and bare piazzas are echoed in the film. And Zurlini was a superb director of actors. Mastroianni has never been seen to better advantage than as Enrico, the elder brother;...the veteran French actress Sylvie is unforgettable as the grandmother. Cronaca Familiare is an excellent introduction to the work of a major filmmaker unjustly neglected in this country. -Elliott Stein