A tall, rich, blonde woman, Monica, (played by Jennifer Miro of The Nuns) trawls the bars and dancehalls of an Italian city (actually Italian-looking locations in New York) trying to escape boredom and her wealthy, jealous boyfriend, Marcello.
She meets Gino (played by Eric Mitchell himself), a poor communist factory worker by day and dancehall musician by night.
This is a classic No Wave movie and, in that tradition, is extravagant and ambitious in the scope of its fiction, whilst remaining grounded by its miniscule budget into a raw street-level verite. No Wave films often parody mass cultural forms and Red Italy parodies the style of 1960/1970s post neo-realism cinema, e.g. Pasolini or Antonioni. Red Italy actually features a short clip of Pasolini's first feature film Accatone half way through.
Red Italy also contains a great sequence with Mitchell as the singer of a band consisting of the likes of John Lurie (of the Lounge Lizards) and Arto Lindsay (of the band DNA) playing a frazzled, jazzy cover version of Gene Vincent's "Be Bop a Lula".
As is usually the case in these No Wave films, the cast seem to be having a lot of fun. There's a great scene in a bar where No Wave regular, Patti Astor, has a genuine fit of giggles.
Red Italy is a must watch for anyone interested in New York's underground film scene.
