Just when The Bad Guy tried to get out, Amazon pulled him back in.
Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday unveiled a second season order for the Italian crime series, starring Luigi Lo Cascio and Claudia Pandolfi, which has been a hit with audiences and critics.
Stefano Accorsi (Italian Race) will join the cast for season 2, alongside returning cast members including Selene Caramazza, Giulia Maenza and Antonio Catania. Season 2 shot on location in Lazio, Emilia Romagna and Sicily.
Lo Cascio stars in The Bad Guy as Nino Scotellaro, an incorruptible Sicilian public prosecutor who is imprisoned on false accusations of collusion with the mafia. Once inside, he decides to pull off a Machiavellian revenge plan, embracing the “bad guy” image that has been forced upon him.
Season 2, which series producers say will be a mix of “crime and dark comedy,” will explore Scotellaro’s past as well as his likely future,...
Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday unveiled a second season order for the Italian crime series, starring Luigi Lo Cascio and Claudia Pandolfi, which has been a hit with audiences and critics.
Stefano Accorsi (Italian Race) will join the cast for season 2, alongside returning cast members including Selene Caramazza, Giulia Maenza and Antonio Catania. Season 2 shot on location in Lazio, Emilia Romagna and Sicily.
Lo Cascio stars in The Bad Guy as Nino Scotellaro, an incorruptible Sicilian public prosecutor who is imprisoned on false accusations of collusion with the mafia. Once inside, he decides to pull off a Machiavellian revenge plan, embracing the “bad guy” image that has been forced upon him.
Season 2, which series producers say will be a mix of “crime and dark comedy,” will explore Scotellaro’s past as well as his likely future,...
- 3/6/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Sometimes those who let you go love you more... than those who hold you back." Netflix has revealed a quick teaser trailer for The Children's Train, an upcoming adaptation set in Italy right after World War II about kids being sent away. Based on Viola Ardone's bestselling novel "Il Treno dei Bambini" turned into a grand feature film. Set in the the city of Naples just after WWII, The Children's Train follows the life of Amerigo Speranza, a seven-year-old boy who sets off on an extraordinary journey. It explore themes such as poverty, resilience, and humanity, offering an insight exciting and profound of an Italy marked by war but full of hope. With a star-studded cast featuring Serena Rossi, Barbara Ronchi, Stefano Accorsi, and Christian Cervone, and directed by the celebrated filmmaker Cristina Comencini, the film promises a poignant & emotional journey. The story is about a group of children...
- 2/12/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Netflix’s next Italian originals will be pairs of series and feature films from the likes of Stefano Mordini, Alessandro Genovesi and Cristina Comencini.
The projects were unveiled at a See What’s Next event in Rome today, in front of several stars, directors and stars.
Tinny Andreatta, Vice President of Italian Content at Netflix, said the orders showed the streamer remains “committed to our investment in Italy and Italian stories with conviction, continuing our long-term commitment to the country and its creative community.” Netflix opened an Italian office in May last year.
Namely, pics are Cristina Comencini’s Il Treno dei Bambini and Fabbricante di Lacrime from director Alessandro Genovesi. TV shows comprise Storia della mia Famiglia and Adorazione.
Il Treno dei Bambini is based on Viola Ardone’s bestselling novel pf the same name and is billed as as an “epic and poignant film” set in post-war Italy...
The projects were unveiled at a See What’s Next event in Rome today, in front of several stars, directors and stars.
Tinny Andreatta, Vice President of Italian Content at Netflix, said the orders showed the streamer remains “committed to our investment in Italy and Italian stories with conviction, continuing our long-term commitment to the country and its creative community.” Netflix opened an Italian office in May last year.
Namely, pics are Cristina Comencini’s Il Treno dei Bambini and Fabbricante di Lacrime from director Alessandro Genovesi. TV shows comprise Storia della mia Famiglia and Adorazione.
Il Treno dei Bambini is based on Viola Ardone’s bestselling novel pf the same name and is billed as as an “epic and poignant film” set in post-war Italy...
- 9/19/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Sony Pictures International Productions and Italy’s Colorado Film have teamed up on Italian comedy/road movie “50km per Hour” which has started shooting with multi-hyphenate Fabio De Luigi directing and starring.
The film is an Italian remake of Sony’s 2018 German box office hit “25 Km/h,” written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and directed by Markus Goller about two estranged siblings who reunite at their father’s funeral and make a spur of the moment decision to fulfill their childhood dream of driving across the country on their old motorbikes. It has also recently been remade in Mexico with the title “A Todas Partes” (“All the Places”).
De Luigi, who is among Italy’s most bankable talents, recently starred in “The Worse Week of My Life” and “When Mom is Away,” which was Italy’s top grossing local title during pandemic-stricken 2019. De Luigi on this film is pairing up with another top local box office draw,...
The film is an Italian remake of Sony’s 2018 German box office hit “25 Km/h,” written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and directed by Markus Goller about two estranged siblings who reunite at their father’s funeral and make a spur of the moment decision to fulfill their childhood dream of driving across the country on their old motorbikes. It has also recently been remade in Mexico with the title “A Todas Partes” (“All the Places”).
De Luigi, who is among Italy’s most bankable talents, recently starred in “The Worse Week of My Life” and “When Mom is Away,” which was Italy’s top grossing local title during pandemic-stricken 2019. De Luigi on this film is pairing up with another top local box office draw,...
- 6/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Sky has unveiled its Italian “Call My Agent” adaptation set in Rome featuring high-caliber Italian guest stars such as Paolo Sorrentino – in a side-splitting turn – and actor Matilda De Angelis.
The six-episode season is produced by Palomar, the Italian company controlled by France’s Mediawan which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency.
In episode two Oscar-winner Sorrentino waltzes into the Rome agency called CMA with a “brilliant” new idea for a third instalment to his “The Young Pope” TV series.”
It’s “The Lady Pope” for whom the God-like director wants 1980s Italian disco queen Ivana Spagna to be cast in the titular role. And also Denzel Washington as the female pope’s chamberlain, and Madonna as her mother.
The gag was thought of by Sorrentino who spoofs himself with biting irony.
In real life De Angelis recently scored the lead role on the upcoming Italian...
The six-episode season is produced by Palomar, the Italian company controlled by France’s Mediawan which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency.
In episode two Oscar-winner Sorrentino waltzes into the Rome agency called CMA with a “brilliant” new idea for a third instalment to his “The Young Pope” TV series.”
It’s “The Lady Pope” for whom the God-like director wants 1980s Italian disco queen Ivana Spagna to be cast in the titular role. And also Denzel Washington as the female pope’s chamberlain, and Madonna as her mother.
The gag was thought of by Sorrentino who spoofs himself with biting irony.
In real life De Angelis recently scored the lead role on the upcoming Italian...
- 1/19/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
“I see a lot of rich people here!” said Jodie Turner-Smith as she took to the stage to open the Venice Film Festival AmfAR gala and auction held Wednesday evening in the Arsenale, a former shipyard complex on the edge of the city’s Grand Canal.
Urging guests to be generous, Turner-Smith, who looked stunning in a yellow corset top, reminded everyone that, “It’s easy to forget that AIDS still remains one of the world’s most serious health threats.”
Though undoubtedly lower key than the event held at Cannes, AmfAR Venice had its fair share of glamour and star power with Heather Graham, Patricia Clarckson, Marisa Tomei and Rachel Brosnahan among chairs.
Also spotted: Trace Lysette; Sarah Ferguson; Italian A-lister Stefano Accorsi; Saudi producer and Red Sea fest chairman Mohammed Al Turki with Egyptian megastar Youssra; Portuguese supermodel Sara Sampaio; and Zooey Deschanel, Casey Affleck and Caylee Cowan...
Urging guests to be generous, Turner-Smith, who looked stunning in a yellow corset top, reminded everyone that, “It’s easy to forget that AIDS still remains one of the world’s most serious health threats.”
Though undoubtedly lower key than the event held at Cannes, AmfAR Venice had its fair share of glamour and star power with Heather Graham, Patricia Clarckson, Marisa Tomei and Rachel Brosnahan among chairs.
Also spotted: Trace Lysette; Sarah Ferguson; Italian A-lister Stefano Accorsi; Saudi producer and Red Sea fest chairman Mohammed Al Turki with Egyptian megastar Youssra; Portuguese supermodel Sara Sampaio; and Zooey Deschanel, Casey Affleck and Caylee Cowan...
- 9/8/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Banijay Buys Italy’s Groenlandia Group, Maker of ‘Romulus’ and ‘The Incredible Story of Rose Island’
Banijay has acquired control of Italy’s expanding Groenlandia Group, which is a producer on ITV’s “Romulus” skein and made recent Netflix Italian original film “The Incredible Story of Rose Island,” among other titles.
The Rome-based company, headed by directors and producers Matteo Rovere and Sydney Sibilia, has been steadily growing since its founding in 2014. Besides “Romulus” — both the film and the TV series which Rovere directed, and “Rose Island,” helmed by Sibilia, Groenlandia’s recent output also includes Leonardo D’Agostini’s widely exported soccer comedy drama “The Champion,” starring Stefano Accorsi, and Ludovico De Martino’s actioner “The Beast,” co-produced with Warner Bros. and now streaming globally on Netflix.
Groenlandia also comprises Ascent Films, founded and managed by Andrea Paris, who will keep operating in the shingle, in which it has had a majority stake since 2014. Ascent is an incubator shingle focused on identifying and establishing new talent.
The Rome-based company, headed by directors and producers Matteo Rovere and Sydney Sibilia, has been steadily growing since its founding in 2014. Besides “Romulus” — both the film and the TV series which Rovere directed, and “Rose Island,” helmed by Sibilia, Groenlandia’s recent output also includes Leonardo D’Agostini’s widely exported soccer comedy drama “The Champion,” starring Stefano Accorsi, and Ludovico De Martino’s actioner “The Beast,” co-produced with Warner Bros. and now streaming globally on Netflix.
Groenlandia also comprises Ascent Films, founded and managed by Andrea Paris, who will keep operating in the shingle, in which it has had a majority stake since 2014. Ascent is an incubator shingle focused on identifying and establishing new talent.
- 3/22/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
French sales company will show first trailer for drama about rise and fall of infamous Antwerp mega-club.
Paris-based Indie Sales will launch sales on Belgian director Robin Pront’s thriller Zillion, inspired by the rise and fall of the legendary Antwerp club of the same name, at next week’s online European Film Market.
Running from 1997 to 2002, the venue was the brainchild of the controversial tech entrepreneur and dance music lover Frank Verstraeten. It was one of the first mega-clubs that sprang up in Benelux in the late 1990s and drew clubbers from across the region and beyond until it closed under a cloud.
Paris-based Indie Sales will launch sales on Belgian director Robin Pront’s thriller Zillion, inspired by the rise and fall of the legendary Antwerp club of the same name, at next week’s online European Film Market.
Running from 1997 to 2002, the venue was the brainchild of the controversial tech entrepreneur and dance music lover Frank Verstraeten. It was one of the first mega-clubs that sprang up in Benelux in the late 1990s and drew clubbers from across the region and beyond until it closed under a cloud.
- 2/2/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Goddess Of Fortune (La dea fortuna) Breaking Glass Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Ferzan Ozpetek Writer: Ferzan Ozpetek, Silvia Ranfagni, Gianni Romoli Cast: Stefano Accorsi, Edoardo Leo, Jasmine Trinca, Sara Ciocco, Edoardo Brandi, Barbara Alberti, Serra Yilmaz Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 11/18/20 Opens: November […]
The post The Goddess of Fortune Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Goddess of Fortune Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 4/2/2021
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Italy’s expanding production company Groenlandia — the shingle behind ITV’s “Romulus” skein and recent Netflix Italian original film “The Incredible Story of Rose Island” — is launching a groundbreaking new unit dedicated to women directors and writers.
Called Lynn, the new female-driven label is a first for Italy. They have partnered on a feature film with Amazon Studios and on another movie with Rai Cinema.
Projects in various stages in the Lynn pipeline comprise romantic comedy “Blackout Love” (pictured), toplining rising Italian star Anna Foglietta, who served as master of ceremonies at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
In “Blackout Love,” which is being directed by first-timer Francesca Marino, Foglietta (“Perfect Strangers”) plays the coach of a female volleyball team whose love life is disrupted by the arrival of an old flame. Shooting started in December on the pic, which is being produced by Lynn with financing from Amazon Studios.
Lynn has...
Called Lynn, the new female-driven label is a first for Italy. They have partnered on a feature film with Amazon Studios and on another movie with Rai Cinema.
Projects in various stages in the Lynn pipeline comprise romantic comedy “Blackout Love” (pictured), toplining rising Italian star Anna Foglietta, who served as master of ceremonies at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
In “Blackout Love,” which is being directed by first-timer Francesca Marino, Foglietta (“Perfect Strangers”) plays the coach of a female volleyball team whose love life is disrupted by the arrival of an old flame. Shooting started in December on the pic, which is being produced by Lynn with financing from Amazon Studios.
Lynn has...
- 2/1/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Alessia Polli, head of project development at Groenlandia, will supervise the diversion alongside renowned novelist and essayist Eleonora Marangoni.
Matteo Rovere and Sydney Sibilia’s Italian production company Groenlandia has launched Lynn, a division dedicated to producing features, series and shorts directed by established and emerging female writers and directors.
Alessia Polli, head of project development at Groenlandia, will supervise the diversion alongside renowned novelist and essayist Eleonora Marangoni. Fabia Fleri, who has worked in production at Italian TV and film giant Taodue, will coordinate the line-up.
”We know we live in the best moment for women to have a spotlight and be creative,...
Matteo Rovere and Sydney Sibilia’s Italian production company Groenlandia has launched Lynn, a division dedicated to producing features, series and shorts directed by established and emerging female writers and directors.
Alessia Polli, head of project development at Groenlandia, will supervise the diversion alongside renowned novelist and essayist Eleonora Marangoni. Fabia Fleri, who has worked in production at Italian TV and film giant Taodue, will coordinate the line-up.
”We know we live in the best moment for women to have a spotlight and be creative,...
- 1/29/2021
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Read about all the leading titles coming to cinemas.
France, opening Wednesday October 7
Mainstream French comedies and dramas topped the release schedule in France once again this week, in the absence of US studio titles.
The biggest release of the week was romantic comedy The ABCs Of Love for Ugc Distribution on some 480 prints. Rising star Vincent Dedienne plays a thirtysomething babysitter, who unwittingly gets entangled in the parent teacher association of the school that his nine-year-old charge attends but finds love along the way.
Other local features included long triangle drama Dreamchild, starring Jalil Lespert, Louise Bourgoin and Mélanie Doutey...
France, opening Wednesday October 7
Mainstream French comedies and dramas topped the release schedule in France once again this week, in the absence of US studio titles.
The biggest release of the week was romantic comedy The ABCs Of Love for Ugc Distribution on some 480 prints. Rising star Vincent Dedienne plays a thirtysomething babysitter, who unwittingly gets entangled in the parent teacher association of the school that his nine-year-old charge attends but finds love along the way.
Other local features included long triangle drama Dreamchild, starring Jalil Lespert, Louise Bourgoin and Mélanie Doutey...
- 10/9/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Melanie Goodfellow¬Gabriele Niola¬Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Lasciami andare by Stefano Mordini will be Venice’s closing film; the special events include the series 30 Coins, directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Eight fiction films and 11 non-fiction titles, plus three special screenings, comprise the jam-packed Out of Competition programme of the 77th Venice Film Festival (2-12 September), as announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera this morning during a live-streamed press conference (see the news on the Venice 77 and Orizzonti competitions). Among the works of fiction on this list, besides the previously announced opening film (The Ties by Daniele Luchetti – see the news), is also the movie that will have the honour of closing this year’s Mostra: it will be another Italian title, Lasciami andare by Stefano Mordini, a psychological thriller filmed during the period of high water levels in Venice, starring Valeria Golino, Stefano Accorsi, Maya Sansa and Serena Rossi. In the same section is...
The New Pope debuted at the Venice Film Festival with two turning-point episodes airing for festival-goers. A follow-up to Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope, about the inner workings of the Vatican and its seductive cast of characters, the new series picks up where the first season concluded.
While series regulars Jude Law, Silvio Orlando, Javier Camara, Cecile de France and Ludivine Sagnier return in their starring roles, this season adds the likes of John Malkovich, Stefano Accorsi, Mark Ivanir, Sharon Stone and Marilyn Manson to the cast.
The New Pope picks up right where The Young Pope left off, but Sorrentino ...
While series regulars Jude Law, Silvio Orlando, Javier Camara, Cecile de France and Ludivine Sagnier return in their starring roles, this season adds the likes of John Malkovich, Stefano Accorsi, Mark Ivanir, Sharon Stone and Marilyn Manson to the cast.
The New Pope picks up right where The Young Pope left off, but Sorrentino ...
Exclusive: The Venice Film Festival will reveal its lineup later this week and two anticipated TV series are expected to make their debut on the Lido: cocaine-trafficking crime-drama ZeroZeroZero and Paolo Sorrentino’s Jude Law-starrer The New Pope.
We hear the festival is set to screen the first two episodes of anticipated Euro-u.S. co-pro ZeroZeroZero starring Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabryel Byrne.
There was some uncertainty over whether the show would bow this early given that it is unlikely to air until early next year (production was held up after an injury to Riseborough), but U.S. rights holder Amazon has given the green light for a Venice debut.
The Italian-origin show is likely to be among the festival’s biggest draws. The Cattleya epic for Sky, Canal+ and Amazon is adapted from Gomorrah scribe Roberto Saviano‘s book about international cocaine trafficking and its economic and political effects.
We hear the festival is set to screen the first two episodes of anticipated Euro-u.S. co-pro ZeroZeroZero starring Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabryel Byrne.
There was some uncertainty over whether the show would bow this early given that it is unlikely to air until early next year (production was held up after an injury to Riseborough), but U.S. rights holder Amazon has given the green light for a Venice debut.
The Italian-origin show is likely to be among the festival’s biggest draws. The Cattleya epic for Sky, Canal+ and Amazon is adapted from Gomorrah scribe Roberto Saviano‘s book about international cocaine trafficking and its economic and political effects.
- 7/23/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
It is written by Ozpetek with his longtime collaborator and producer Gianni Romoli and Silvia Ranfagni.
Italy’s True Colours has picked up international rights to Ferzan Ozpetek’s anticipated new feature The Fortune Goddess.
Stefano Accorsi, Jasmine Trinca and Edoardo Leo are set to star in the film about a gay couple who are thrown into crisis when a friend asks them to take care of her children for a couple of days.
The Italian-language film is being produced by Gianni Romoli and Tilde Corsi for R&C Production with Warner Bros Entertainment Italia. It is written by Ozpetek with...
Italy’s True Colours has picked up international rights to Ferzan Ozpetek’s anticipated new feature The Fortune Goddess.
Stefano Accorsi, Jasmine Trinca and Edoardo Leo are set to star in the film about a gay couple who are thrown into crisis when a friend asks them to take care of her children for a couple of days.
The Italian-language film is being produced by Gianni Romoli and Tilde Corsi for R&C Production with Warner Bros Entertainment Italia. It is written by Ozpetek with...
- 5/15/2019
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Four female Italian bandits known as “Le Drude” are the protagonists of “My Body Will Bury You” a Sicily-set revenge drama/Western set in 1860 that is among standout titles presented to prospective buyers and sales agents during the Rome Mia market’s What’s Next Italy showcase.
This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.
This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.
- 10/21/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Another day, another celebrity wedding to report! It’s confirmed that French model-turned-actress Laetitia Casta tied the knot to French actor Louis Garrel in a very intimate, super-secret ceremony in Lumio, Corsica.
Le nozze segrete di #LaetitiaCasta e #LouisGarrel; il nuovo amore di @FinallyMario; le confessioni di @_AnnaTatangelo_ … #SolosuChi pic.twitter.com/VcI5g7hrKZ
— Chi Magazine (@chimagazine) June 14, 2017
They said ‘I do’ on Saturday at a ceremony at the mayor’s office and afterward partied at a beach-themed reception on the island of Spano. They matched the bohemian theme of the wedding with their simple, relaxed style choices. Casta...
Le nozze segrete di #LaetitiaCasta e #LouisGarrel; il nuovo amore di @FinallyMario; le confessioni di @_AnnaTatangelo_ … #SolosuChi pic.twitter.com/VcI5g7hrKZ
— Chi Magazine (@chimagazine) June 14, 2017
They said ‘I do’ on Saturday at a ceremony at the mayor’s office and afterward partied at a beach-themed reception on the island of Spano. They matched the bohemian theme of the wedding with their simple, relaxed style choices. Casta...
- 6/14/2017
- by Colleen Kratofil
- PEOPLE.com
Trio dominates Italian film awards on Monday night.
Paolo Virzi’s Like Crazy (pictured) won five awards, including best picture, best director and best leading actress for Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
Indivisible by Edoardo De Angelis won six, among them best screenplay and best supporting actress for Antonia Truppo.
Matteo Rovere’s Italian Race also won six mostly technical awards, although it claimed best leading actor for Stefano Accorsi.
Like Crazy from Lotus Productions (Perfect Strangers) and Manny films (7 Minutes) premiered in last year’s Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and began the night on 17 nominations.
The story of two fun-seeking, mentally disturbed women on the run from their clinic was the most successful of the three films at the box office, earning $6.5m to become one of the biggest local hits of 2016. Its five di Donatello wins included best production design and best hairstyling.
Indivisible also also earned 17 nominations and is the pulp story of two conjoined sisters exploited...
Paolo Virzi’s Like Crazy (pictured) won five awards, including best picture, best director and best leading actress for Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
Indivisible by Edoardo De Angelis won six, among them best screenplay and best supporting actress for Antonia Truppo.
Matteo Rovere’s Italian Race also won six mostly technical awards, although it claimed best leading actor for Stefano Accorsi.
Like Crazy from Lotus Productions (Perfect Strangers) and Manny films (7 Minutes) premiered in last year’s Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and began the night on 17 nominations.
The story of two fun-seeking, mentally disturbed women on the run from their clinic was the most successful of the three films at the box office, earning $6.5m to become one of the biggest local hits of 2016. Its five di Donatello wins included best production design and best hairstyling.
Indivisible also also earned 17 nominations and is the pulp story of two conjoined sisters exploited...
- 3/27/2017
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Italian sales outfit picks up Ride, It’s The Law, and Two Irenes.
Rome-based sales company True Colours has added English-language extreme sports drama Ride, Italian box office hit It’s The Law and Generation Kplus title Two Irenes (As Duas Irenes) to its Efm slate.
Brazilian filmmaker Fabio Meira’s Two Irenes - about two girls with the same name and an unexpected connection – marks the first non-Italian production for Rome-based True Colours since it launched in 2015.
Ride is a horror thriller about extreme sports shot entirely on GoPro cameras by writing and directing duo Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro. It follows their military thriller Mine, starring Armie Hammer, which was picked up by Well Go USA Entertainment for North America.
The company has acquired sales on comedy duo Ficarra and Picone’s new hit It’s The Law (L’Ora Legale) about a village in Sicily that elects a straight-arrow professor as mayor. The film...
Rome-based sales company True Colours has added English-language extreme sports drama Ride, Italian box office hit It’s The Law and Generation Kplus title Two Irenes (As Duas Irenes) to its Efm slate.
Brazilian filmmaker Fabio Meira’s Two Irenes - about two girls with the same name and an unexpected connection – marks the first non-Italian production for Rome-based True Colours since it launched in 2015.
Ride is a horror thriller about extreme sports shot entirely on GoPro cameras by writing and directing duo Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro. It follows their military thriller Mine, starring Armie Hammer, which was picked up by Well Go USA Entertainment for North America.
The company has acquired sales on comedy duo Ficarra and Picone’s new hit It’s The Law (L’Ora Legale) about a village in Sicily that elects a straight-arrow professor as mayor. The film...
- 2/11/2017
- ScreenDaily
Beta wins My Special Prize for the Best Berlin Lineup of all the International Sales Agents
From the producer of 2013 Golden Bear winner “Child’s Pose” comes “Aferim!” playing in Berlinale Competition. Policeman Costandin, a charismatic mixture of a funny Stalin and a somewhat more pragmatic Don Quixote, and his shy and introverted son ride through the rural countryside In search of a fugitive Gypsy slave. Meeting hundreds of characters, delivering a surprise in every scene, this is an ingenious Western in a very wild East of 19th century Romania directed by Radu Jude (“Everybody in our Family”) and produced by HiFilm’s Ada Solomon, Klas, Endorfilm and Mulberry Development, and stars Teodor Corban (“Child’s Pose”, “Beyond the Hills”), Mihai Comãnoiu and Cuzin Toma.
Forum entry “Zurich," Oliver Hirschbiegel’s "13 Minutes" (Competition - Out of Competition) plus this year’s Sundance Audience Award winner “Umrika” and the new Sky Italia series “1992" kicking off the Berlinale Special Series section make this a banner Berlin for Beta Cinema.
In official selection/out of competition bows Nazi resistance drama "13 Minutes" about failed Hitler assassin Georg Elser. Oliver Hirschbiegel, whose Academy Award nominated “Downfall” is one of the most successful Beta Cinema titles ever with 145 sold territories, presents a stunning, emotional portrait of the resistance fighter and his attack on the Munich Bürgerbräukeller on November 8th 1939. Georg Elser was a man who could have changed world history and saved millions of human lives, but his bomb, built to tear Adolf Hitler apart, exploded 13 minutes late. Produced by Lucky Bird’s Oliver Schündler and Boris Ausserer, who just recently won the Bavarian Film Award for "13 Minutes", and written by Fred Breinersdorfer (“Sophie Scholl”), the feature stars Christian Friedel (“The White Ribbon”), Katharina Schüttler (“Generation of War” ) and Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”).
Dutch filmmaker Sacha Polak, who received the prestigious Fipresci-award at the 2012 Berlinale for Hemel, presents with "Zurich" her second feature film, a road movie starring famous Dutch singer and performance artist Wende Snijders. "Zurich" (Viking Film/Rohfilm/Private View/Nrt/Zdf/arte) revolves around Nina, who is wandering along Europe’s motorways in a desperate attempt to leave the past behind. Slowly it becomes clear that Nina’s drive to hang around in the truckers’ scene is a result of the pain caused by the ultimate betrayal that has befallen her. Sacha Polak developed the script by author Helena van der Meulen during last year’s Berlinale Residency program.
Kicking off the Berlinale Special Series, designated to promote outstanding international TV-series, is the political thriller "1992" from Sky Italia ("Gomorrah"), La 7 and Wildside. Over 20 years ago, on February 17th 1992, the first arrest within the so-called Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) maxi-investigation was made in Italy. It was the symbolic start of a revolution. "1992" revolves around six ordinary people whose lives are intertwined with the country's political, civil and social earthquake. The 10xone hour series stars Stefano Accorsi (idea), Guido Caprino and Miriam Leone; director is Giuseppe Gagliardi.
Celebrating its Berlin Market Premiere is Prashant Nair’s Indian drama "Umrika," which just recently received the Audience Award at Sundance, starring world-renowned, up-and-coming young actors Suraj Sharma ("Life of Pi") and Tony Revolori ("The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Dope"). "Umrika" (Hindi for America) is about a small village in India that is invigorated when one of their own travels to America, sharing his adventures and inspiring hope through letters home. But when the letters mysteriously stop coming, his brother sets out on a journey to find him.
Also premiering at the market is the fourth adventure of "The Famous Five" (Sam Film/Constantin), in which Enid Blyton’s teenager gang venture thousands of miles and thousands of years back in time to solve yet another nail-biting mystery. Prolific maverick filmmaker Detlev Buck ("Hands off Mississippi") presents as international market premiere "Bibi & Tina 2," an inventive live-action adaptation of the teen-adventure and romance in the beloved “Bibi & Tina” universe.
Amongst the upcoming titles, "Colonia" is heading the slate, starring Emma Watson in her first lead role since "Harry Potter" alongside Daniel Brühl ("Rush") as her abducted boyfriend and opposite a very sinister Mikael Nykvist ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"). The $15 million production wrapped shooting mid-January and is being presold at the European Film Market.
"Ghosthunters: On Icy Trails" marks another English-language presales highlight for the Efm. This witty and charming Family Entertainment movie sees Milo Parker ("Robot Overlords") team up with the animated Asg, the “Averagely Spooky Ghost” Hugo, to save the world from the “Ancient Ice Ghost”. A promo will be made available for buyers.
From the producer of 2013 Golden Bear winner “Child’s Pose” comes “Aferim!” playing in Berlinale Competition. Policeman Costandin, a charismatic mixture of a funny Stalin and a somewhat more pragmatic Don Quixote, and his shy and introverted son ride through the rural countryside In search of a fugitive Gypsy slave. Meeting hundreds of characters, delivering a surprise in every scene, this is an ingenious Western in a very wild East of 19th century Romania directed by Radu Jude (“Everybody in our Family”) and produced by HiFilm’s Ada Solomon, Klas, Endorfilm and Mulberry Development, and stars Teodor Corban (“Child’s Pose”, “Beyond the Hills”), Mihai Comãnoiu and Cuzin Toma.
Forum entry “Zurich," Oliver Hirschbiegel’s "13 Minutes" (Competition - Out of Competition) plus this year’s Sundance Audience Award winner “Umrika” and the new Sky Italia series “1992" kicking off the Berlinale Special Series section make this a banner Berlin for Beta Cinema.
In official selection/out of competition bows Nazi resistance drama "13 Minutes" about failed Hitler assassin Georg Elser. Oliver Hirschbiegel, whose Academy Award nominated “Downfall” is one of the most successful Beta Cinema titles ever with 145 sold territories, presents a stunning, emotional portrait of the resistance fighter and his attack on the Munich Bürgerbräukeller on November 8th 1939. Georg Elser was a man who could have changed world history and saved millions of human lives, but his bomb, built to tear Adolf Hitler apart, exploded 13 minutes late. Produced by Lucky Bird’s Oliver Schündler and Boris Ausserer, who just recently won the Bavarian Film Award for "13 Minutes", and written by Fred Breinersdorfer (“Sophie Scholl”), the feature stars Christian Friedel (“The White Ribbon”), Katharina Schüttler (“Generation of War” ) and Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”).
Dutch filmmaker Sacha Polak, who received the prestigious Fipresci-award at the 2012 Berlinale for Hemel, presents with "Zurich" her second feature film, a road movie starring famous Dutch singer and performance artist Wende Snijders. "Zurich" (Viking Film/Rohfilm/Private View/Nrt/Zdf/arte) revolves around Nina, who is wandering along Europe’s motorways in a desperate attempt to leave the past behind. Slowly it becomes clear that Nina’s drive to hang around in the truckers’ scene is a result of the pain caused by the ultimate betrayal that has befallen her. Sacha Polak developed the script by author Helena van der Meulen during last year’s Berlinale Residency program.
Kicking off the Berlinale Special Series, designated to promote outstanding international TV-series, is the political thriller "1992" from Sky Italia ("Gomorrah"), La 7 and Wildside. Over 20 years ago, on February 17th 1992, the first arrest within the so-called Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) maxi-investigation was made in Italy. It was the symbolic start of a revolution. "1992" revolves around six ordinary people whose lives are intertwined with the country's political, civil and social earthquake. The 10xone hour series stars Stefano Accorsi (idea), Guido Caprino and Miriam Leone; director is Giuseppe Gagliardi.
Celebrating its Berlin Market Premiere is Prashant Nair’s Indian drama "Umrika," which just recently received the Audience Award at Sundance, starring world-renowned, up-and-coming young actors Suraj Sharma ("Life of Pi") and Tony Revolori ("The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Dope"). "Umrika" (Hindi for America) is about a small village in India that is invigorated when one of their own travels to America, sharing his adventures and inspiring hope through letters home. But when the letters mysteriously stop coming, his brother sets out on a journey to find him.
Also premiering at the market is the fourth adventure of "The Famous Five" (Sam Film/Constantin), in which Enid Blyton’s teenager gang venture thousands of miles and thousands of years back in time to solve yet another nail-biting mystery. Prolific maverick filmmaker Detlev Buck ("Hands off Mississippi") presents as international market premiere "Bibi & Tina 2," an inventive live-action adaptation of the teen-adventure and romance in the beloved “Bibi & Tina” universe.
Amongst the upcoming titles, "Colonia" is heading the slate, starring Emma Watson in her first lead role since "Harry Potter" alongside Daniel Brühl ("Rush") as her abducted boyfriend and opposite a very sinister Mikael Nykvist ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"). The $15 million production wrapped shooting mid-January and is being presold at the European Film Market.
"Ghosthunters: On Icy Trails" marks another English-language presales highlight for the Efm. This witty and charming Family Entertainment movie sees Milo Parker ("Robot Overlords") team up with the animated Asg, the “Averagely Spooky Ghost” Hugo, to save the world from the “Ancient Ice Ghost”. A promo will be made available for buyers.
- 2/8/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
- 1/8/2015
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...
- 1/8/2015
- by Matt Patches
- Hitfix
Perks of Using the Star System: Tognazzi’s Tale a Tad Too Familiar
Maria Sole Tognazzi, daughter of famed actor/director Ugo Tognazzi, visits the mid-life crisis mode of the single female for her third feature, A Five Star Life. Featuring one of Italy’s most noted leading ladies, Margherita Buy, this rather reserved exercise feels far too buttoned up to make any lasting impression, genuine as everyone involved seems to be. The plotting, the scenario, and the eventual outcome are all far too familiar, (unique occupations aside) to register as anything more than standard cliché. Several subplots seem like a bid to pad out the running time rather than furthering the development of supporting characters.
A single, childless fortysomething woman, Irene (Buy) seems to have a dream job as a luxury hotel inspector. Sailing into extravagant lodges, she plays a mystery guest, ticking off demerits on the service and presentation.
Maria Sole Tognazzi, daughter of famed actor/director Ugo Tognazzi, visits the mid-life crisis mode of the single female for her third feature, A Five Star Life. Featuring one of Italy’s most noted leading ladies, Margherita Buy, this rather reserved exercise feels far too buttoned up to make any lasting impression, genuine as everyone involved seems to be. The plotting, the scenario, and the eventual outcome are all far too familiar, (unique occupations aside) to register as anything more than standard cliché. Several subplots seem like a bid to pad out the running time rather than furthering the development of supporting characters.
A single, childless fortysomething woman, Irene (Buy) seems to have a dream job as a luxury hotel inspector. Sailing into extravagant lodges, she plays a mystery guest, ticking off demerits on the service and presentation.
- 7/23/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
As stilted as its protagonist's suffocatingly organized existence, A Five Star Life follows Irene (Margherita Buy) as she travels from one beautiful European resort to another in order to inspect, secretly, the quality of their accommodations.
A thorough critic, Irene is nonetheless oblivious to her own loneliness, too busy dishing out tough grades to resorts, as well as dealing with a sister (Fabrizia Sacchi) who constantly berates her for not having a family, and a former lover (Stefano Accorsi) whom Irene fears may stop being her bestie because of the baby he's having with another woman (Fausto Maria Sciarappa).
From Italy to France to Morocco to Germany, director Maria Sole Tognazzi shoots her material with stately grace but a distinct lack of energy, which ...
A thorough critic, Irene is nonetheless oblivious to her own loneliness, too busy dishing out tough grades to resorts, as well as dealing with a sister (Fabrizia Sacchi) who constantly berates her for not having a family, and a former lover (Stefano Accorsi) whom Irene fears may stop being her bestie because of the baby he's having with another woman (Fausto Maria Sciarappa).
From Italy to France to Morocco to Germany, director Maria Sole Tognazzi shoots her material with stately grace but a distinct lack of energy, which ...
- 7/16/2014
- Village Voice
A Five Star Life (Viaggio sola) Music Box Films Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: A- Director: Maria Sole Tognazzi Screenplay: Ivan Cotroneo, Francesca Marciano Cast: Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville, Henry Arnold Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/30/14 Opens: July 18, 2014 A typical five-star hotel in the more expensive areas of Europe, Morocco and China would cost, figure, oh, $700 a night and up. And that doesn’t include the enormous tip that would be expected for your butler, assigned to you only, waiting in the hall at your beck and call with room service treats that, of course, [ Read More ]
The post A Five Star Life Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post A Five Star Life Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/14/2014
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Title: Viaggio Sola Director: Maria Sole Tognazzi Starring: Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizia Sacchi, Gian Marco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville ‘Viaggio Sola’ (I travel on my own) is a great commercial to promote the Leading Hotels in the World consortium, but as movie it is pretty mediocre. The story spins around the forty year old, single, childless, Irene (Margherita Buy), who is completely absorbed by her job as incognito-reviewer of five star hotels. Her jet-hopping life intertwines with the brief moments she spends with her sister, Silvia (Fabrizia Sacchi), who is married and has two daughters, and her ex boyfriend, Andrea (Stefano Accorsi). Irene is self-sufficient, she doesn’t need a [ Read More ]
The post Viaggio Sola Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Viaggio Sola Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 4/19/2013
- by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
- ShockYa
Philippe Claudel's Tous les soleils has a good concept of comedy: the colash of two generations embodied by a single father and his teenager daughter. Unfortunately, the film loses some momentum as we get into its story's second half.
Alessandro (Stefano Accorsi), an Italian immigrant, teaches baroque music at the University of Strasbourg in France. His 15-year-old daughter, Irina (Lisa Cipriani), and his irresponsible brother, Luigi (Neri Marcorè), live with him. However, Alessandro often has teh feeling he lives with two teenagers instead of one.
Irina is going through her teenager crisis and has a new boyfriend. As for Luigi, he's always wanted to be accepted as a political refugee in France ever since Sylvio Berlusconi came to power in Italy. Moreover, because he spends so much time looking over his daughter's shoulder, Alessandro has forgotten to look for love. This is because his wife died when Irina was 2 years old.
Alessandro (Stefano Accorsi), an Italian immigrant, teaches baroque music at the University of Strasbourg in France. His 15-year-old daughter, Irina (Lisa Cipriani), and his irresponsible brother, Luigi (Neri Marcorè), live with him. However, Alessandro often has teh feeling he lives with two teenagers instead of one.
Irina is going through her teenager crisis and has a new boyfriend. As for Luigi, he's always wanted to be accepted as a political refugee in France ever since Sylvio Berlusconi came to power in Italy. Moreover, because he spends so much time looking over his daughter's shoulder, Alessandro has forgotten to look for love. This is because his wife died when Irina was 2 years old.
- 7/28/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Stefano Accorsi, Italian actor, is developing Versus, a thriller focusing on an international jewel heist gang known as the Pink Panthers, with Julien Lancombe, Pascal Sid and Accorsi writing, reports Variety. Accorsi will make his directorial debut with Versus and describes the French crime flick as "a meticulously researched reconstruction" of some of the spectacular heists pulled off by the thieves who since 1993 have been worth over half a billion dollars in places including Dubai, Tokyo, London, Paris, Monaco and Biarritz, seen from the ever-chasing Interpol perspective...
- 2/22/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Stefano Accorsi, Italian actor, is developing Versus, a thriller focusing on an international jewel heist gang known as the Pink Panthers, with Julien Lancombe, Pascal Sid and Accorsi writing, reports Variety. Accorsi will make his directorial debut with Versus and describes the French crime flick as "a meticulously researched reconstruction" of some of the spectacular heists pulled off by the thieves who since 1993 have been worth over half a billion dollars in places including Dubai, Tokyo, London, Paris, Monaco and Biarritz, seen from the ever-chasing Interpol perspective...
- 2/22/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
French director Philippe Claudel is slowly starting to emerge as the director of love, or so it seems. With his debut film entitled I’ve Loved you so Long and his follow-up film titled Silence of Love it seems that he has a fascination with dramas circled around relationships.
Set to hit theaters on April 20, 2011 in France, Silence of Love stars Stefano Accorsi, Clotilde Courau , Neri Marcore, Lisa Cipriani, and Anouk Aime.
Thanks to Collider’s coverage over at the American Film Market, we are lucky enough to have some details, including the synopsis, along with some images from the upcoming drama. You can check them out below:
Synopsis:
Alessandro is an Italian professor of baroque music living in Strasbourg with his daughter, Irina, 15, in a mid-teenage crisis, and his brother Crampone, a delightfully eccentric anarchist who has repeatedly applied for refugee status ever since Berlusconi came to power.
Alessandro...
Set to hit theaters on April 20, 2011 in France, Silence of Love stars Stefano Accorsi, Clotilde Courau , Neri Marcore, Lisa Cipriani, and Anouk Aime.
Thanks to Collider’s coverage over at the American Film Market, we are lucky enough to have some details, including the synopsis, along with some images from the upcoming drama. You can check them out below:
Synopsis:
Alessandro is an Italian professor of baroque music living in Strasbourg with his daughter, Irina, 15, in a mid-teenage crisis, and his brother Crampone, a delightfully eccentric anarchist who has repeatedly applied for refugee status ever since Berlusconi came to power.
Alessandro...
- 11/16/2010
- by Alex DiGiovanna
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Never to early to prognosticate on film festival line-up predictions that are still a good seven months away. One filmmaker who has been endorsed by the festival a couple of years back with his melodrama, I've Loved You So Long, is currently filming his sophomore feature. Formerly known as "Silence of Love", Philippe Claudel’s Tous les Soleils (“All the Suns”) is being labeled as an Italian comedy (here is some footage) set in the multi-linguistic city of Strasbourg - a place the filmmaker appears to appreciate for it's cultural Euro- diversity. Starring a mix of French and Italian factors Stefano Accorsi, Neri Marcore, Clothilde Courau, Anouk Aimée, scripted by the director, the film centres on Alessandro, an Italian man who teaches baroque music and lives in Strasbourg with his 15-year-old, crisis-stricken daughter Irina, and his brother Crampone, a harmless anarchist lunatic who hasn’t stopped applying for political refugee...
- 7/24/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Philippe Claudel's change in disciplines (he went from novelist to filmmaker) was extremely well-received if you consider the number of international film festival awards and film critic prizes that I've Loved You So Long racked up. Looks like we won't have to wait too long for Claudel's sophomore project. - Philippe Claudel's change in disciplines (he went from novelist to filmmaker) was extremely well-received if you consider the number of international film festival awards and film critic prizes that I've Loved You So Long racked up. Looks like we won't have to wait too long for Claudel's sophomore project. Screen Daily reports that his next project will be set in Strasbourg, and works as a dramedy centering on a widowed music teacher. Euro actor Stefano Accorsi plays the lead in Silence d'Amour (Silence of Love). Filming begins in May, and could be ready for Berlin 2011 - the...
- 2/16/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
French director and novelist Philippe Claudel is set to direct "Silence d'Amour" ("Silence of Love"). The follow-up to his directorial debut "I've Loved You So Long" is set in Strasbourg and is a dramedy focusing on a widowed music teacher. Stefano Accorsi, Italian lead actor of "Romanzo Criminale," will star. Producing are Yves Marmion's company Ugc Ym. Filming starts in may and French company TF1 International has foreign sales rights. Claudel won numerous awards for his work on "I've Loved You So Long" which includes a BAFTA Film Award for the best non-English-language film and a Cesar award for best film. Pic managed to make more than $3 million in the U.S. and over $15 million overseas.
- 2/15/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
I've never seen The Untouchables and I didn't like this film. While the performance of the cast was okay, I just didn't like the idea to have a film that briefly documents what the Mobile Brigade did without much context and explanations. Hopefully, Diane Kruger plays in the film.
In 1907, a new wave (and kind) of crimes becomes part of the France's from the Belle Époque. This is why Georges Clemenceau, the French Minister of the Interior, creates the mobile brigades. However, the public opinion calls them the Tiger Brigades. In Paris, Inspector Constantin must fight a group of anarchists and corrupted civil servants and Constance (Diane Kruger), the wife of a Russian prince, in 1912. As his investigation progresses, Constantin will come to wonder if the signature of the Triple Alliance will contribute to France's national security.
Honestly, many won't have a problem with the fact that Les brigades du tigre...
In 1907, a new wave (and kind) of crimes becomes part of the France's from the Belle Époque. This is why Georges Clemenceau, the French Minister of the Interior, creates the mobile brigades. However, the public opinion calls them the Tiger Brigades. In Paris, Inspector Constantin must fight a group of anarchists and corrupted civil servants and Constance (Diane Kruger), the wife of a Russian prince, in 1912. As his investigation progresses, Constantin will come to wonder if the signature of the Triple Alliance will contribute to France's national security.
Honestly, many won't have a problem with the fact that Les brigades du tigre...
- 11/12/2009
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Reuters/Eric Gaillard /Landov It’s a girl! Model and actress Laetitia Casta and her partner Stefano Accorsi welcomed their second child together on Saturday, August 29th, according to Purepeople. Much like the pregnancy, details surrounding the birth of daughter Athena have been kept quiet; Reps for the couple have yet to release a statement confirming the news.
Athena is joined by big brother Orlando, 3 this month, and Sahteene, 7 ½, Laetitia’s daughter with ex Stéphane Sednaoui.
While Laetitia stayed mum throughout the months she was expecting, there was no need for an announcement as her burgeoning belly did all the talking! In May, during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival, Laetitia strutted her stuff on the red carpet and proudly displayed her growing bump in a fitted black dress.
Source: Purepeople
Thanks to Cbb readers Victoria, Stella, and Geraldine.
– Anya
Posted in Births, Main...
Athena is joined by big brother Orlando, 3 this month, and Sahteene, 7 ½, Laetitia’s daughter with ex Stéphane Sednaoui.
While Laetitia stayed mum throughout the months she was expecting, there was no need for an announcement as her burgeoning belly did all the talking! In May, during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival, Laetitia strutted her stuff on the red carpet and proudly displayed her growing bump in a fitted black dress.
Source: Purepeople
Thanks to Cbb readers Victoria, Stella, and Geraldine.
– Anya
Posted in Births, Main...
- 9/2/2009
- by Anya
- People - CelebrityBabies
BERLIN -- This Italian gangster movie is based on a novel titled "Crime Novel" (Romanzo Criminale). So why not call this "Crime Movie"? Because even though the story reputedly portrays a real gang of street punks that did rise to some power in Rome from 1977-92, the movie feels totally generic. We've seen all these moves before -- all these massacres, betrayals, drug deals and double crosses, the intrepid police inspector, great whore, merciless leader and the falling out among gang members once delusions of grandeur or grasps at respectability go to their tiny brains.
Truth be told, when moviemakers go up against Coppola or Scorsese, they need charismatic characters and a wicked story line. Alas, Michele Placido and writers Giancarlo De Cataldo, Stefano Rulli and Sandro Petraglia, adapting De Cataldo's novel, are stuck with cruel characters and crude action that provoke little excitement.
Warner Bros. Pictures is one of the producers of "Crime Novel", but there probably isn't too much domestic coin to be made from the film. It should do well in action markets and could turn up at a festival here or there.
On the plus side, Placido does give audiences juicy action and superficial though lively characters. He even has an eye for tourist sights. A clandestine meeting takes place in front of the ancient Forum. A girl brings her gangster date to an old church to admire its Caravaggio. A guy gets knifed to death on the Spanish Steps. You half expect a bloody body to get dumped into the Trevi Fountain.
These gangsters come from the streets and never really clean up their act. As kids, they joyride in a stolen car through a police blockade and over a cop, an act that lands several in prison. They emerge as hardened criminals, each with his own criminal moniker.
Lebanese (a scruffy-bearded Pierfrancesco Favino) is the natural born leader, uncompromising in his brutality but untutored in the subtleties of dealing with Mafia dons, terrorists or the Secret Service. Ice (handsome Kim Rossi Stuart) actually has smoothness, as he comes from wealth. He eventually tires of the whole criminal experience, perhaps because of his love for Roberta (beautiful Jasmine Trinca), an innocent art lover unaware of her boyfriend's occupation.
Dandy (the equally handsome Claudio Santamaria) also longs to be "normal," but that doesn't mean dropping Rome's greatest prostitute, Patrizia (sultry Anna Mouglalis), as his lover. He even sets her up with her own luxury bordello.
The police are absorbed in a battle with homegrown terrorists during this time, so it falls to Capt. Scialoja (Stefano Accorsi) to dog the gang's every step for years. In doing so, he forms an ambiguous relationship with Patrizia; indeed he may be her only lover to actually love her.
The film interweaves the gang's activities with major events in recent Italian history, especially the Red Brigade terror. The film hints that the gang may have crossed over into working with terrorists, but this is never completely clear.
Eventually, the endless killings and emotional face-offs between the gang members as they predictably fall out become numbingly repetitive. So muddled is the action that one can be excused for missing a plot point or misidentifying a character.
Luca Bigazzi's camera is fluid and alive to the action. Nicoletta Taranta's stylish period costumes and Paola Comencini's sets are magazine-quality. A score of pop hits of the era and Paolo Buonvino's lush, ominous music put plenty of flavors into these Roman rumblings. But as one Mafia don says, there have been too many killings by this rudderless gang and " 'too much' is the enemy of fairness." That is an apt criticism of this movie, too.
CRIME NOVEL
Cattleya/Warner Bros. Pictures
Credits:
Director: Michele Placido
Screenwriters: Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia, Giancarlo De Cataldo
Based on the novel by: Giancarlo De Cataldo
Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Director of photography: Luca Bigazzi
Production designer: Paola Comencini
Music: Paolo Buonvino
Costumes: Nicoletta Taranta
Editor: Esmeralda Calabria
Cast:
Ice: Kim Rossi Stuart
Patrizia: Anna Mouglalis
Lebanese: Pierfrancesco Favino
Dandy: Claudio Santamaria
Scialoja: Stefano Accorsi
Black: Riccardo Scamarcio
Roberta: Jasmine Trinca
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 153 minutes...
Truth be told, when moviemakers go up against Coppola or Scorsese, they need charismatic characters and a wicked story line. Alas, Michele Placido and writers Giancarlo De Cataldo, Stefano Rulli and Sandro Petraglia, adapting De Cataldo's novel, are stuck with cruel characters and crude action that provoke little excitement.
Warner Bros. Pictures is one of the producers of "Crime Novel", but there probably isn't too much domestic coin to be made from the film. It should do well in action markets and could turn up at a festival here or there.
On the plus side, Placido does give audiences juicy action and superficial though lively characters. He even has an eye for tourist sights. A clandestine meeting takes place in front of the ancient Forum. A girl brings her gangster date to an old church to admire its Caravaggio. A guy gets knifed to death on the Spanish Steps. You half expect a bloody body to get dumped into the Trevi Fountain.
These gangsters come from the streets and never really clean up their act. As kids, they joyride in a stolen car through a police blockade and over a cop, an act that lands several in prison. They emerge as hardened criminals, each with his own criminal moniker.
Lebanese (a scruffy-bearded Pierfrancesco Favino) is the natural born leader, uncompromising in his brutality but untutored in the subtleties of dealing with Mafia dons, terrorists or the Secret Service. Ice (handsome Kim Rossi Stuart) actually has smoothness, as he comes from wealth. He eventually tires of the whole criminal experience, perhaps because of his love for Roberta (beautiful Jasmine Trinca), an innocent art lover unaware of her boyfriend's occupation.
Dandy (the equally handsome Claudio Santamaria) also longs to be "normal," but that doesn't mean dropping Rome's greatest prostitute, Patrizia (sultry Anna Mouglalis), as his lover. He even sets her up with her own luxury bordello.
The police are absorbed in a battle with homegrown terrorists during this time, so it falls to Capt. Scialoja (Stefano Accorsi) to dog the gang's every step for years. In doing so, he forms an ambiguous relationship with Patrizia; indeed he may be her only lover to actually love her.
The film interweaves the gang's activities with major events in recent Italian history, especially the Red Brigade terror. The film hints that the gang may have crossed over into working with terrorists, but this is never completely clear.
Eventually, the endless killings and emotional face-offs between the gang members as they predictably fall out become numbingly repetitive. So muddled is the action that one can be excused for missing a plot point or misidentifying a character.
Luca Bigazzi's camera is fluid and alive to the action. Nicoletta Taranta's stylish period costumes and Paola Comencini's sets are magazine-quality. A score of pop hits of the era and Paolo Buonvino's lush, ominous music put plenty of flavors into these Roman rumblings. But as one Mafia don says, there have been too many killings by this rudderless gang and " 'too much' is the enemy of fairness." That is an apt criticism of this movie, too.
CRIME NOVEL
Cattleya/Warner Bros. Pictures
Credits:
Director: Michele Placido
Screenwriters: Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia, Giancarlo De Cataldo
Based on the novel by: Giancarlo De Cataldo
Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Director of photography: Luca Bigazzi
Production designer: Paola Comencini
Music: Paolo Buonvino
Costumes: Nicoletta Taranta
Editor: Esmeralda Calabria
Cast:
Ice: Kim Rossi Stuart
Patrizia: Anna Mouglalis
Lebanese: Pierfrancesco Favino
Dandy: Claudio Santamaria
Scialoja: Stefano Accorsi
Black: Riccardo Scamarcio
Roberta: Jasmine Trinca
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 153 minutes...
- 2/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Pictured above: Laurence Kardish (MoMa) Antonio Monda (Nyu), Giampoalo Letta (Medusa Films), Salvatore Ferragamo (Ferragamo), and Mario Sesti (Film Critic) MoMA has done it again. Another tribute to Italian Cinema has arrived at the Museum of Modern Art. Following the tribute to Antonio Capuano and the tribute to Gianni Amelio, MoMA has hooked up with Medus Films and Salvatore Ferragamo to celebrate Medusa Film’s 10th Anniversary. As I was sitting in at the press conference for this event, I looked on stage and saw Ettore Scola. I turned to my right and saw Dario Argento. I look behind me and saw Paolo Sorrentino. I looked in front of me and saw Stefano Accorsi. It was the who’s who of Italian Cinema yesterday and today. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the production and distribution company Medusa, the president of Medusa donated 14 of their most popular titles to
- 1/20/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
BERLIN -- Smalltown, Italy is a dreary affair about a working-class sap who, through no fault of his own, loses his family and many possessions only to miraculously win his life back in the final reel. Documentarian and music video director Stefano Mordini, here making the leap in features, might want audiences to accept this as a fable despite the highly naturalistic setting. But the implausible behavior and obscure motives are too alienating for the film to achieve any emotional resonance. Future festival dates might loom, but this Italian film has at best only modest prospects in European art houses.
Marco (Stefano Accorsi) works the night shift at a factory to provide for his young and beautiful wife, Silvia (Valentina Cervi), two children, dog and iguana. The first sign of trouble is the wife's insistence on keeping their eldest child, Sonia (Adele Ferruzzi), out of school. Why she does so is never clear. So her meddlesome mother intervenes and has Sonia legally removed to her home.
This sends Silvia into a profound depression in which she locks herself in a bedroom for days. When her husband invites a Russian mechanic (Ivan Franek) to stay in the apartment while he fixes Marco's car, Silvia inexplicably emerges from seclusion to have sex with this total stranger.
Nine months later, a baby is born, and the movie would have us believe everyone can tell Marco is not the father. So Marco goes berserk. His unfaithful wife then abandons the household, taking the boy and baby to live with the Russian on his boat. Now alone, a condition that Marco cannot stand, the poor man begins to call a phone service that offers to solve all of life's problems.
None of these events makes sense, and they add up to nonsense. What on earth has Marco done to deserve the trials of Job? His only minor flaw is overindulgence in video games. There appears to be a class difference between Marco and his wife's family, but no conflict ever arises from this. Silvia seems genuinely happy with her life with this man and children so why the irresponsible behavior and betrayal?
Mordini goes in for all the superficial aspects of truthful cinema -- hand-held camera, natural lighting, harsh urban landscapes, scruffy interiors and humorless dialogue. But his film feels false from beginning to end.
Marco (Stefano Accorsi) works the night shift at a factory to provide for his young and beautiful wife, Silvia (Valentina Cervi), two children, dog and iguana. The first sign of trouble is the wife's insistence on keeping their eldest child, Sonia (Adele Ferruzzi), out of school. Why she does so is never clear. So her meddlesome mother intervenes and has Sonia legally removed to her home.
This sends Silvia into a profound depression in which she locks herself in a bedroom for days. When her husband invites a Russian mechanic (Ivan Franek) to stay in the apartment while he fixes Marco's car, Silvia inexplicably emerges from seclusion to have sex with this total stranger.
Nine months later, a baby is born, and the movie would have us believe everyone can tell Marco is not the father. So Marco goes berserk. His unfaithful wife then abandons the household, taking the boy and baby to live with the Russian on his boat. Now alone, a condition that Marco cannot stand, the poor man begins to call a phone service that offers to solve all of life's problems.
None of these events makes sense, and they add up to nonsense. What on earth has Marco done to deserve the trials of Job? His only minor flaw is overindulgence in video games. There appears to be a class difference between Marco and his wife's family, but no conflict ever arises from this. Silvia seems genuinely happy with her life with this man and children so why the irresponsible behavior and betrayal?
Mordini goes in for all the superficial aspects of truthful cinema -- hand-held camera, natural lighting, harsh urban landscapes, scruffy interiors and humorless dialogue. But his film feels false from beginning to end.
- 2/23/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BERLIN -- Smalltown, Italy is a dreary affair about a working-class sap, who through no fault of his own loses his family and many possessions only to miraculously win his life back in the final reel.Documentarian and music video director Stefano Mordini, here making the leap in features, may want audiences to accept this as a fable despite the highly naturalistic setting. But the implausible behavior and obscure motives are too alienating for the film to achieve any emotional resonance. Future festival dates may loom, but this Italian film has at best only modest prospects in European art houses.
Marco (Stefano Accorsi) works the night shift at a factory to provide for his young and beautiful wife Silvia (Valentina Cervi), two children, a pet dog and iguana. The first sign of trouble is the wife's insistence on keeping their eldest child, Sonia (Adele Ferruzzi), out of school. Why she does so is never clear. So her meddlesome mother intervenes and has Sonia legally removed to her home.
This sends Silvia into a profound depression where she locks herself in a bedroom for days. When her husband invites a Russian mechanic (Ivan Franek) to stay in the apartment while he fixes Marco's car, Silvia inexplicably emerges from seclusion to have sex with this total stranger.
Nine months later, a baby is born and the movie would have us believe everyone can tell Marco is not the father. So Marco goes berserk. His unfaithful wife then abandons the household, taking the boy and baby to live with the Russian on his boat. Now alone, a condition that Marco cannot stand, the poor man begins to call a phone service that offers to solve all of life's problems.
None of these events makes sense and culmulatively they add up to nonsense. What on earth has Marco done to deserve the trials of Job? His only minor flaw is overindulgence in video games. There appears to be a class difference between Marco and his wife's family but no conflict ever arises from this. Silvia seems genuinely happy with her life with this man and children so why the irresponsible behavior and betrayal?
Mordini goes in for all the superficial aspects of truthful cinema -- hand-held camera, natural lighting, harsh urban landscapes, scruffy interiors and humorless dialogue. But his film feels false from beginning to end.
Marco (Stefano Accorsi) works the night shift at a factory to provide for his young and beautiful wife Silvia (Valentina Cervi), two children, a pet dog and iguana. The first sign of trouble is the wife's insistence on keeping their eldest child, Sonia (Adele Ferruzzi), out of school. Why she does so is never clear. So her meddlesome mother intervenes and has Sonia legally removed to her home.
This sends Silvia into a profound depression where she locks herself in a bedroom for days. When her husband invites a Russian mechanic (Ivan Franek) to stay in the apartment while he fixes Marco's car, Silvia inexplicably emerges from seclusion to have sex with this total stranger.
Nine months later, a baby is born and the movie would have us believe everyone can tell Marco is not the father. So Marco goes berserk. His unfaithful wife then abandons the household, taking the boy and baby to live with the Russian on his boat. Now alone, a condition that Marco cannot stand, the poor man begins to call a phone service that offers to solve all of life's problems.
None of these events makes sense and culmulatively they add up to nonsense. What on earth has Marco done to deserve the trials of Job? His only minor flaw is overindulgence in video games. There appears to be a class difference between Marco and his wife's family but no conflict ever arises from this. Silvia seems genuinely happy with her life with this man and children so why the irresponsible behavior and betrayal?
Mordini goes in for all the superficial aspects of truthful cinema -- hand-held camera, natural lighting, harsh urban landscapes, scruffy interiors and humorless dialogue. But his film feels false from beginning to end.
- 2/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Just in case the title doesn't say it all, An Italian Romance is indeed a big, glossy romance set in fascist Italy.
And that's the problem.
Everything about the Italian-French co-production has a warmed-over, been-there-done-that quality. Carlo Mazzacurati's film is certainly easy on the eyes, but the banal storytelling and uninteresting characters add up to a production that's as generic as its English-language title.
Meet Giovanni (Stefano Accorsi), a bank clerk who travels by train each day to his job in Livorno, a town that brings back old memories of a steamy interlude he once had with a blonde on the beach.
Meet Maria (Maya Sansa), the blonde in question who's now a brunette. Giovanni doesn't recognize her right away, but pretty soon he's making up for lost time, and the fact that he's got a wife and kid at home doesn't seem to be slowing either of them down.
While the performances are fine, the characters just aren't that interesting. Since Giovanni's being married and having a family doesn't seem to faze him in the least, his character is devoid of a conscience, robbing the story of some much needed conflict. Even the onset of World War II seems to be more about giving Giovanni an excuse to look good in a uniform rather than creating any real tension.
Director Mazzacurati may be saying that when two people are crazy in love, nothing else around them really matters. That's fine for them, but the onlookers need something more substantial than lush lighting and scenic vistas.
And that's the problem.
Everything about the Italian-French co-production has a warmed-over, been-there-done-that quality. Carlo Mazzacurati's film is certainly easy on the eyes, but the banal storytelling and uninteresting characters add up to a production that's as generic as its English-language title.
Meet Giovanni (Stefano Accorsi), a bank clerk who travels by train each day to his job in Livorno, a town that brings back old memories of a steamy interlude he once had with a blonde on the beach.
Meet Maria (Maya Sansa), the blonde in question who's now a brunette. Giovanni doesn't recognize her right away, but pretty soon he's making up for lost time, and the fact that he's got a wife and kid at home doesn't seem to be slowing either of them down.
While the performances are fine, the characters just aren't that interesting. Since Giovanni's being married and having a family doesn't seem to faze him in the least, his character is devoid of a conscience, robbing the story of some much needed conflict. Even the onset of World War II seems to be more about giving Giovanni an excuse to look good in a uniform rather than creating any real tension.
Director Mazzacurati may be saying that when two people are crazy in love, nothing else around them really matters. That's fine for them, but the onlookers need something more substantial than lush lighting and scenic vistas.
- 10/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Veteran Italian director Mario Monicelli will head the Venice International Film Festival's main competition jury, organizers said Tuesday. The festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6. Monicelli, who received the festival's Golden Lion for The Great War in 1959, will preside over a seven-person jury that includes U.S. producer Monty Montgomery (The Portrait of a Lady) and German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, (GoodFellas, Dracula). Also on the jury are Italian actor Stefano Accorsi, French writer-director Pierre Jolivet, Spanish actress Assumpta Serna and Hong Kong director Ann Hui.
- 8/13/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Strand Releasing
An occasionally moving if ultimately familiar soap opera, this film from Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek ("Steam: The Turkish Bath") concerns a man's secret gay life uncovered by his grieving widow.
The middle-aged Antonia (Margherita Buy) is happily living with her handsome doctor husband Massimo (Andrea Renzi) in a suburb of Rome when he is killed in a car accident. Recovering his possessions from his office, a romantic inscription on the back of a painting clues her in to the fact that he had a secret lover. When she attempts to confront the person in question, she discovers, much to her shock, that the lover, Michele, is actually a handsome young man (Stefano Accorsi) who lives with a large makeshift family in a crowded apartment in a working-class district.
Not particularly welcomed by a resentful Michele, the shocked Antonia attempts to come to grips with this revelation, and she doesn't find much sympathy from her less-than-tactful mother. But she quickly finds herself drawn to her late husband's alternate household, forming friendships with its various inhabitants, which include a flamboyant transsexual and a young man dying of AIDS. She and Michele become close as well, with more than a hint of romantic sparks between them.
The film's messages of tolerance and diversity aren't particularly original, but one can't help but be drawn in by the sympathetic characters, who are given life by the superb performances by the two leads and the supporting cast. Buy is deeply moving as the emotionally confused widow, and Renzi is greatly appealing as the secret lover. Filmmaker Ozpetek never overemphasizes the story line's more melodramatic aspects, and the sensitive dialogue and characterizations largely ring true, even if the latter occasionally border on stereotype.
An occasionally moving if ultimately familiar soap opera, this film from Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek ("Steam: The Turkish Bath") concerns a man's secret gay life uncovered by his grieving widow.
The middle-aged Antonia (Margherita Buy) is happily living with her handsome doctor husband Massimo (Andrea Renzi) in a suburb of Rome when he is killed in a car accident. Recovering his possessions from his office, a romantic inscription on the back of a painting clues her in to the fact that he had a secret lover. When she attempts to confront the person in question, she discovers, much to her shock, that the lover, Michele, is actually a handsome young man (Stefano Accorsi) who lives with a large makeshift family in a crowded apartment in a working-class district.
Not particularly welcomed by a resentful Michele, the shocked Antonia attempts to come to grips with this revelation, and she doesn't find much sympathy from her less-than-tactful mother. But she quickly finds herself drawn to her late husband's alternate household, forming friendships with its various inhabitants, which include a flamboyant transsexual and a young man dying of AIDS. She and Michele become close as well, with more than a hint of romantic sparks between them.
The film's messages of tolerance and diversity aren't particularly original, but one can't help but be drawn in by the sympathetic characters, who are given life by the superb performances by the two leads and the supporting cast. Buy is deeply moving as the emotionally confused widow, and Renzi is greatly appealing as the secret lover. Filmmaker Ozpetek never overemphasizes the story line's more melodramatic aspects, and the sensitive dialogue and characterizations largely ring true, even if the latter occasionally border on stereotype.
- 10/7/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Outlaw", written and directed by Enzo Monteleone (the screenwriter of the Oscar-winning "Mediterraneo"), demonstrates that hostage negotiation plots are no less popular abroad than here. The film doesn't compare in quality to the standard bearer of the genre, "Dog Day Afternoon", but it is an engaging and entertaining effort refreshingly free of heavy-handedness. It is receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
The film is based on a portion of the autobiography of Horst Fantazzini, Italy's so-called "gentleman bandit" of the 1960s, a bank robber armed with a toy gun and known both for his excessive politeness -- he once sent flowers to a bank teller who fainted with fear during her ordeal -- and his revolutionary zeal. He's the kind of crook who's fond of quoting Brecht's maxim, "It is more criminal to found a bank than to rob one."
In 1973, during Italy's holiday season, Fantazzini (appealingly played by Stefano Accorsi) made one of his many attempts to escape from jail, this time using a real gun. The attempt went awry and, holding two guards as hostages, he attempted to negotiate his way out. During this daylong ordeal, he must also endure phone calls from his anarchist father, who berates him for his stupidity, and the prison's warden, who mostly complains about being forced from his beach vacation.
Although it has its tense moments, the film mainly concentrates on depicting the affable nature of its unique hero and delineating the emotional interplay between him and his agreeable but frightened captives, as well as the frenzied communications between the various levels of state bureaucracy trying to end the crisis. The screenplay is deft and clever without being particularly resonant or deep, and one can often feel the filmmaker struggling to find a coherent tone somewhere between farce and tragedy.
Ultimately, like its central character, "Outlaw" mainly comes across as confused.
OUTLAW
Adriana Chiesa Enterprises
Credits: Director: Enzo Monteleone; Writers: Enzo Monteleone, Angelo Orlando; Producer: Gianfranco Piccioli; Executive producer: Mino Barbera; Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinai; Editor: Cecilia Zanuso;
Music: Pivio De Scalzi, Aldo De Scalzi. Cast: Horst Fantazzini: Stefano Accorsi; Lance Corporal Di Gennaro: Giovanni Esposito; Brigadiere Lo Iacono: Emilio Solfrizzi; Wife: Fabrizia Sacchi; Assistant public prosecutor: Antonio Catania. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 95 minutes.
The film is based on a portion of the autobiography of Horst Fantazzini, Italy's so-called "gentleman bandit" of the 1960s, a bank robber armed with a toy gun and known both for his excessive politeness -- he once sent flowers to a bank teller who fainted with fear during her ordeal -- and his revolutionary zeal. He's the kind of crook who's fond of quoting Brecht's maxim, "It is more criminal to found a bank than to rob one."
In 1973, during Italy's holiday season, Fantazzini (appealingly played by Stefano Accorsi) made one of his many attempts to escape from jail, this time using a real gun. The attempt went awry and, holding two guards as hostages, he attempted to negotiate his way out. During this daylong ordeal, he must also endure phone calls from his anarchist father, who berates him for his stupidity, and the prison's warden, who mostly complains about being forced from his beach vacation.
Although it has its tense moments, the film mainly concentrates on depicting the affable nature of its unique hero and delineating the emotional interplay between him and his agreeable but frightened captives, as well as the frenzied communications between the various levels of state bureaucracy trying to end the crisis. The screenplay is deft and clever without being particularly resonant or deep, and one can often feel the filmmaker struggling to find a coherent tone somewhere between farce and tragedy.
Ultimately, like its central character, "Outlaw" mainly comes across as confused.
OUTLAW
Adriana Chiesa Enterprises
Credits: Director: Enzo Monteleone; Writers: Enzo Monteleone, Angelo Orlando; Producer: Gianfranco Piccioli; Executive producer: Mino Barbera; Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinai; Editor: Cecilia Zanuso;
Music: Pivio De Scalzi, Aldo De Scalzi. Cast: Horst Fantazzini: Stefano Accorsi; Lance Corporal Di Gennaro: Giovanni Esposito; Brigadiere Lo Iacono: Emilio Solfrizzi; Wife: Fabrizia Sacchi; Assistant public prosecutor: Antonio Catania. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 95 minutes.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to war we go. That's the primary emotion in this idealistic, warm but undeniably scattered story about a group of Italian university students who decide to lay down their books and fight the fascists during World War II -- that is, their own countrymen and the Germans. It's a curious offering, perhaps to demonstrate that all Italians were not on the wrong side in that titanic battle, but its dewy sensibility and atonal ruptures never fully involve us in the story line.
"The Little Teachers", the opening-night offering at the 10th annual Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, met with the polite applause one expects from a gala crowd that is not exactly bowled over but wants to be appreciative nonetheless. Domestic distribution prospects look dim, unlike other Palm Springs opening-nighters such as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Enchanted April".
In this warm look at idealistic young men, director Daniele Luchetti's surest grasp is with the inherent comic aspects of a group of fresh-faced college boys deciding to take up arms and liberate Italy before Gen. Patton and his British counterparts roll into town. The group is led by square-jawed Gigi (Stefano Accorsi), who fancies the romantic aspects of going off to war, especially when the women wave their handkerchiefs and bat their eyes. The story strikes best in its droll sensibility as the filmmakers gently lampoon the idealism of the young, self-declared soldiers. Their idea of boot camp is not training for the rigors of hand-to-hand combat but debating the pros and cons of fascism and formulating intellectual constructs to justify their taking up arms.
These early preparation scenes are quite funny, a credit to the squadron of screenwriters (Luchetti, Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Domenico Starnone), but like the gaggle of schoolboy soldiers, the scripting seems a participatory democracy so unfocused and lacking in thematic substructure that the story digresses to a mountain-trek, travelogue level. In short, the narrative seems impaired by the same drawback the boy soldiers have -- no particular plan or focus. After a while, speechmaking by the scholarly soldiers, often callow and simplistic, wears thin, even in its comic dimensions.
In this post-"Saving Private Ryan" age, the battle scenes seem woefully stylized and, hence, false. Still, there's much to praise, especially Luchetti's warmly comic nurturing of the action. Unfortunately, he's leading his team in largely unmapped terrain thanks to the meandering script, and "The Little Teachers" ultimately grades as a minor disappointment despite atmospheric lensing from cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci. Indicative of the narrative's atonality, composer Dario Lucantoni's delightfully bouncy score rings true when the film is smiling at the boys' idealism but is intrusively upbeat during the battle sequences.
As the self-styled leader of the pack, Accorsi (with Stallone-like forehead and jaw) is a solid lead and well epitomizes the ambivalence of young men whose rhetoric outflanks their bravery.
THE LITTLE TEACHERS
Cecchi Gori Group
Producers: Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Rita Cecchi Gori
Director: Daniele Luchetti
Screenwriters: Daniele Luchetti, Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Domenico Starnone
Director of photography: Giuseppe Lanci
Editor: Patrizio Marone
Music: Dario Lucantoni
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gigi: Stefano Accorsi
Simonetta: Stefania Montorsi
Nello: Manuel Donato
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"The Little Teachers", the opening-night offering at the 10th annual Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, met with the polite applause one expects from a gala crowd that is not exactly bowled over but wants to be appreciative nonetheless. Domestic distribution prospects look dim, unlike other Palm Springs opening-nighters such as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Enchanted April".
In this warm look at idealistic young men, director Daniele Luchetti's surest grasp is with the inherent comic aspects of a group of fresh-faced college boys deciding to take up arms and liberate Italy before Gen. Patton and his British counterparts roll into town. The group is led by square-jawed Gigi (Stefano Accorsi), who fancies the romantic aspects of going off to war, especially when the women wave their handkerchiefs and bat their eyes. The story strikes best in its droll sensibility as the filmmakers gently lampoon the idealism of the young, self-declared soldiers. Their idea of boot camp is not training for the rigors of hand-to-hand combat but debating the pros and cons of fascism and formulating intellectual constructs to justify their taking up arms.
These early preparation scenes are quite funny, a credit to the squadron of screenwriters (Luchetti, Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Domenico Starnone), but like the gaggle of schoolboy soldiers, the scripting seems a participatory democracy so unfocused and lacking in thematic substructure that the story digresses to a mountain-trek, travelogue level. In short, the narrative seems impaired by the same drawback the boy soldiers have -- no particular plan or focus. After a while, speechmaking by the scholarly soldiers, often callow and simplistic, wears thin, even in its comic dimensions.
In this post-"Saving Private Ryan" age, the battle scenes seem woefully stylized and, hence, false. Still, there's much to praise, especially Luchetti's warmly comic nurturing of the action. Unfortunately, he's leading his team in largely unmapped terrain thanks to the meandering script, and "The Little Teachers" ultimately grades as a minor disappointment despite atmospheric lensing from cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci. Indicative of the narrative's atonality, composer Dario Lucantoni's delightfully bouncy score rings true when the film is smiling at the boys' idealism but is intrusively upbeat during the battle sequences.
As the self-styled leader of the pack, Accorsi (with Stallone-like forehead and jaw) is a solid lead and well epitomizes the ambivalence of young men whose rhetoric outflanks their bravery.
THE LITTLE TEACHERS
Cecchi Gori Group
Producers: Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Rita Cecchi Gori
Director: Daniele Luchetti
Screenwriters: Daniele Luchetti, Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Domenico Starnone
Director of photography: Giuseppe Lanci
Editor: Patrizio Marone
Music: Dario Lucantoni
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gigi: Stefano Accorsi
Simonetta: Stefania Montorsi
Nello: Manuel Donato
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/11/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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