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A lopsided diptych that welds an intimate travelogue through Italian cinema and history to a rather shaky bit of literary adaptation, Paolo Taviani’s “Leonora Addio” is, in theory, a valentine to Sicilian poet and dramaturge Luigi Pirandello, and in practice an extended homage to the filmmaker’s brother, Vittorio. But then, given the brothers’ seven-decade partnership, which brought them a Palme d’Or, a Golden Bear, and a lifetime achievement Lion in Venice (among several other glories), and only came to a close upon Vittorio’s death in 2018, how can the 90-year-old Paolo Taviani’s first solo effort be anything else?

And so, well after his opening dedication “To my brother Vittorio,” Taviani never stops finding new ways to evoke his loss, just as the film proper never stops reinventing itself. A travelogue not only across land but also through moods and styles and diverse film forms,

Uniting the...

The Traitor director Marco Bellocchio on Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese: “Unlike the great tradition of American Mafia movies and their use of imagery, here all characters are true characters and events that actually happened that we then manipulated or re-elaborated.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor (Il Traditore), co-written with Valia Santella, Ludovica Rampoldi, Francesco Piccolo, and Francesco La Licata, produced by Simone Gattoni and Giuseppe Caschetto, and starring Pierfrancesco Favino as Tommaso Buscetta, received four European Film Award nominations. Best Film, Best Director (won by Yorgos Lanthimos), Best Screenwriter (won by Céline Sciamma for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire), and Best Actor (won by Antonio Banderas in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain And Glory).

Alba Rohrwacher (in Dormant Beauty) on Marco Bellocchio: “I can say he is one of my masters. He taught me a lot.”

Before The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher retrospective...

Network: SundanceTV.

Episodes: Ongoing (hour).

Seasons: Ongoing.

TV show dates: May 23, 2019 — present.

Series status: Has not been cancelled.

Performers include: John Turturro, Damian Hardung, Rupert Everett, Greta Scarano, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Michael Emerson, Richard Sammel, Stefano Fresi, Roberto Herlitzka, Nina Fotoras, Benjamin Stender, Claudio Bigagli, Corrado Invernizzi, Max Malatesta, James Cosmo, Rinat Khismatouline, David Brandon, Peter Davison, Fausto Maria Sciarappa, and Piotr Adamczyk.

TV show description:

From creator Giacomo Battiato, The Name of the Rose TV show is a medieval detective drama, based on the 1980 Umberto Eco novel of the same name, which also inspired the 1986 film, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.

The series, which first debuted in Italy on March...

John Turturro and the producers of “The Name of the Rose” unveiled their ambitious English-language TV adaptation of Umberto Eco’s murder mystery in Rome on Thursday ahead of its global rollout, which will kick off March 4 on Italy’s Rai.

Producers and the Italian pubcaster have high hopes the show will expand the international footprint of Italy’s high-end dramas following “My Brilliant Friend,” based on a more recent bestseller. The $30 million, eight-episode series is produced by Rome-based companies 11 Marzo and Palomar and Rai Fiction, and will go out in the U.S. via AMC on May 1.

John Turturro, who plays the central character of Franciscan monk William of Baskerville, said that Eco’s novel, which has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide since first being published in 1980, was very relevant today.

“There is a power structure – the church – which also represents the government or politics,” he said. “Then there is suppression of women.

The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.

AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.

World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...

Dear Danny,Martial-arts extravaganzas and avant-garde poetry—and folks back home ask why I love festivals! And I absolutely concur with your allusion to the pleasures of mysterious art. Case in point: Marco Bellocchio’s Blood of My Blood, an enigmatically bifurcated tale I thoroughly relished even as much of its precise meaning escaped me. A characteristically searching image (a heavy wooden door opening into sunlight, then closing) launches the film’s first half, which takes place in the director’s hometown of Bobbio in the 17th century, with the Italian Inquisition in full swing. A soldier (Pier Giorgio Bellocchio) steps into a convent to inquire about his twin brother, a monk who’s been buried in a donkey graveyard after having committed suicide. Locked behind cloistered walls is the reason for the man’s death, a young nun (Lidiya Liberman) who supposedly bewitched him and is now undergoing medieval...

★★★☆☆ Italian director Marco Bellocchio makes his return with Blood of My Blood (2015), another typically anomalous effort being theme rather than plot-driven. Divided into two distinct parts, it's bound together by recurring actors and the vampiric Count Basta (Roberto Herlitzka). The first half of the film is set in the 17th century and tells the story of Benedetta (Lidiya Liberman), a young nun from the convent of Bobbio, accused of witchcraft and worshipping Satan. Man of arms Federico Mai (Pier Giorgio Bellocchio) attends her trial, which is conducted by Father Cacciapuoti (Fausto Russo Alesi) and to which an unnamed mysterious figure (Roberto Herlitzka) is witness for a brief moment.

The second half opens in contemporary Bobbio, where the convent is now a decrepit prison secretly inhabited by shady Count Basta (Hetlitzka again). Tax inspector and con man Federico Mai (Pier Giorgio Bellocchio) together with Russian millionaire Ivan Rikalkov (Ivan Franek) try...

"Blood of my Blood, the new film from the Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, plays out like a beautifully turned novella—or perhaps two," begins the Telegraph's Robbie Collin. "This pair of lightly supernatural stories rhyme with each other across time, in ways that are oblique but sensually attuned." Cineuropa interviews the director: "In addition to Roberto Herlitzka, Alba Rohrwacher and Federica Fracassi, the film stars your daughter Elena Bellocchio, son Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and brother Alberto Bellocchio." Bellocchio: "I couldn’t not cast them, it came naturally to me. Your children are the blood of your blood, they’re the ones you have to face up to. You live a part of your life with them, you experience hopes and dreams, disappointments and joy together." We have more reviews, the trailer and clips. » - David Hudson...

"Blood of my Blood, the new film from the Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, plays out like a beautifully turned novella—or perhaps two," begins the Telegraph's Robbie Collin. "This pair of lightly supernatural stories rhyme with each other across time, in ways that are oblique but sensually attuned." Cineuropa interviews the director: "In addition to Roberto Herlitzka, Alba Rohrwacher and Federica Fracassi, the film stars your daughter Elena Bellocchio, son Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and brother Alberto Bellocchio." Bellocchio: "I couldn’t not cast them, it came naturally to me. Your children are the blood of your blood, they’re the ones you have to face up to. You live a part of your life with them, you experience hopes and dreams, disappointments and joy together." We have more reviews, the trailer and clips. » - David Hudson...

Title: Io, Arlecchino (I, Harlequin) Director: Matteo Bini, Giorgio Pasotti Starring: Giorgio Pasotti, Roberto Herlitzka, Valeria Bilello, Lunetta Savino, Lavinia Longhi, Gianni Ferreri, Eugenio De’ Giorgi, Massimo Molea. Paolo (Giorgio Pasotti) is an established television host in Rome. One day he receives a phone call that informs him that his father (Roberto Herlitzka) has been hospitalised in his hometown, Cornello del Tasso in the province of Bergamo. Paolo joins his father Giovanni to newly discover his great passion for the theatre, particularly the Commedia dell’Arte. Giovanni is in fact rehearsing, with his tiny theatre company, a show that tributes the 16th century comedy of craft, playing the light-hearted, nimble and [ Read More ]

The post Io, Arlecchino (I, Harlequin) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: New Alba Rohrwacher drama among trio.

Indie sales powerhouse The Match Factory has struck a three-film deal with Cannes regular Marco Bellocchio, which includes the acclaimed director’s next two films and his directorial debut Fists in the Pocket (I Pugni in Tasca).

Alba Rohrwacher, star of Hungry Hearts and The Wonders, is set to reteam with the Dormant Beauty director on Blood of my Blood (Sangue Del Mio Sangue).

The actress stars alongside Filippo Timi (Vincere), Roberto Herlitzka (The Great Beauty), Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and Lidyia Liberman in the film currently near completion which Bellocchio describes as a story about “love for the past and the need to make a clean break with it”.

The film is a co-production between Simone Gattoni of Kavac Film, Beppe Caschetto of Ibc Movie, Tiziana Soudani of Amka Films Production, Fabio Conversi of Barbary Films and Rai Cinema.

The deal will also include Sweet Dreams (Fai Bei Sogni) - announced...

L’ultimo Vampiro

Director: Marco Bellocchio // Writer: Marco Bellocchio

Marco Bellocchio is a key figure from mid-60s radical Italian cinema with his 1965 film Fists in the Pocket. He’s gone on to enjoy a steady filmography with intermittent renewals of interest in his work, such as critical hits with titles like Good Morning, Night (2003), and, most recently with his scalding Vincere (2009). While we found his Isabelle Huppert/Toni Servillo headlined euthanasia film Dormant Beauty (2012) to be a bit overwrought (we interviewed the filmmaker then) , we’re excited to see his latest, which has received a provocative new title, L’ultimo Vampiro (The Last Vampire)—formerly known as La Monaca. Bellocchio reunites with Rohrwacher and his regular cast mate Roberto Herlitzka for this tale based on the true tale of a 17th century noblewoman forced to become a nun, but whose free-spirited love affairs inside the convent lead to incarceration.

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), Italy’s Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film

Inspirational and awe-inspiring are the words that come to mind first when I think about the great movie just out of Italy, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) from acclaimed director Paolo Sorrentino ( Il Divo, The Consequences of Love, This Must be the Place) with a screenplay by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello.

I could watch this film over and over again and still be inspired by the beauty of Rome and the depth of its flaneur, the hero of this film, journalist Jep Gambardella as played by the incomparable Toni Servillo (Gomorrah, Il Divo). In fact, after interviewing Paolo Sorrentino recently at the Chateau Marmont, I feel compelled to watch it again in order to understand the ending’s reference to what might have been the subject of the original and only book Jeb ever wrote which was perhaps (according to Paolo) “about the love he had for the girl -- and you can see that at the end of the movie”.

During my interview, I tried not to discuss how the film carries echoes of the classic works of Federico Fellini as Sorrentino had already gone on record stating that, “Roma and La Dolce Vita are works that you cannot pretend to ignore when you take on a film like the one I wanted to make. They are two masterpieces and the golden rule is that masterpieces should be watched but not imitated. I tried to stick to that. But it’s also true that masterpieces transform the way we feel and perceive things.”

A dazzling tour through modern day Rome through the eyes of Jep Gambardella gives us feelings for grandeur whose beauty can lead to death, to dangerous adventures leading nowhere and to a certain level of sadness. When his 65th birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

The stripper daughter of his old friend and nightclub owner represents a simpler normality as does his housekeeper. Both are touchstones to a reality he has abandoned since becoming a permanent fixture in Rome’s literary and social circles after the legendary success of his one and only novel. Armed with a roguish charm, he has seduced his way through the city's lavish night life for decades.

As an interviewer for popular press, his curiosity about everything is satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time. He finds his yearning for simplicity is sparked when he rather cynically interviews a saintly nun and more importantly, he finds the seed for his next book in the simple, normal lives of ordinary people and in the fragility of those snobbish, superficial, gossiping “friends” with whom he has spent too much time weaving a uselessly complicated life of nothingness, living in a world which makes no sense.

There are many literary references in the film – Flaubert who wanted to write a book about nothing, Proust whose masterpiece “capitalizes on his own biography”, Celine whose opening line to his novel Journey to the End of the Night is also the film’s opening line.

This quote from Celine is a declaration of intent that I followed in turn in the film. It comes down to saying: there’s reality, but everything is invented too. Invention is necessary in cinema, just to attain the truth.

What is it about the Flaubert references?

Flaubert said he wanted to write a book about nothing. This gave him the right to write about the frivolous, gossip, nothing and it acquired a literary standing. Nothingness becomes life. It takes on a life of its own and life’s nothingness is its beauty.

Jeb is living it among awkward, weak people, even hateful people. This is life and all of it belongs to The Great Beauty. The immediacy of the beauty of Rome is obvious, but the subterranean part – like these horrible people around him, you realize they are are also so vulnerable and fragile and that gives them and him the redeeming grace of beauty. The communist writer is emblematic.

Are you an intellectual?

I don’t like to think that I am. I do read a lot. I read more than I watch movies.

What do you do in your free time?

I hibernate. I hibernate until the next project takes shape in my mind. I watch a lot of football. And I tend to my family. I have two children aged 10 and 16 who keep me very busy.

Do you find that the Italian character is theatrical?

In my hometown (Naples), the people are extraordinarily theatrical. Orson Welles himself, on seeing Neapolitan actor Eduardo de Felipo said that he was the greatest actor in the world.

Whatever you say about it, Italy has an extraordinary pool of actors of every sort. They are all very different, from many different backgrounds, but all with often under-exploited potential, all just waiting to find good characters.

Tony Servillo is also from Naples, like I am. He is an actor I can ask anything of, because he is capable of doing absolutely everything. I can now move forward with him with my eyes closed, not only as far as work goes, but also in terms of our friendship, a friendship which over time becomes more joyful, lighter yet deeper at the same time.

Tony Servillo is quoted as saying about Sorrentino:

We have something in common which we both cultivate, and that’s a taste for mystery. That has something to do with esteem, with a sense of irony and self-mockery, with certain similar sources of melancholy, and certain subjects or themes of reflection. These affinities are renewed each time we meet, as if it were the first time, without there being any need for a closer relationship between one film and the next. We meet and it’s as if we’ve never been apart. And that means there’s a deep friendship between us, and that’s what so great.

Thank you Paolo for this interview. I wish you all the luck in winning not only the Nomination but also the prize of the Academy Award.

I also want to draw the reader’s attention to the fabulous photography of cinematographer Luca Bigazzi and the music of Lele Marchitel, who juxtaposes original music with repertory music of sacred and profane, pop music reflecting the city itself and to the extraordinary pool of actors, Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi and Galatea Ranzi, Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka and Isabella Ferrari.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called this visually spectacular film “an outlandishly entertaining hallucination”, and according to Variety’s Jay Weissberg it’s an “astonishing cinematic feast”.

This rapturous highlight of this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it played in Competition was acquired for U.S. by Janus Films who will release it theatrically in N.Y. on November 15, L.A. on November 22, expanding to other cities on November 29, with a home video release from the Criterion Collection.

“We were swept away by this gorgeous, moving film at Cannes”, said Peter Becker, president of the Criterion Collection and a partner in Janus Films. “Sorrentino is one of the most exciting directors working today, and Toni Servillo gives another majestic, multilayered performance.”

The deal to distribute Sorrentino’s film in the U.S. was struck with international distributor Pathé. “Janus has over the years become a valued partner in the promotion of Pathé’s heritage in the U.S. through its releases of our library titles, and we are, of course, thrilled to once again partner up with this company for the release of this film which represents the finest of Italian cinema today and at the same time pays a respectful homage to its nation’s cinematic past”, said Muriel Sauzay, Evp, International Sales.

For more information on the film visit Here

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) also screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was recently award the European Film Academy award for its editing by Cristiano Travaglioli. Since its Cannes debut, it has sold to Australia - Palace Films , Austria - Filmladen , Benelux - Abc - Cinemien , Brazil - Mares Filmes Ltda. , Canada - Mongrel Media, Métropole Films Distribution , Czech Republic - Film Europe, Denmark - Camera Film A/S , Estonia -Must Käsi, France - Canal + , Germany - Dcm , Greece - Feelgood Entertainment, Hong Kong (China) - Edko Films Ltd , Israel - United King Films, Italy - Medusa Distribuzione, Norway - As Fidalgo Film Distribution , Portugal - Lusomundo, Russia - A-One Films , Slovak Republic - Film Europe (Sk) , Switzerland - Pathe Films Ag , United Kingdom - Curzon Film World...

Emerging Pictures recently announced “Cinema Made In Italy,” a major new initiative between Istituto Luce- Cinecittà, the Italian Trade Commission and Emerging Pictures that will pro-vide distribution and marketing support to five major Italian films with the goal of broadening the audience for Italian cinema in the United States. Emerging will oversee the initiative and distribute Gianni Amelio’s L’Intrepido, Marco Bellocchio’s Dormant Beauty, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Me And You and Valeria Golino’s Honey in 2014.

These four recent Italian works will receive marketing and distribution support from a fund created by Istituto Luce- Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission. The first film in the series was Paolo Sorrentino’s masterful Academy Award nominated The Great Beauty. Since it was released by Janus Films with support from the Cinema Made In Italy program, it has become one of the most acclaimed foreign language films of the year. It also won the Golden Globe, European Film Award and is nominated for the BAFTA and Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.

All five films will receive a nationwide release. Theaters will be announced shortly. Each of the films will have a full marketing and publicity campaign overseen by Emerging Pictures and supported by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission.

Ira Deutchman, Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures, said, “Italian cine- ma has always captured the imagination of American audiences since the hey-day of Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, De Sica and Rossellini. Our goal is to create a marketing and distribution initiative that will allow new Italian films to regularly enter the marketplace with a presence and to help create an ongoing new audience. We’re thrilled to be working with Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission to create this truly groundbreaking program.”

“Luce Cinecitta' is proud to test this new way to promote Italian cinema abroad,” said Istituto Luce-Cinecitta’ Chief Executive Officer Roberto Cicut- to. “Thanks to the funds provided by the Ministry of Economic Development and The Italian Trade Commission (Agenzia Ice) in addition to those provid- ed by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Emerging Pictures, we will be able to give the largest theatrical distribution to recent Italian titles direct- ed by very prestigious auteurs. Italian cinema is well known worldwide for its glorious past and for such great contemporary directors as Bertolucci, Bellocchio, Moretti, Sorrentino, Garrone, Amelio and others. This new platform will give our movies the chance to be seen in a wide array of theaters throughout the U.S., and not just in specialized art houses in a few big cities. The recent outstanding success of Sorrentino's ‘Great Beauty,’ a Janus release, with our support, shows there is great potential here for Italian cinema. We look for- ward to increasing the availability of Italian films to our American friends.”

Dr. Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission, said, "We have been working in the past two years with all the institutions mentioned by Roberto with two main goals: to get the Italian movie industry as the most important made-in-Italy tool for the commercial promotion of our country in the U.S., to try to reach the widest possible audience for viewing Italian movies. The support of different public institutions was central to building a project that was from the outset commercial: the movie industry is quintessentially important to promoting wine, food, fashion, design, technology, tourism and Italian style, together with the expression of our cultural values, trends and innovations. Italian cinema provides a single, comprehensive tool for achieving that meaningful goal. With ‘The Great Beauty,’ our first film, Cinema Made in Italy makes its debut in 25 cities, in more than 100 theaters in 15 states. This far-reaching exposure is exactly what we were searching for in our partnership with Emerging Pictures, and we are very happy that this first film in our Italian movie series is already appearing throughout the United States.”

About Emerging Pictures

Emerging Pictures, managed by Barry Rebo and Ira Deutchman, is the pre- mier all-digital Specialty Film and Alternative Content network of theaters in the United States. The company delivers independent films, cultural pro- grams and special events to a network of approximately 400 North American venues encompassing traditional art houses, museums and performing arts centers as well as commercial multiplexes including Allen Theatres, Angelika/ Reading Theatres, Big Cinemas, Bow Tie Cinemas, Marcus Theatres, Carmike Cinemas, Digiplex Destination Cinemas, Harkins Theatres, Laemmle Theaters, Muvico Theaters, Regency Theatres and others. The company also distributes live and captured live performances worldwide of the Bolshoi Ballet and some of the world’s foremost opera houses, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, under its Ballet in Cinema and Opera in Cinema brands.

About Istituto Luce-Cinecitta

Istituto Luce - Cinecittà (www.cinecittaluce.it) is the state-owned company whose main shareholder is the Italian Ministry for Culture. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà’s institutional work includes promoting Italian cinema both at home and abroad by means of projects dedicated to the great directors of the past and their classic films, as well contemporary ones. During the main In- ternational Film Festivals Istituto Luce - Cinecittà prepares multifunctional spaces that help to the promotion of our cinematography and it is the refer- ence place for all Italian and foreign operators Istituto Luce - Cinecittà holds one of the most important film and photographic archive both of its own pro- ductions, and private collections and acquisitions from a variety of sources. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà also distributes films made by Italian and European directors and guarantees they are given an adequate release on the national market. The team for the promotion of contemporary cinema continues to col- laborate with all of the major film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Shanghai, Tokyo, Locarno, New York , London, etc, by orga- nizing the national selections, the presence of Italian films and artists in the various festivals, and providing an expository and promotional space within all the major International film markets. We are also involved with the orga- nization of numerous events which take place in countries with strong com- mercial potential such as : The Italian cinema festival in Tokyo, Open Roads – New Italian cinema in New York, Cinema Italian Style in Los Angeles, The Festival of Italian cinema of Barcelona and The Mittelcinemafest. Istituto

Luce - Cinecittà also owns a film library, Cineteca, which contains around 3000 titles of the most significant Italian film productions, subtitled in foreign languages, which serve in promoting Italian culture at major national and in- ternational Institutes around the world. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà is also re- sponsible for editing a daily news magazine on-line: CinecittàNews (news.cinecitta.com) which delivers the latest breaking news on the principal activities involving Italian cinema as well as its developing legislative and in- stitutional aspects.

About The Italian Trade Commission The Ice-Italian Trade Promotion Agency is the government organization which promotes the internationalization of the Italian companies, in line with the strategies of the Ministry for Economic Development. Ice provides in- formation, support and advice to Italian and foreign companies. In addition to its Rome headquarters, Ice operates worldwide from a large network of Trade Promotion Offices linked to Italian embassies and consulates and work- ing closely with local authorities and businesses. Ice provides a wide range of services overseas helping Italian and foreign businesses to connect with each other

About The Films

Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata)

Release Date: Tbc Director: Marco Bellocchio Producer: Riccardo Tozzi, Fabio Conversi, Marco Chimenz, Giovanni Sta- bilini

Screenplay: Marco Bellocchio, Veronica Raimo, Stefano Rulli Cast: Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, Alba Rohrwacher Festivals: Venice 2012, Toronto 2012

Three stories, taking place over the course of a few days, involving a con- science-stricken politician, an obsessive mother and two young protestors on different sides, are skillfully interwoven in this gripping, beautifully realized film. Set against the background of the emotional and controversial real-life 2008 euthanasia case of Eluana Englaro, Dormant Beauty is a subtle and complex depiction of recent Italian history.

The Great Beauty

(released by Janus Films) - In Release Director: Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo) Producer: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima Screenwriter: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferrili, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi with Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka, and with Isabella Ferrari Festivals: Cannes (Competition) 2013, Toronto 2013, AFI 2013, Italy’s Official Entry to the 2014 Academy Awards Awards: 4 European Film Award nominations (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and winner for Best Editing), Best Foreign Film nominee for British In- dependent Film Awards

Journalist Jep Gambardella (the dazzling Toni Servillo, Il Divo and Go- Morrah) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city's literary and social circles, but when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

Honey (Miele)

Release Date: March 7, 2014 Director: Valeria Golino Producer: Viola Prestieri, Riccardo Scamarcio, Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Raphael Berdugo Screenplay: Valeria Golino, Valia Santella, Francesca Marciano, from the novel by Angela Del Fabbro with the same title Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Carlo Cecchi, Libero De Rienzo, Vinicio Marchioni, Iaia Forte, Roberto De Francesco, Barbara Ronchi, Claudio Guain, Teresa Acerbis, Valeria Bilello, Massimiliano Iacolucci Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2013, Toronto 2013 Prizes: Winner Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury, Cannes 2013 Nominated for European Discovery at the European Film Awards 2013

Actress Valeria Golino makes her directing debut with Honey. Irene lives alone on the coastline outside Rome. To her father and her married lover, she’s a student. In reality, she often travels to Mexico where she can legally buy a powerful barbiturate. Working under the name of Miele ("Honey"), her clandestine job is to help terminally-ill people to die with dignity by giving them the drug. One day she supplies a new “client” with a fatal dose, only to find out he’s perfectly healthy but tired of life. Irene is determined not to be responsible for his suicide. From this point on, Irene and Grimaldi are unwill- ingly locked in an intense and moving relationship which will change Irene’s life forever.

L’Intrepido

Release Date - To Be Confirmed Director: Gianni Amelio Producer: Carlo Degli Esposti Screenplay: Gianni Amelio, Davide Lantieri Cast: Antonio Albanese, Sandra Ceccarelli, Livia Rossi, Gabriele Rendina, Alfonso Santagata

Festivals: Venice 2013, Toronto 2013

Set in modern day Milan, this is a Chaplinesque odyssey through the world of work – every type of work, but primarily unskilled manual labor – seen through the eyes of a kind, middle-aged man who takes on every conceivable temporary job in order to be useful and have self respect. This really is a por- trait of the highs and lows of modern life. At its heart is a sympathetic man (Antonio Albanese) who, despite loneliness and personal family problems, es- pecially around his gifted but troubled musician son, remains defiantly opti- mistic even when terrible things happen to him and the people he meets.

Me And You (Io E Te)

Release Date: To Be Confirmed

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Screenplay: Bernardo Bertolucci, Niccolo Ammaniti, Umberto Contarello Producer: Mario Gianani Cast: Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori Festivals: Cannes, Toronto

Lorenzo, a solitary 14-year-old with difficulties relating to his daily life and the world around him, chooses to spend a week hidden in the basement of his house. But Lorenzo’s fragile and rebellious stepsister, Olivia, appears at her brother’s place of refuge and disturbs the quiet.

Decadence, violence, love and space – Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw shares his fantasy award nomination list for 2013

• The 2012 Braddies

Awards season is now upon us and here, as every year, is my personal fantasy award nomination list for 2013, whimsically called the Braddies, which covers the period running from the beginning of the calendar year to the present. There are 10 nominations in eight categories: film, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, screenplay and documentary.

The reader is invited to nominate the winner in the comments section below, and perhaps to note omissions and evidence that the list betrays suggestions of sociocultural bias.

I like to think that these awards will one day evolve into an actual ceremony with chrome-and-glass statuettes, sponsorship from Sky Atlantic and a televised evening presided over by Dara Ó Briain or Mariella Frostrup. But until then, it exists in a world of fantasy only. And so,...

Paolo Sorrentino: "The pool above him is in his imagination. You have a wilder imagination than I do."

When I arrived for my conversation with Paolo Sorrentino about his mysteriously spellbinding tale The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza), on the table in front of us was a film magazine cover with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby.

Sorrentino presents the beauty of Rome through a society, sacred and profane, that exhibits shameless emptiness and profound fruitless energy with the commanding Toni Servillo starring as ex-novelist turned high society columnist Jep Gambardella. "I was a sprint-style writer," Jep defines himself. All talking, all dancing, all deception, with an enraged little girl (Francesca Amodio) making art in public, a talkative Cardinal (Roberto Herlitzka) who obsesses about cooking and used to be "Europe's best exorcist", Arturo (Vernon Dobtcheff) the magician with his giraffe, flamingos, Fanny Ardant,...

A swooning love letter to Roman decadence, La Grande Bellezza is the Paolo Sorrentino's greatest film yet

Paolo Sorrentino's La Grande Bellezza is a compelling tragicomedy of Italy's leisured classes in the tradition of Antonioni's La Notte or Fellini's La Dolce Vita. It is a pure sensual overload of richness and strangeness and sadness, a film sometimes on the point of swooning with dissolute languour, savouring its own ennui like a truffle. But more often it's defiantly rocking out, keeping the party going as the night sky pales, with all the vigour of well-preserved, middle-aged rich people who can do hedonism better than the young. It is set in Rome, populated by the formerly beautiful and the currently damned, and featuring someone who doesn't quite fall into either category.

When I first saw this extraordinary film, I flinched – though admiringly – at the fleshy opulence, and called it...

Title: The Great Beauty Director: Paolo Sorrentino Starring: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka, Isabella Ferrari, Franco Graziosi, Giorgio Pasotti, Massimo Popolizio, Sonia Gessner, Anna della Rosa, Luca Marinelli, Serena Grandi, Ivan Franek, Vernon Dobtcheff, Dario Cantarelli, Lillo Petrolo, Luciano Virgilio, Giusi Merli, Anita Kravos, Giulio Brogi, Fanny Ardant. From the 30s to the 60s Italian Cinema was known worldwide, acclaimed, praised and represented a model of beauty. Today very few Italian movie directors have managed to establish themselves beyond their mother country, genuinely moving audiences and critics. The Neapolitan Paolo Sorrentino in these past few years has  [ Read More ]

The post The Great Beauty Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

A couple of Italian gems along with a more sugary offering are screened at the London film festival, which this year has been reorganised by themes

For a working critic based in the capital, the London film festival is an enticing prospect — and yet a frustrating experience. The regular round of UK releases must be attended to; those films have to be reviewed (including the inevitable sprinkling of duds) and so Lff films have to be squeezed in wherever possible.

What makes it all more agonising is the fact that the Lff programme is somehow always the most mouthwatering document produced by any festival: a juicily thick brochure, packed with great stuff, and an unmissable-looking film on every page. The Lff may not have as many premieres as Toronto, Venice and Cannes, but so what? That's the sort of thing that preoccupies industry types. Regular filmgoers in London are surely...

Toronto – On July 24th, Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, unveiled some of the films that will headline the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

According to Bailey, Tiff 2012 will include the “most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, USA and Canada”.

Handling describes this year’s festival as looking “particularly strong” with a wide variety of work from “established and emerging filmmakers.”

Toronto audiences will be first in line to see many “exciting and prestigious films” with further announcements slated in the coming weeks. Until then, here is a sample of what you can expect to see:

Looper (Opening Night film, World Premiere)

Rian Johnson, USA

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels

Directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper is a futuristic action thriller set in a...

Toronto – On July 24th, Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, unveiled some of the films that will headline the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

According to Bailey, Tiff 2012 will include the “most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, USA and Canada”.

Handling describes this year’s festival as looking “particularly strong” with a wide variety of work from “established and emerging filmmakers.”

Toronto audiences will be first in line to see many “exciting and prestigious films” with further announcements slated in the coming weeks. Until then, here is a sample of what you can expect to see:

Looper (Opening Night film, World Premiere)

Rian Johnson, USA

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels

Directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper is a futuristic action thriller set in a...

Jayne Mansfield.s Car

Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.

Toronto audiences will be the first to see the world premieres of films from directors Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Earlier, we brought you a snapshot glance at the first wave of programming announced for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after, the fest released a thorough breakdown of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s event, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 6.

So far, 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations have been announced, including 38 world premieres. Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and...

2012′s Toronto International Film Festival is set to officially announce its initial line-up later today, but Variety let the cat out of the bag, at least partially; and it’s quite astounding. Most of our most-anticipated films of the year will be premiering at the Canadian festival, notably Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer‘s epic-sounding Cloud Atlas, Rian Johnson‘s Looper (which will open the fest), Ben Affleck‘s Argo, Dereck Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines and much, more more.

Coming from Sundance, the only mentioned film was Ben Lewis‘ John Hawkes-starring The Sessions, while Cannes premieres include Matteo Garrone‘s Reality, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Pablo Larrain‘s No and Jacques Audiard‘s Rust and Bone. One of the biggest surprises is a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring Greta Gerwing titled Frances Ha. There’s also The Avengers director Joss Whedon...

Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, The Ides of March Tomas Alfredson – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy UK, Germany, 127' Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt Andrea Arnold – Wuthering Heights UK, 128' Kaya Scodelario, Nichola Burley, Steve Evets, Oliver Milburn Ami Canaan Mann – Texas Killing Fields USA, 109' Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jeffrey Dean Morgan George Clooney – The Ides Of March [Opening Film] USA, 98' Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood Cristina Comencini – Quando La Notte Italy, 116' Claudia Pandolfi, Filippo Timi, Michela Cescon, Thomas Trabacchi Emanuele Crialese – Terraferma Italy, France, 88' Filippo Pucillo, Donatella Finocchiaro, Giuseppe Fiorello, Claudio Santamaria David Cronenberg – A Dangerous Method Germany, Canada, 99' Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel Abel Ferrara – 4:44 Last Day On Earth USA, 82' Willem Dafoe, Shanyn Leigh, Paz de la Huerta, Natasha Lyonne William Friedkin – Killer Joe USA, 103' Matthew McConaughey,...

Screened

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.

Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.

The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.

The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.

Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.

While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.

At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.

Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.

As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.

A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.

GOOD MORNING, NIGHT

A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio

Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone

Director of photography: Pasquale Mari

Production designer: Marco Dentici

Music: Riccardo Giagni

Costume designer: Sergio Ballo

Editor: Francesca Calvelli

Cast:

Chiara: Maya Sansa

Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio

Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka

Enzo: Paolo Briguglia

Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio

Primo: Giovanni Calcagno

Running time -- 108 minutes

No MPAA rating...

ROME -- La Meglio Gioventu, Marco Tullio Giordana's drama about the lives of two Roman brothers through the years 1966-2000, was the big winner at Italy's 59th Nastri d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) awards Tuesday. A RAI Cinema co-production, Gioventu won the prizes for best director, producer, screenplay, actress, actor, live take and editing. Gioventu has been a boxoffice success in Italy and has received rave reviews in Italian newspapers. The best actress prize was awarded to the film's entire female cast, while the best actor award went to its male cast on equal merit with actor Roberto Herlitzka (Buongiorno Notte).

Screened

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.

Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.

The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.

The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.

Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.

While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.

At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.

Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.

As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.

A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.

GOOD MORNING, NIGHT

A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio

Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone

Director of photography: Pasquale Mari

Production designer: Marco Dentici

Music: Riccardo Giagni

Costume designer: Sergio Ballo

Editor: Francesca Calvelli

Cast:

Chiara: Maya Sansa

Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio

Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka

Enzo: Paolo Briguglia

Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio

Primo: Giovanni Calcagno

Running time -- 108 minutes

No MPAA rating...