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Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore brings a succesful mix of coming-of-age comedy with social satire and painful tragedy as we learn via a young boy's infatuation with the beautiful Malèna (a superb Monica Bellucci) that same Malèna's terrible faith during the war years of Fascist Italy.
Treated without respect as an object of lust by the men, treated with jealousy for her beauty by the women, Malèna is a gossipy Sicilian village's preferred victim of mockery and/or scapegoat during the war years. This all happens while the narrator, a young lad, discovers his sexuality.
A strange mix you might say but for me it worked, it can be really funny at times while it is also heartbreaking too. Coming-of-age comedy, social satire and painful tragedy come all together succesfully while Monica gives a stellar performance as the titular character.
Edit: I forgot to mention the excellent Ennio Morricone score, for which it received one of its two Academy Award nominations (the other was for its equally excellent cinematography by Lajos Koltai).
Long time since I've seen it, but remember it being pretty good. Monica is always worth watching and of course Ennio is sublime as ever!
You're right! Those two alone make it worth checking out. I love Monica so much, I wish she could have had a bigger role in a Bond film, but I'm also glad that at least she's been in one.
No question, Brando is completely amazing, riveting, with arguably the first unique, truly great dramatic screen performance. But because of that he feels to my eyes like he's in a different film from most of the other actors. Or at least on a whole other level.
The naturalism of his acting matches the realism (and real locations) of the film. He's playing intimate, direct to the camera. Whereas several of the others too often appear to me as melodramatic, as if on stage playing 'large' to audience members seated far away. Everybody involved came from the world of theatre but it's Brando who perhaps understood, maybe instinctively, that the movie medium required a different form of acting.
There are many extraordinary moments. One I especially like is when Eva Marie Saint’s Edie accidentally drops a glove, and, in what may be an improvised moment, Brando picks it up. But instead of returning it to her, he sensuously, playfully, tries to fit it on one of his hands as they continue the conversation of their blossoming romance. No extra attention is made of it, it just happens, like real behaviour.
Violent, intense, and often uncomfortable to watch. The ending was an explosion of violence that reminded me of the ending to The Yakuza.
One of Tarantinos favourite films. I found it a bit overrated to be honest. 'The Yakuza', that you mention, is way better movie! Cool poster though!
(Elvis : "I-hear-the-roooooo-ling-thunder......",lol)
DT-vs-PuppetMaster(starringVanessaAngel)
OK,I-spose
I kind of find it ironic that I watched this at the start of the baseball season. I really enjoyed it, and I'm not really much of a sports fan in general. Let me start by saying what most people agree with me: James Earl Jones makes EVERYTHING better. Here is no different. One of his better roles. My dad says that Kevin Costner is rather one note as an actor. He is right, to a degree. But here, he has a lot of great material to work with. He's not boring, and this is one of his best roles. It shows that we have said things that we regret, and never get to properly fix them. Just maybe in our dreams (pun intended) or the afterlife. Ray Liotta is a scene-stealer and unpredictable in a unique way. A great supporting role, same with Burt Lancaster. A great duo part for his character. Amy Madigan and Gaby Hoffman are a great supporting family, (mom and daughter, respectively), who believe in Ray. They prove that Ray will always have a loving family in his life. Ray is unique in many ways, but they will always help him, in more ways than one. Timothy Busfield is great as Mark, a reluctant bad guy. He wants to help his family out, and actually isn't truly greedy or evil. He knows that Ray is different, but will help him, in a realistic way. It saddens me that FOD's screenplay writer and director Phil Alden Robinson wasn't more prolific with movie-making. This proves that he was a talent who could have gone farther in a media career. What is interesting is that in the book (Shoeless Joe) Ray has a twin brother. It would have been interesting to have him and his girlfriend in the movie, but the movie is fine without them. All in all, most sports movies have a general formula. This one does spice up the formula, in more ways than one. It ranks at 88 on the Writers Guild of America's 101 best screenplays. It does deserve its place, as the game of baseball is won by the protagonists, but not by playing in a game. It feels different, and not as cliche as other sports movies. Premiere Magazine named it as one of the 20 most overrated movies of all time in 2005. I disagree wholeheartedly, there are many more overrated sports movies than this (The Blind Side is everything that I hate about sports movies). So, with baseball season underway, excitement will be built for sports movies. Plus, families and friends are seemingly drifting apart, more and more these days. Now is the time for this movie to rise, and be seen by families with hope and sports fans in general. To paraphrase the movie itself: "If you build it, they will come." Field of Dreams legacy has been built and assured that people will be coming to it, for a long time to come. For me personally, pun intended, it's a home-run movie.
Good write up. I saw this at the cinema when it came out. I seem to remember there were a lot of Baseball films coming out around that time.
Personally i thought it was OK. A bit too whimsical for me. I had no interest in revisiting it since then. I did love Bull Durham which also featured Costner.
Perhaps i should give it another watch after all these years..
Thank you for the comment. Ironically, Phil Alden Robinson thought that Costner won't want to do another baseball movie. He was wrong more than once, it seems! A few years ago, a TV series was being made based on the movie, namely for Peacock. They declined and so did several other networks. Chris Pratt was going to star as Ray apparently. I'm happy it wasn't made, particularly with Chris Pratt (who I personally find one note as an actor and overused right now). Field of Dreams is fine as it is. The story was told fully. Let the audience make their own theories and opinions. Also, our own Dennis Gassner was the production designer! I didn't know that until my recent re-watch. He's shown much range, from a small scale farm in the American Midwest, to MI6 Headquarters in London, to the world beyond!