Medusa Films
"Two Friends" is an oddball confection about a thoroughly mismatched pair who forge a strong friendship for no apparent reason other than the determination of the film's two actor-directors that this should happen.
Based on a play by Spiro Scimone (who adapts it for the screen), the film smoothly opens up the story so that it has a visual flow backed by a lush, mostly classical musical score by Andrea Morricone. But this debut feature by stage veterans Scimone and Francesco Sframeli depends too much on quirkiness and improbable characters to take on any real life of its own. Festival slots seem the only likely future for the low-budget Italian indie.
Scimone and Sframeli deliver sound performances as the misfits -- two southern Italians in a chilly, alienating northern city. Nunzio (Sframeli) is a hapless, dimwitted laborer who works in a paint factory that has given him a chronic, debilitating cough. Unaccountably, he shares a spacious flat with Pino (Scimone), a furtive character who slips in and out of town by train, always careful to pack a gun in his overnight case. Apparently a Mafia hit man, Pino gets his instructions from a fishmonger who leaves deliveries of fish at his doorstep.
When Nunzio's illness prevents him from working and a hospital visit leaves the impression that he is fatally stricken -- this film loves to withhold information -- Pino suddenly drops an attitude of total indifference toward his roommate to help Nunzio woo a pretty woman and then to escape the city for good even at risk to his own safety.
The filmmakers try to squeeze droll humor from the obsessions and repetitive behavior of the eccentric characters. Nunzio is obsessed by food. Pino is, understandably, obsessed by secrecy. Their landlord is obsessed with finding out who broke the doorbell rather than collecting his overdue rent. At a nearby tavern Pino frequents, the bartender endlessly calls in song dedications to a radio station while two old customers obsess over the daily crossword puzzle. Nunzio's co-workers at the factory commute to work daily in a car with a faulty ignition no one bothers to repair.
In this and other ways, "Two Friends" has a bad case of the "cutes." The film, both sentimental and melancholy, earns occasional laughs but mostly at the expense of solid characterization and fluid storytelling.infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.
The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.
As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.
Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.
Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".
THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Director: Simon Wincer
Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg
Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley
Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall
Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy
Director of photography: Reed Smoot
Production designer: Paul Peters
Music: William Ross
Costume designer: Jo Katsaras
Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe
Cast:
Neera: Biana G. Tamimi
Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus
Aden: Patrick Elyas
Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf
Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri
Kadir: Andries Rossouw
MPAA rating: G
Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
"Two Friends" is an oddball confection about a thoroughly mismatched pair who forge a strong friendship for no apparent reason other than the determination of the film's two actor-directors that this should happen.
Based on a play by Spiro Scimone (who adapts it for the screen), the film smoothly opens up the story so that it has a visual flow backed by a lush, mostly classical musical score by Andrea Morricone. But this debut feature by stage veterans Scimone and Francesco Sframeli depends too much on quirkiness and improbable characters to take on any real life of its own. Festival slots seem the only likely future for the low-budget Italian indie.
Scimone and Sframeli deliver sound performances as the misfits -- two southern Italians in a chilly, alienating northern city. Nunzio (Sframeli) is a hapless, dimwitted laborer who works in a paint factory that has given him a chronic, debilitating cough. Unaccountably, he shares a spacious flat with Pino (Scimone), a furtive character who slips in and out of town by train, always careful to pack a gun in his overnight case. Apparently a Mafia hit man, Pino gets his instructions from a fishmonger who leaves deliveries of fish at his doorstep.
When Nunzio's illness prevents him from working and a hospital visit leaves the impression that he is fatally stricken -- this film loves to withhold information -- Pino suddenly drops an attitude of total indifference toward his roommate to help Nunzio woo a pretty woman and then to escape the city for good even at risk to his own safety.
The filmmakers try to squeeze droll humor from the obsessions and repetitive behavior of the eccentric characters. Nunzio is obsessed by food. Pino is, understandably, obsessed by secrecy. Their landlord is obsessed with finding out who broke the doorbell rather than collecting his overdue rent. At a nearby tavern Pino frequents, the bartender endlessly calls in song dedications to a radio station while two old customers obsess over the daily crossword puzzle. Nunzio's co-workers at the factory commute to work daily in a car with a faulty ignition no one bothers to repair.
In this and other ways, "Two Friends" has a bad case of the "cutes." The film, both sentimental and melancholy, earns occasional laughs but mostly at the expense of solid characterization and fluid storytelling.infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.
The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.
As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.
Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.
Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".
THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Director: Simon Wincer
Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg
Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley
Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall
Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy
Director of photography: Reed Smoot
Production designer: Paul Peters
Music: William Ross
Costume designer: Jo Katsaras
Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe
Cast:
Neera: Biana G. Tamimi
Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus
Aden: Patrick Elyas
Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf
Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri
Kadir: Andries Rossouw
MPAA rating: G
Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Medusa Films
"Two Friends" is an oddball confection about a thoroughly mismatched pair who forge a strong friendship for no apparent reason other than the determination of the film's two actor-directors that this should happen.
Based on a play by Spiro Scimone (who adapts it for the screen), the film smoothly opens up the story so that it has a visual flow backed by a lush, mostly classical musical score by Andrea Morricone. But this debut feature by stage veterans Scimone and Francesco Sframeli depends too much on quirkiness and improbable characters to take on any real life of its own. Festival slots seem the only likely future for the low-budget Italian indie.
Scimone and Sframeli deliver sound performances as the misfits -- two southern Italians in a chilly, alienating northern city. Nunzio (Sframeli) is a hapless, dimwitted laborer who works in a paint factory that has given him a chronic, debilitating cough. Unaccountably, he shares a spacious flat with Pino (Scimone), a furtive character who slips in and out of town by train, always careful to pack a gun in his overnight case. Apparently a Mafia hit man, Pino gets his instructions from a fishmonger who leaves deliveries of fish at his doorstep.
When Nunzio's illness prevents him from working and a hospital visit leaves the impression that he is fatally stricken -- this film loves to withhold information -- Pino suddenly drops an attitude of total indifference toward his roommate to help Nunzio woo a pretty woman and then to escape the city for good even at risk to his own safety.
The filmmakers try to squeeze droll humor from the obsessions and repetitive behavior of the eccentric characters. Nunzio is obsessed by food. Pino is, understandably, obsessed by secrecy. Their landlord is obsessed with finding out who broke the doorbell rather than collecting his overdue rent. At a nearby tavern Pino frequents, the bartender endlessly calls in song dedications to a radio station while two old customers obsess over the daily crossword puzzle. Nunzio's co-workers at the factory commute to work daily in a car with a faulty ignition no one bothers to repair.
In this and other ways, "Two Friends" has a bad case of the "cutes." The film, both sentimental and melancholy, earns occasional laughs but mostly at the expense of solid characterization and fluid storytelling.infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.
The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.
As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.
Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.
Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".
THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Director: Simon Wincer
Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg
Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley
Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall
Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy
Director of photography: Reed Smoot
Production designer: Paul Peters
Music: William Ross
Costume designer: Jo Katsaras
Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe
Cast:
Neera: Biana G. Tamimi
Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus
Aden: Patrick Elyas
Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf
Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri
Kadir: Andries Rossouw
MPAA rating: G
Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
"Two Friends" is an oddball confection about a thoroughly mismatched pair who forge a strong friendship for no apparent reason other than the determination of the film's two actor-directors that this should happen.
Based on a play by Spiro Scimone (who adapts it for the screen), the film smoothly opens up the story so that it has a visual flow backed by a lush, mostly classical musical score by Andrea Morricone. But this debut feature by stage veterans Scimone and Francesco Sframeli depends too much on quirkiness and improbable characters to take on any real life of its own. Festival slots seem the only likely future for the low-budget Italian indie.
Scimone and Sframeli deliver sound performances as the misfits -- two southern Italians in a chilly, alienating northern city. Nunzio (Sframeli) is a hapless, dimwitted laborer who works in a paint factory that has given him a chronic, debilitating cough. Unaccountably, he shares a spacious flat with Pino (Scimone), a furtive character who slips in and out of town by train, always careful to pack a gun in his overnight case. Apparently a Mafia hit man, Pino gets his instructions from a fishmonger who leaves deliveries of fish at his doorstep.
When Nunzio's illness prevents him from working and a hospital visit leaves the impression that he is fatally stricken -- this film loves to withhold information -- Pino suddenly drops an attitude of total indifference toward his roommate to help Nunzio woo a pretty woman and then to escape the city for good even at risk to his own safety.
The filmmakers try to squeeze droll humor from the obsessions and repetitive behavior of the eccentric characters. Nunzio is obsessed by food. Pino is, understandably, obsessed by secrecy. Their landlord is obsessed with finding out who broke the doorbell rather than collecting his overdue rent. At a nearby tavern Pino frequents, the bartender endlessly calls in song dedications to a radio station while two old customers obsess over the daily crossword puzzle. Nunzio's co-workers at the factory commute to work daily in a car with a faulty ignition no one bothers to repair.
In this and other ways, "Two Friends" has a bad case of the "cutes." The film, both sentimental and melancholy, earns occasional laughs but mostly at the expense of solid characterization and fluid storytelling.infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.
The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.
As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.
Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.
Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".
THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Director: Simon Wincer
Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg
Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley
Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall
Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy
Director of photography: Reed Smoot
Production designer: Paul Peters
Music: William Ross
Costume designer: Jo Katsaras
Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe
Cast:
Neera: Biana G. Tamimi
Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus
Aden: Patrick Elyas
Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf
Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri
Kadir: Andries Rossouw
MPAA rating: G
Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/31/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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