The glory days of Cinecitta are evoked in Finally Dawn (Finalmente l’Alba), a sprawling story of uncertain tone – sometimes thrilled, sometimes appalled and sometimes as generally bewildered as nervous ingenue Mimosa (Rebecca Antonaci), an ordinary young woman of Rome who finds herself leading the way through this warren of a Wonderland. Cinecitta has recently revived its fortunes after a long slump, with a slow build of refurbishment and expansion, but director Saverio Costanzo leans heavily into nostalgia for times past, setting his story in the ‘50s when there were still legions of centurions marching around the studio lot and live animals awaiting their close-ups. A lion features here, roaring at passers-by. It may well be the film’s most sympathetic character.
Mimosa is not the least bit leonine. She is only at Cinecitta because her sister Iris (Sofia Panizzi) was approached at the local cinema by someone from the studio...
Mimosa is not the least bit leonine. She is only at Cinecitta because her sister Iris (Sofia Panizzi) was approached at the local cinema by someone from the studio...
- 9/2/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Many native critics have bemoaned the invasion of English-speaking actors turning their hand to the Italian tongue at this year’s Venice Film Festival, easy to spot not, this time, by their proclivity for adding both onion and garlic to a sugo or cream to a carbonara. In this case, it’s Joe Keery, Willem Dafoe, and Lily James in the baffling competition title “Finalmente l’alba,” (“Finally Dawn”), which mixes Italian and American actors in Rome’s booming “Hollywood on the Tiber” era, during which the Cinecittà Studios was a breeding ground for large-scale productions of the 1950s and ’60s such as “Ben Hur” and “Cleopatra.”
Beginning as a “Babylon”-esque tale about the unmitigated heft and mania of epic filmmaking in Rome before becoming a quasi-murder mystery, and then, ultimately, a loss-of-innocence bildungsroman for one of cinema’s least memorable protagonists, Saverio Costanzo’s driverless feature seems to constantly...
Beginning as a “Babylon”-esque tale about the unmitigated heft and mania of epic filmmaking in Rome before becoming a quasi-murder mystery, and then, ultimately, a loss-of-innocence bildungsroman for one of cinema’s least memorable protagonists, Saverio Costanzo’s driverless feature seems to constantly...
- 9/1/2023
- by Steph Green
- Indiewire
Saverio Costanzo, who was last in the Venice competition in 2014 with Adam Driver-starrer “Hungry Hearts,” is back on the Lido with “Finally Dawn.”
The 1950s-set film stars Lily James plays a slightly fading American diva named Josephine Esperanto, who’s shooting a swords and sandals epic at Cinecittà when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber. At the studios, Esperanto intersects with a young Roman woman named Mimosa, who is auditioning as an extra and takes a shine to her innocence. A “Dolce Vita” night follows in which Esperanto, Mimosa and the Hollywood epic’s other U.S. actors — played by Joe Keery and Rachel Sennott, plus an art dealer played by Willem Dafoe — spend some memorable hours.
Written and directed by Costanzo — who saw global success with Rai and HBO’s multi-season “My Brilliant Friend” — the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
The 1950s-set film stars Lily James plays a slightly fading American diva named Josephine Esperanto, who’s shooting a swords and sandals epic at Cinecittà when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber. At the studios, Esperanto intersects with a young Roman woman named Mimosa, who is auditioning as an extra and takes a shine to her innocence. A “Dolce Vita” night follows in which Esperanto, Mimosa and the Hollywood epic’s other U.S. actors — played by Joe Keery and Rachel Sennott, plus an art dealer played by Willem Dafoe — spend some memorable hours.
Written and directed by Costanzo — who saw global success with Rai and HBO’s multi-season “My Brilliant Friend” — the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Production has just started at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios on “Finalmente L’alba” the new film by “My Brilliant Friend” director Saverio Costanzo. It is set during the 1950s when the famed filmmaking facilities were known as Hollywood on the Tiber.
This high-end costume drama – the title of which translates as “Finally, Dawn Has Come” – features a stellar cast comprising Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”), Willem Dafoe, and Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci.
Saverio Costanzo
“Finally, Dawn” is the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood.
Written and directed by Costanzo, whose previous films include “Private” and Adam Driver-starring “Hungry Hearts,” the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
This high-end costume drama – the title of which translates as “Finally, Dawn Has Come” – features a stellar cast comprising Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”), Willem Dafoe, and Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci.
Saverio Costanzo
“Finally, Dawn” is the journey over the course of a long and intense night of an aspiring young Italian actress, played by Antonaci. In the Cinecittà studios of the 1950s, she experiences some memorable hours that will mark her transition to full blown womanhood.
Written and directed by Costanzo, whose previous films include “Private” and Adam Driver-starring “Hungry Hearts,” the picture is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside,...
- 8/29/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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