Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano, an Oscar nominee this year for Italy in the best international feature category, was the big winner of this year’s 2024 David Di Donatello Awards, Italy’s equivalent to the Oscars, winning best film and director for Garrone.
Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.
Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.
“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.
Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...
Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.
Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.
“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.
Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lyda Patitucci, whose first feature “Like Sheep Among Wolves” is launching from the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Harbor section, represents a rare case of an Italian female filmmaker who cut her teeth in the genre movie trenches.
Her extensive experience prior to her debut comprises being a second unit director, specialized in action scenes, on films such as Matteo Rovere’s drag race drama “Italian Race” and on Rovere’s non conventional ancient Rome origins epic “The First King.” Patitucci has also directed several episodes of supernatural Netflix Italian original series “Curon.”
In “Like Sheep Among Wolves,” the protagonist is an intrepid female undercover police agent named Vera who infiltrates a dangerous Serbian syndicate in Rome’s criminal underworld and wins the trust of its kingpins. All seems to be going right in the leadup to her big bust until – just as she is about to set up the gang...
Her extensive experience prior to her debut comprises being a second unit director, specialized in action scenes, on films such as Matteo Rovere’s drag race drama “Italian Race” and on Rovere’s non conventional ancient Rome origins epic “The First King.” Patitucci has also directed several episodes of supernatural Netflix Italian original series “Curon.”
In “Like Sheep Among Wolves,” the protagonist is an intrepid female undercover police agent named Vera who infiltrates a dangerous Serbian syndicate in Rome’s criminal underworld and wins the trust of its kingpins. All seems to be going right in the leadup to her big bust until – just as she is about to set up the gang...
- 1/31/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Following “Gomorrah” and “The Young Pope,” Sky continues to bring to the screen fresh edgy TV series with “The King,” which is Italy’s first prison drama but transcends genre tropes to recount the country’s complex way of contending with evil forces, including terrorism.
The dark skein, currently playing in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-tv service –– and premiering internationally in competition at Series Mania –– is the brainchild of Italian A-list actor Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.
After playing a a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth in “Montalbano,” Zingaretti “wanted to do a show set in an Italian maximum security penitentiary and play a character who was the head of this jail,” says “The King” producer Lorenzo Mieli.
Zingaretti’s character, named Bruno Testori, is the “supreme ruler” of the San Michele penitentiary, which is packed with hard...
The dark skein, currently playing in Italy on Comcast-owned Sky’s pay-tv service –– and premiering internationally in competition at Series Mania –– is the brainchild of Italian A-list actor Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.
After playing a a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth in “Montalbano,” Zingaretti “wanted to do a show set in an Italian maximum security penitentiary and play a character who was the head of this jail,” says “The King” producer Lorenzo Mieli.
Zingaretti’s character, named Bruno Testori, is the “supreme ruler” of the San Michele penitentiary, which is packed with hard...
- 3/19/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Fremantle and pay-tv operator Sky are unveiling Sky original series “The King,” an innovative prison drama toplining Luca Zingaretti, who is best known as the titular character in Italy’s widely exported “Inspector Montalbano” series.
While in “Montalbano” Zingaretti played a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth, in “The King” he undergoes a monumental character change, becoming the psychopathic Buno Testori (watch trailer above) director of the lawless San Michele penitentiary, which is located on an unspecified Italian border territory that is not subject to Italian law where he can apply his totally personal idea of justice.
Testori is ruthless with those who deserve it and unexpectedly compassionate with others, “always following the principles of his own distorted and obscure morals,” according to the provided synopsis. As the trailer puts it: “Every kingdom has its own rules.”
The dark show is penned by Stefano Bises, whose credits include “Gomorrah,” “ZeroZeroZero” and “The New Pope,...
While in “Montalbano” Zingaretti played a simpatico Mafia-fighting Sicilian sleuth, in “The King” he undergoes a monumental character change, becoming the psychopathic Buno Testori (watch trailer above) director of the lawless San Michele penitentiary, which is located on an unspecified Italian border territory that is not subject to Italian law where he can apply his totally personal idea of justice.
Testori is ruthless with those who deserve it and unexpectedly compassionate with others, “always following the principles of his own distorted and obscure morals,” according to the provided synopsis. As the trailer puts it: “Every kingdom has its own rules.”
The dark show is penned by Stefano Bises, whose credits include “Gomorrah,” “ZeroZeroZero” and “The New Pope,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Photo: ‘Yara’ ‘Yara’ - True Crime Genre On November 26, 2010, Yara Gambriasio, a thirteen-year-old girl, went missing only a few blocks from her home. After years and years of investigation, finally, a DNA match led to a man getting life in prison for her murder. Italy was obsessed with this missing case and the country followed it for years in terror. A parent’s nightmare of their child doing their routine and getting killed for absolutely no reason. ‘Yara’ is directed by Marco Tullio Giordana and tells this true story from the perspective of the lead prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri, played by Isabella Ragonese. The film begins with the discovery of her body and then backs up to the day she went missing. From an American point of view and never hearing about this case, it is a terrifying reality for the victim’s family and friends, but after watching the film...
- 11/8/2021
- by Jack Colin
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
The 71st edition of the Locarno Film Festival drew to a close over the weekend, with Singaporean writer-director Yeo Siew Hua’s contemporary noir “A Land Imagined” taking the Golden Lion award in the international competition.
Yeo’s first narrative feature since his experimental 2009 debut “In the House of Straw,” the politically infused mystery – about a Singapore police detective on the trail of a missing Chinese construction worker – was not a widely expected winner of the top prize in a diverse competition that included well-received features by Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean and Kent Jones. Variety critic Jay Weissberg was less impressed than Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke’s jury, writing that the film “privileges style over coherence.”
At an award ceremony that saw victories for several female filmmakers, France’s Yolande Zauberman took the Special Jury Prize, essentially the runner-up gong, for “M,” a Yiddish-language exploration of Bnei Brak, the Israeli...
Yeo’s first narrative feature since his experimental 2009 debut “In the House of Straw,” the politically infused mystery – about a Singapore police detective on the trail of a missing Chinese construction worker – was not a widely expected winner of the top prize in a diverse competition that included well-received features by Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean and Kent Jones. Variety critic Jay Weissberg was less impressed than Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke’s jury, writing that the film “privileges style over coherence.”
At an award ceremony that saw victories for several female filmmakers, France’s Yolande Zauberman took the Special Jury Prize, essentially the runner-up gong, for “M,” a Yiddish-language exploration of Bnei Brak, the Israeli...
- 8/13/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The 35th Turin Film Festival has concluded, with a slew of honors being given out to its international lineup.
The best film award was given to Ram Nehari’s Israeli film Don’t Forget Me, a dark comedy about a woman struggling from an eating disorder who finds love in the form of a socially awkward tuba player. The film also was honored in the best actor and actress categories.
Chilean director Pablo Larrain served as president of the international jury, whose members also included Gillies MacKinnon (U.K.), Petros Markaris (Greece), Santiago Mitre (Argentina) and Isabella Ragonese (Italy).
Armando Iannucci won the Fipresci Award for his new film The...
The best film award was given to Ram Nehari’s Israeli film Don’t Forget Me, a dark comedy about a woman struggling from an eating disorder who finds love in the form of a socially awkward tuba player. The film also was honored in the best actor and actress categories.
Chilean director Pablo Larrain served as president of the international jury, whose members also included Gillies MacKinnon (U.K.), Petros Markaris (Greece), Santiago Mitre (Argentina) and Isabella Ragonese (Italy).
Armando Iannucci won the Fipresci Award for his new film The...
- 12/2/2017
- by Ariston Anderson
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Italian sales company has also acquired street art documentary Vertical Conquests.
Italian sales company FilmExport has acquired world sales rights to Italian director Sergio Rubini’s couples comedy Let’s Talk (Dobbiamo Parlare) and street art documentary Vertical Conquests.
Let’s Talk revolves around two couples – one conventionally married, the other cohabitating — whose friendship and lives are laid bare over the course of one evening following the revelation that one of the partners is having an affair.
Rubini plays 50-year-old writer Vanni who lives in a beautiful central Rome loft with his 30-year-old girlfriend Linda, played by former Efp Shooting Star Isabella Ragonese.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio co-stars as Alfredo, a heart surgeon conventionally married to Constance, played by Gomorrah co-star Maria Pia Calzone.
The film grossed $600,000 when it was released in Italy at the end of 2015.
Other new titles on FilmExport’s slate include found footage French Riviera-set thriller Wax: We Are The X and In The...
Italian sales company FilmExport has acquired world sales rights to Italian director Sergio Rubini’s couples comedy Let’s Talk (Dobbiamo Parlare) and street art documentary Vertical Conquests.
Let’s Talk revolves around two couples – one conventionally married, the other cohabitating — whose friendship and lives are laid bare over the course of one evening following the revelation that one of the partners is having an affair.
Rubini plays 50-year-old writer Vanni who lives in a beautiful central Rome loft with his 30-year-old girlfriend Linda, played by former Efp Shooting Star Isabella Ragonese.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio co-stars as Alfredo, a heart surgeon conventionally married to Constance, played by Gomorrah co-star Maria Pia Calzone.
The film grossed $600,000 when it was released in Italy at the end of 2015.
Other new titles on FilmExport’s slate include found footage French Riviera-set thriller Wax: We Are The X and In The...
- 2/14/2016
- ScreenDaily
Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.
Full line-up
Cinema D’Oggi
World premiere
• Angely...
The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.
Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.
Full line-up
Cinema D’Oggi
World premiere
• Angely...
- 9/29/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The 71st Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning, highlighted by films from American directors, including David Gordon Green, Barry Levinson, Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko, Andrew Niccol, and James Franco. As had been previously announced, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and many others, will be the opening film when the festival begins on Aug. 27.
Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.
Competition
The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin
Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson
Starring Holger Andersson,...
Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.
Competition
The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin
Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson
Starring Holger Andersson,...
- 7/24/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
British and Irish stars will be lauded as emerging talent at Berlinale
Clockwise from top left. France: Adèle Haenel (House of Tolerance), Germany: Anna Maria Mühe (November Child), Iceland: Hilmar Gudjónsson (Either Way), Ireland: Antonia Campbell-Hughes (The Other Side Of Sleep), Italy: Isabella Ragonese (The First Assignment), Poland: Jakub Gierszał (Suicide Room), Romania: Ana Ularu (Outbound), Sweden: Bill Skarsgård (Simple Simon), Switzerland:...
Clockwise from top left. France: Adèle Haenel (House of Tolerance), Germany: Anna Maria Mühe (November Child), Iceland: Hilmar Gudjónsson (Either Way), Ireland: Antonia Campbell-Hughes (The Other Side Of Sleep), Italy: Isabella Ragonese (The First Assignment), Poland: Jakub Gierszał (Suicide Room), Romania: Ana Ularu (Outbound), Sweden: Bill Skarsgård (Simple Simon), Switzerland:...
- 12/8/2011
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The First Assignment
Directed by Giorgia Cecere
Italy, 2010
The First Assignment is a triumph of a romantic drama. Beautifully paced, photographed, and acted, the film takes well-worn material – the long-distance relationship – and fashions it into a meaningful experience that’s refreshingly free of cinematic sap and outdated gender roles.
Nena (Isabella Ragonese) is a teacher from southern Italy in the midst of a relationship with upper class intellectual Francesco (Alberto Boll). Their love is put to the test when she agrees to move to a small mountain town to instruct a ragtag group of children. Aside from difficulty adapting to a life of relative isolation and comparable simplicity, Nena finds happiness with her students and in Francesco’s letters and visits. Everything changes when Francesco meets another woman.
Director Giorgia Cecere maneuvers The First Assignment into subtly complex territory. In addition to its tragic-romantic narrative she incorporates commentaries on class divides and malaise,...
Directed by Giorgia Cecere
Italy, 2010
The First Assignment is a triumph of a romantic drama. Beautifully paced, photographed, and acted, the film takes well-worn material – the long-distance relationship – and fashions it into a meaningful experience that’s refreshingly free of cinematic sap and outdated gender roles.
Nena (Isabella Ragonese) is a teacher from southern Italy in the midst of a relationship with upper class intellectual Francesco (Alberto Boll). Their love is put to the test when she agrees to move to a small mountain town to instruct a ragtag group of children. Aside from difficulty adapting to a life of relative isolation and comparable simplicity, Nena finds happiness with her students and in Francesco’s letters and visits. Everything changes when Francesco meets another woman.
Director Giorgia Cecere maneuvers The First Assignment into subtly complex territory. In addition to its tragic-romantic narrative she incorporates commentaries on class divides and malaise,...
- 6/24/2011
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
Purple Sea is a surprising, powerful film from Italian writer/director Donatella Marioca. A period piece set on a rural 19th century island, it’s a heartfelt, riveting, completely unpredictable love story between two women.
We first meet Angela (Valeria Solarino) and Sara (Isabella Ragonese) when they are young girls, running around on their astoundingly beautiful Mediterranean island. They (along with neighborhood boys Tomasso and Ventura) are friends despite differences in social class – Angela is the daughter of the quarry foreman, the only booming industry on the isle, while Sara is destined to be a servant for the “baron” the wealthy man who owns the whole place.
Not all is idyllic on the little slice of paradise, as Angela’s father is revealed to be an angry, bitter, abusive man. He hates that Angela is a girl (she’s useless as a successor in business) and beats her for the slightest offense.
We first meet Angela (Valeria Solarino) and Sara (Isabella Ragonese) when they are young girls, running around on their astoundingly beautiful Mediterranean island. They (along with neighborhood boys Tomasso and Ventura) are friends despite differences in social class – Angela is the daughter of the quarry foreman, the only booming industry on the isle, while Sara is destined to be a servant for the “baron” the wealthy man who owns the whole place.
Not all is idyllic on the little slice of paradise, as Angela’s father is revealed to be an angry, bitter, abusive man. He hates that Angela is a girl (she’s useless as a successor in business) and beats her for the slightest offense.
- 3/3/2011
- by Danielle Riendeau
- AfterEllen.com
Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos.
- 9/15/2010
- by Michelle Wray
- Monsters and Critics
Sophia Coppola attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival closing ceremony.Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Isabella Ragonese attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival closing ceremony.Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Ingeborga Dapkunaite attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival closing ceremony.Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Luca Guadagnino and Ingeborga Dapkunaite attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival closing ceremony.Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. Sophia Coppola attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival closing ceremony.Photo copyright by Insidefoto / PR Photos. 09/11/2010 - Roman Coppola and his wife - 67th Annual Venice Film Festival - Closing Ceremony - Arrivals - Palazzo del Cinema - Venice, Italy © Insidefoto...
- 9/14/2010
- by James Wray
- Monsters and Critics
And finally it started! The 67th Venice Film Festival, one of the most prestigious, and, by the way, the oldest film festival in the world, kicked off tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Palazzo del Cinema featuring impressive Opening ceremony, hosted by the Italian actress Isabella Ragonese.
Black Swan made its world premiere as the opening film, bringing the American director Darren Aronofsky back to the Lido, where he won the top Golden Lion prize with The Wrestler (2008).
Of course, we already have some interesting reviews to share with you, for example this one (that comes from Variety):
“A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition, “Black Swan” serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet.”
Let us remind...
Black Swan made its world premiere as the opening film, bringing the American director Darren Aronofsky back to the Lido, where he won the top Golden Lion prize with The Wrestler (2008).
Of course, we already have some interesting reviews to share with you, for example this one (that comes from Variety):
“A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition, “Black Swan” serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet.”
Let us remind...
- 9/2/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
One of the talents of Italian cinema, actress Isabella Ragonese, recently acclaimed in Venice for the film-revelation of Controcampo Italiano 2009 Ten Winters (Dieci Inverni) by Valerio Mieli will be the godmother for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 67th Venice International Film Festival that will take place on the Lido from September 1 through 1 2010, directed by Marco Mueller and organized by la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta. Isabella Ragonese will open the 67th Venice Film Festival on the evening of Wednesday September 1, on the stage of the Sala ...
- 7/26/2010
- BusinessofCinema
Steve Balderson‘s Stuck! (top); Isabella Ragonese, Valeria Solarino in Donatella Maiorca‘s Purple Sea (bottom) Outfest 2010: Incestuous Gay Brothers, Wild Women’s Prison, George Takei in Bed Outfest 2010, Friday, July 9. Synopses from the Outfest website: From Beginning to End From their playful childhood through their coming of age, Brazilian half-brothers Francisco and Thomás have always shared a special bond. As young men, their tempestuous relationship is often complicated by family drama and their individual ambitions, building to an uninhibited display of affection. Tastefully embracing taboos usually reserved for fetish films, From Beginning To End is an oddly moving tribute to brotherly love. Purple Sea Nothing – not her father nor the church – can stop unruly Angela from being with her childhood best friend turned great love, Sara, in this gripping tale of devotion. Based on a true story and beautifully photographed on the rocky shores of Sicily, Purple Sea...
- 7/8/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Daniele Luchetti’s project La Nostra Vita (Our Life) is the only Italian film in competition for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival 2010.
This will be Luchetti’s fourth time at Cannes, and looks like he’s got himself some good story since we already had a chance to hear from him that “above and beyond his difficulties, it’s the story of a whole country.” Check the rest of report…
So, this is story about working-class man in Rome, who must come to terms with a death caused by a traumatic event.
Luchetti said that “The film mixes various horizons, such as life and profound pain. It is simultaneously furious and lively. I worked less on lightening up the tone this time, in order to let the truth emerge”.
He also added that he had “a great desire look to at my country through a character that...
This will be Luchetti’s fourth time at Cannes, and looks like he’s got himself some good story since we already had a chance to hear from him that “above and beyond his difficulties, it’s the story of a whole country.” Check the rest of report…
So, this is story about working-class man in Rome, who must come to terms with a death caused by a traumatic event.
Luchetti said that “The film mixes various horizons, such as life and profound pain. It is simultaneously furious and lively. I worked less on lightening up the tone this time, in order to let the truth emerge”.
He also added that he had “a great desire look to at my country through a character that...
- 5/4/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Until women reach a 50-50 parity with men directors, my mission continues to count the women directors in upcoming and recent film festivals (and an occasional informal glance at what’s selling in the markets). Women’s films in Berlin reflect women’s place in the world both in content and in the numbers of women represented as directors, producers, writers, etc. John Cooper of Sundance stresses the increasing and possibly 50-50 parity of women producers, but I am looking at the directors. As March is Women’s History Month (and all the other months are Men’s History Month according to Gloria Steinem’s L.A. Times Article of March 4, 2010) this blog is in honor of all women everywhere.
Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow for winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. La Times puts into perspective the fact that the Best Director Oscar went to Kathryn Bigelow...
Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow for winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. La Times puts into perspective the fact that the Best Director Oscar went to Kathryn Bigelow...
- 3/8/2010
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
ROME -- Having recovered from his poorly received (especially at home) period film "Napoleon & Me," Paolo Virzi has gone back to doing what he does best in Tutta la vita davanti (roughly, Your Whole Life Ahead of You). He offers up a bittersweet, at times surreal snapshot of contemporary Italy, this time through a comically biting critique of temping, a phenomenon only now exploding in the country. Loosely based on a novel by Michela Murgia, the film reaches a broad audience: the young for its central characters, the old(er) for its ultimately accurate depiction of starting out in the world. It is commercial enough to span wide arthouse audiences abroad, especially in the U.S. if marketed correctly.
The fairy tale begins, voice-over and all, with Marta (Isabella Ragonese) graduating from college cum laude and happily setting out to find a job in publishing. Dozens of fruitless interviews later, she becomes a live-in babysitter for single mother Sonia (Micaela Ramazzotti) and starts temping at a call center run by an exuberant and ruthless manager (Sabrina Ferilli).
The giddiness of her first adult adventure wears off quickly when the lousiness of her job becomes apparent, in the form of cruel bosses, envious co-workers and harassed customers. She meets an impassioned labor union worker (Valerio Mastandrea) and soon divulges the company's unfair practices -- as much out of her desire for just treatment as for his charisma.
Ragonese plays Marta, an intelligent, caring and strong young woman, well and you know she will make the most of the life she has ahead of her. But it is the secondary characters who give the film the gravitas necessary to keep the story from being breezy. Sex symbol Ferilli is both moving and repellant as the woman who appears to have it all together but is an empty shell, even when the plot takes her way over the top. And Ramazzotti is perfect as the ballsy knockout who can have all the men she wants, which threatens to lead her to her only marketable skill.
Having made a real-life fairy tale without stooping to cynicism or facile judgments, Virzi knows there are no happy endings. But there are happy moments, many of which depend precisely on the kindness of strangers, as in the film's finale.
TUTTA LA VITA DAVANTI
Medusa Film, Motorino Amaranto
Sales: Adriana Chiesa Enterprises
Credits:
Director: Paolo Virzi
Writer: Virzi, Francesco Bruni
Producers: Daniele Mazzocca
Director of photography: Nicola Pecorini
Music: Franco Piersanti
Costume designer: Francesca Sartori
Editor: Esmerelda Calabria
Cast:
Marta: Isabella Ragonese
Daniela: Sabrina Ferilli
Claudio: Massimo Ghini
Giorgio: Valerio Mastandrea
Lucio 2: Elio Germano
Sonia: Micaela Ramazzotti
Maria Chiara: Valentina Carnelutti
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The fairy tale begins, voice-over and all, with Marta (Isabella Ragonese) graduating from college cum laude and happily setting out to find a job in publishing. Dozens of fruitless interviews later, she becomes a live-in babysitter for single mother Sonia (Micaela Ramazzotti) and starts temping at a call center run by an exuberant and ruthless manager (Sabrina Ferilli).
The giddiness of her first adult adventure wears off quickly when the lousiness of her job becomes apparent, in the form of cruel bosses, envious co-workers and harassed customers. She meets an impassioned labor union worker (Valerio Mastandrea) and soon divulges the company's unfair practices -- as much out of her desire for just treatment as for his charisma.
Ragonese plays Marta, an intelligent, caring and strong young woman, well and you know she will make the most of the life she has ahead of her. But it is the secondary characters who give the film the gravitas necessary to keep the story from being breezy. Sex symbol Ferilli is both moving and repellant as the woman who appears to have it all together but is an empty shell, even when the plot takes her way over the top. And Ramazzotti is perfect as the ballsy knockout who can have all the men she wants, which threatens to lead her to her only marketable skill.
Having made a real-life fairy tale without stooping to cynicism or facile judgments, Virzi knows there are no happy endings. But there are happy moments, many of which depend precisely on the kindness of strangers, as in the film's finale.
TUTTA LA VITA DAVANTI
Medusa Film, Motorino Amaranto
Sales: Adriana Chiesa Enterprises
Credits:
Director: Paolo Virzi
Writer: Virzi, Francesco Bruni
Producers: Daniele Mazzocca
Director of photography: Nicola Pecorini
Music: Franco Piersanti
Costume designer: Francesca Sartori
Editor: Esmerelda Calabria
Cast:
Marta: Isabella Ragonese
Daniela: Sabrina Ferilli
Claudio: Massimo Ghini
Giorgio: Valerio Mastandrea
Lucio 2: Elio Germano
Sonia: Micaela Ramazzotti
Maria Chiara: Valentina Carnelutti
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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