Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Paris-based sales company has a hefty slate for AFM.
Paris-based mk2 Films is kicking off sales on Darren Thornton’s Ireland-set comedy-drama Four Mothers at the AFM this week.
The title is an Irish twist on Gianni Di Gregorio’s 2008 Italian hit Mid-August Lunch that won several awards including the Luigi De Laurentiis prize when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Thornton, whose previous credits include RTÉ comedy-drama series Love Is The Drug and his debut feature A Date For Mad Mary, penned the script with his brother Colin Thornton who also co-wrote the script for A Date For Mad Mary.
Paris-based mk2 Films is kicking off sales on Darren Thornton’s Ireland-set comedy-drama Four Mothers at the AFM this week.
The title is an Irish twist on Gianni Di Gregorio’s 2008 Italian hit Mid-August Lunch that won several awards including the Luigi De Laurentiis prize when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Thornton, whose previous credits include RTÉ comedy-drama series Love Is The Drug and his debut feature A Date For Mad Mary, penned the script with his brother Colin Thornton who also co-wrote the script for A Date For Mad Mary.
- 10/31/2022
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The historic Barberini Cinema in Rome reopens its doors to the public this Thursday for the first time in two-and-a-half years after an ambitious multi-million-euro refurbishment.
Situated in the former carriage house and stables of the 17th Century Barberini Palace, the theatre was built in 1930 by architect and construction firm owner Angelo Giuseppe Rossellini, the father of iconic neo-realist director Roberto Rossellini.
Local cinema folklore recounts that Rossellini Sr. gave his son free entry to the venue, cementing the Rome, Open City director’s love of the moving image from an early age.
Siblings Caterina, Francesca and Alessandro Saviotti, whose family has owned the cinema since the 1950s, have spearheaded the renovation of the six-theatre venue.
They have kitted it out with state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos and 4K Barco technology; distinct green, yellow and orange designer furnishings, a soon-to-be-opened bar and restaurant with a view of Piazza Barberini and Via Veneto,...
Situated in the former carriage house and stables of the 17th Century Barberini Palace, the theatre was built in 1930 by architect and construction firm owner Angelo Giuseppe Rossellini, the father of iconic neo-realist director Roberto Rossellini.
Local cinema folklore recounts that Rossellini Sr. gave his son free entry to the venue, cementing the Rome, Open City director’s love of the moving image from an early age.
Siblings Caterina, Francesca and Alessandro Saviotti, whose family has owned the cinema since the 1950s, have spearheaded the renovation of the six-theatre venue.
They have kitted it out with state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos and 4K Barco technology; distinct green, yellow and orange designer furnishings, a soon-to-be-opened bar and restaurant with a view of Piazza Barberini and Via Veneto,...
- 10/18/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: James McArdle (Mare Of Easttown) and Fionnula Flanagan (The Others) have been set to lead the ensemble cast of Four Mothers, an Irish-set adaptation of Gianni di Gregorio’s 2008 festival and box office hit Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo Di Ferragosto).
Filming is underway in Dublin on the comedy feature which heralds from Ida producer Eric Abraham and former Working Title exec Jack Sidey’s Portobello Films and Television (Moffie) and Martina Niland for Port Pictures (Sing Street).
Dearbhla Molloy (Wild Mountain Thyme), Paddy Glynn (Cinderella) and Stella McCusker (Nowhere Special) also star.
Darren Thornton directs and co-wrote the script with his brother, Colin Thornton. They previously collaborated on their IFTA-winning debut A Date For Mad Mary.
Olivier-award nominee McArdle plays a self-sabotaging novelist, saddled with caring for his mother (Flanagan) after a stroke. After his book becomes an overnight hit, his plans for a U.S. promotional tour are thrown...
Filming is underway in Dublin on the comedy feature which heralds from Ida producer Eric Abraham and former Working Title exec Jack Sidey’s Portobello Films and Television (Moffie) and Martina Niland for Port Pictures (Sing Street).
Dearbhla Molloy (Wild Mountain Thyme), Paddy Glynn (Cinderella) and Stella McCusker (Nowhere Special) also star.
Darren Thornton directs and co-wrote the script with his brother, Colin Thornton. They previously collaborated on their IFTA-winning debut A Date For Mad Mary.
Olivier-award nominee McArdle plays a self-sabotaging novelist, saddled with caring for his mother (Flanagan) after a stroke. After his book becomes an overnight hit, his plans for a U.S. promotional tour are thrown...
- 5/3/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, whose “The Wonders” and “Happy as Lazzaro” are both Cannes prizewinners, will direct her first TV series that, similarly to her fable-like films, will explore the world of Italian folk tales.
The series, which is scheduled to start shooting next year, is titled “Ci Sarà Una Volta,” which translates as “There Will Be a Time.” Casting and other details are still being decided.
Rohrwacher is back in Cannes this year as co-director with Pietro Marcello and Francesco Munzi of the doc “Futura,” a portrait of how Italy’s adolescents look at the future which world premieres in Directors’ Fortnight on Monday.
“There Will Be a Time” is being produced by Fremantle-owned Wildside, the shingle behind Elena Ferrante adaptation skein “My Brilliant Friend” — of which Rohrwacher helmed two episodes of season two — in tandem with the director’s regular producer Carlo Cresto-Dina’s Tempesta Film.
The...
The series, which is scheduled to start shooting next year, is titled “Ci Sarà Una Volta,” which translates as “There Will Be a Time.” Casting and other details are still being decided.
Rohrwacher is back in Cannes this year as co-director with Pietro Marcello and Francesco Munzi of the doc “Futura,” a portrait of how Italy’s adolescents look at the future which world premieres in Directors’ Fortnight on Monday.
“There Will Be a Time” is being produced by Fremantle-owned Wildside, the shingle behind Elena Ferrante adaptation skein “My Brilliant Friend” — of which Rohrwacher helmed two episodes of season two — in tandem with the director’s regular producer Carlo Cresto-Dina’s Tempesta Film.
The...
- 7/10/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Other winners include Italian star Sophia Loren and two Netflix features.
Giorgio Diritti’s Hidden Away was the big winner at Italy’s David di Donatello awards on Tuesday (May 11), winning seven awards including best picture, best director and lead actor for Elio Germano.
The drama, which chronicles the difficult life of Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, is produced by Palomar with Rai Cinema, and premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, where Elio Germano won the Silver Bear for best actor. The film, which was the frontrunner going into the night with 15 nominations, also picked up prizes for cinematography, hair artist and sound.
Giorgio Diritti’s Hidden Away was the big winner at Italy’s David di Donatello awards on Tuesday (May 11), winning seven awards including best picture, best director and lead actor for Elio Germano.
The drama, which chronicles the difficult life of Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, is produced by Palomar with Rai Cinema, and premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, where Elio Germano won the Silver Bear for best actor. The film, which was the frontrunner going into the night with 15 nominations, also picked up prizes for cinematography, hair artist and sound.
- 5/12/2021
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Giorgio Diritti’s biopic “Hidden Away,” about crazed primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue, was the big winner at Italy’s 66th David di Donatello Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
The Davids were held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie theaters gradually begin to reopen.
“Hidden Away,” which was the frontrunner with 15 nominations, scored seven statuettes including best picture, director and actor honors won by Elio Germano who tackles “the fiendishly difficult role” of the self-taught artist “with customary gusto,” as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted in his review.
The best actress statuette went to Sophia Loren for her role as Madame Rosa, a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor, in Netflix Original “The Life Ahead,” directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. The Italian icon’s return to the big screen after a decade had been snubbed by the Oscars earlier this year.
The Davids were held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie theaters gradually begin to reopen.
“Hidden Away,” which was the frontrunner with 15 nominations, scored seven statuettes including best picture, director and actor honors won by Elio Germano who tackles “the fiendishly difficult role” of the self-taught artist “with customary gusto,” as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted in his review.
The best actress statuette went to Sophia Loren for her role as Madame Rosa, a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor, in Netflix Original “The Life Ahead,” directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. The Italian icon’s return to the big screen after a decade had been snubbed by the Oscars earlier this year.
- 5/11/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Cinema Retro continues to shine the spotlight on worthy independent films.
By Giacomo Selloni
Three pensioners in Rome find love where they least expect it. In themselves.
Citizen of the World is a sweet and ultimate touching story that centers around two old friends, now retired, collecting their pensions that barely keep them afloat in expensive Rome, who discuss leaving Italy to find a place where they can "live as kings" on their measly pensions. Giorgio Colangeli plays Giorgetto, a cantankerous ne'er do well who's rarely worked in his life and is addicted to scratch off lottery tickets. He lives in a ramshackle apartment, the bathroom of which is up a spiral, metal staircase. He allows a homeless immigrant from Africa, Abu, (a sweet performance by first time actor Salih Saadin Khalid), to use his shower.
The director, Gianni Di Gregorio (called Italy's...
Cinema Retro continues to shine the spotlight on worthy independent films.
By Giacomo Selloni
Three pensioners in Rome find love where they least expect it. In themselves.
Citizen of the World is a sweet and ultimate touching story that centers around two old friends, now retired, collecting their pensions that barely keep them afloat in expensive Rome, who discuss leaving Italy to find a place where they can "live as kings" on their measly pensions. Giorgio Colangeli plays Giorgetto, a cantankerous ne'er do well who's rarely worked in his life and is addicted to scratch off lottery tickets. He lives in a ramshackle apartment, the bathroom of which is up a spiral, metal staircase. He allows a homeless immigrant from Africa, Abu, (a sweet performance by first time actor Salih Saadin Khalid), to use his shower.
The director, Gianni Di Gregorio (called Italy's...
- 3/29/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Single mother drama opened Critics’ Week at Cannes.
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Franco Lolli’s Litigante in a deal with Paris-based sales company Kinology.
The distributor plans to release the film exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) on July 3.
The second feature from French-Colombian director Lolli opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2019 and went on to screen at Zurich, Gent, Chicago and Torino. It also received a theatrical release in France on February 19, ahead of cinema closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Filmed in Bogota, the character-driven drama revolves around a female lawyer facing a...
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Franco Lolli’s Litigante in a deal with Paris-based sales company Kinology.
The distributor plans to release the film exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) on July 3.
The second feature from French-Colombian director Lolli opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2019 and went on to screen at Zurich, Gent, Chicago and Torino. It also received a theatrical release in France on February 19, ahead of cinema closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Filmed in Bogota, the character-driven drama revolves around a female lawyer facing a...
- 6/15/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Three Italian men plot a move to the east to eke out meagre pensions in Gianni Di Gregorio’s sad, sweet and slightly flimsy drama
Gianni Di Gregorio is the veteran Italian director, screenwriter and actor who has served up some lovely filmic dishes in the past, such as his Pranzo Di Ferragosto, or Mid-August Lunch (2008) about a middle-aged man caring for his elderly mother, and his Gianni e le Donne, or Gianni and the Women, released in the UK as The Salt of Life (2011) on very much the same theme. Now he has created this gentle, wistful late-life comedy, a sort of Italian version of Last of the Summer Wine. Three old guys in Rome hang around all day complaining because their modest pensions aren’t stretching very far. They are a retired classics teacher, nicknamed Professore (Di Gregorio himself), unemployed loafer Giorgetto (Georgio Colangeli) and gregarious antiques dealer Attilio.
Gianni Di Gregorio is the veteran Italian director, screenwriter and actor who has served up some lovely filmic dishes in the past, such as his Pranzo Di Ferragosto, or Mid-August Lunch (2008) about a middle-aged man caring for his elderly mother, and his Gianni e le Donne, or Gianni and the Women, released in the UK as The Salt of Life (2011) on very much the same theme. Now he has created this gentle, wistful late-life comedy, a sort of Italian version of Last of the Summer Wine. Three old guys in Rome hang around all day complaining because their modest pensions aren’t stretching very far. They are a retired classics teacher, nicknamed Professore (Di Gregorio himself), unemployed loafer Giorgetto (Georgio Colangeli) and gregarious antiques dealer Attilio.
- 6/10/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A decade after his two much-loved comedies about the vicissitudes of ageing, director Gianni Di Gregorio explains why, against his own expectations, he had to make another
In 2000, after a decade of caring for his ailing mother in her large flat in Rome, Gianni Di Gregorio wrote a comedy about a bloke called Gianni who looks after his 93-year-old mother in a large flat in Rome. No one was interested in the story, in which the unemployed bachelor ends up running around after a cohort of old ladies whose spirit and vigour remain undimmed despite various ailments. Everyone thought he was crazy: who would be interested in a funny film about four old women and a middle-aged bloke?
Related: Gianni Di Gregorio: The incidental director...
In 2000, after a decade of caring for his ailing mother in her large flat in Rome, Gianni Di Gregorio wrote a comedy about a bloke called Gianni who looks after his 93-year-old mother in a large flat in Rome. No one was interested in the story, in which the unemployed bachelor ends up running around after a cohort of old ladies whose spirit and vigour remain undimmed despite various ailments. Everyone thought he was crazy: who would be interested in a funny film about four old women and a middle-aged bloke?
Related: Gianni Di Gregorio: The incidental director...
- 6/10/2020
- by Amy Raphael
- The Guardian - Film News
Titles include Cannes award-winner ‘On A Magical Night’ and courtroom drama ‘The Girl With A Bracelet’.
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Christophe Honoré’s Cannes award-winner On A Magical Night and Stéphane Demoustier’s courtroom drama The Girl With A Bracelet in a deal with Paris-based sales company Charades.
The distributor initially plans to release both exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) later this month but intends to give each title theatrical screenings when cinemas reopen. While no date has yet been specified, it is anticipated that UK cinemas could reopen from July 4.
On A...
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Christophe Honoré’s Cannes award-winner On A Magical Night and Stéphane Demoustier’s courtroom drama The Girl With A Bracelet in a deal with Paris-based sales company Charades.
The distributor initially plans to release both exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) later this month but intends to give each title theatrical screenings when cinemas reopen. While no date has yet been specified, it is anticipated that UK cinemas could reopen from July 4.
On A...
- 6/4/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Plans to screen all three theatrically when UK cinemas reopen.
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to three features in a bid to strengthen its Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) offering, as audiences increasingly turn to streaming platforms during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The distributor has acquired Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, in a deal negotiated with Sebastian Beffa at Playtime; Dominik Moll’s Only The Animals, in a deal struck with Thania Dimitrakopoulou at The Match Factory; and Gianni Di Gregorio’s Citizens Of The World, after negotiations with Camille Neel at Le Pacte.
Curzon was forced to close...
Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to three features in a bid to strengthen its Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) offering, as audiences increasingly turn to streaming platforms during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The distributor has acquired Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, in a deal negotiated with Sebastian Beffa at Playtime; Dominik Moll’s Only The Animals, in a deal struck with Thania Dimitrakopoulou at The Match Factory; and Gianni Di Gregorio’s Citizens Of The World, after negotiations with Camille Neel at Le Pacte.
Curzon was forced to close...
- 4/30/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Andrew Legge’s feature debut and Phillyda Lloyd’s ’Herself’ also receive production awards.
New projects from filmmakers Carmel Winters, Darren and Colin Thornton and Andrew Legge are among the projects being backed by Screen Ireland (formerly the Irish Film Board) in its latest round of funding decisions. The body has also awarded production funding this quarter to Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, which is currently shooting in Dublin.
Winters, the winner of the Fipresci Prize for the Discovery Programme at Toronto for Float Like A Butterfly (pictured), is developing her next project Heron Island - a love story about a...
New projects from filmmakers Carmel Winters, Darren and Colin Thornton and Andrew Legge are among the projects being backed by Screen Ireland (formerly the Irish Film Board) in its latest round of funding decisions. The body has also awarded production funding this quarter to Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, which is currently shooting in Dublin.
Winters, the winner of the Fipresci Prize for the Discovery Programme at Toronto for Float Like A Butterfly (pictured), is developing her next project Heron Island - a love story about a...
- 5/30/2019
- by Esther McCarthy
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Curzon12 will stream recent and classic movies; first lineup revealed.
Curzon is beefing up its online offering with the launch of Curzon12, a monthly VoD service built into its membership packages.
The service will host 12 recent and classic movies which will be available to stream when logging in with a Curzon membership.
Scroll down for first lineup
Each month’s curated lineup, taken exclusively from Curzon’s library, is selected by the company’s programming team and is designed to complement the films playing across Curzon’s cinemas and its day-and-date service on Curzon Home Cinema that month.
The collection will feature the work of directors such as Yorgos Lanthimos, Charlie Chaplin, Andrea Arnold, Satyajit Ray and Agnes Varda as well as lesser known filmmakers.
The offering will be accompanied by a monthly newsletter that will delve deeper into three headline titles for that month.
The subscription is a benefit for existing and future members at no additional...
Curzon is beefing up its online offering with the launch of Curzon12, a monthly VoD service built into its membership packages.
The service will host 12 recent and classic movies which will be available to stream when logging in with a Curzon membership.
Scroll down for first lineup
Each month’s curated lineup, taken exclusively from Curzon’s library, is selected by the company’s programming team and is designed to complement the films playing across Curzon’s cinemas and its day-and-date service on Curzon Home Cinema that month.
The collection will feature the work of directors such as Yorgos Lanthimos, Charlie Chaplin, Andrea Arnold, Satyajit Ray and Agnes Varda as well as lesser known filmmakers.
The offering will be accompanied by a monthly newsletter that will delve deeper into three headline titles for that month.
The subscription is a benefit for existing and future members at no additional...
- 8/21/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Other winners included Chinese crime drama 12 Citizens and an Indian adaptation of Hamlet.Scroll down for full list of winners
The 9th Rome Film Festival (Oct 15-25) drew to a close tonight with an awards ceremony that saw Stephen Daldry’s Trash take home the Bnl People’s Choice Gala Award.
Set in Brazil, the film centres on three youngsters who make a discovery in a trash dump that puts them on the run from the police. Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen star in the film from Oscar-nominated Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours).
It beat competition from 14 other titles including David Fincher’s Gone Girl, Steven Soderbergh’s TV series The Knick and Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme were decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Click here for red carpet pictures from Rome[p...
The 9th Rome Film Festival (Oct 15-25) drew to a close tonight with an awards ceremony that saw Stephen Daldry’s Trash take home the Bnl People’s Choice Gala Award.
Set in Brazil, the film centres on three youngsters who make a discovery in a trash dump that puts them on the run from the police. Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen star in the film from Oscar-nominated Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours).
It beat competition from 14 other titles including David Fincher’s Gone Girl, Steven Soderbergh’s TV series The Knick and Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost.
This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme were decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.
Click here for red carpet pictures from Rome[p...
- 10/25/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- 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
Paolo Sorrentino to receive Starz Denver Film Festival 2013 honor Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino will receive the fifth Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award at the 2013 Starz Denver Film Festival. Sorrentino will be handed his award prior to the screening of The Great Beauty / La grande bellezza on November 16, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. at the Sie FilmCenter. Sponsored by the Anna & John J. Sie Foundation, the award, which "recognizes the best in contemporary Italian cinema," includes a $10,000 honorarium. Previous recipients of the Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award are Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Massimo Natale, Gianni Di Gregorio, and Federico Bondi. ‘The Great Beauty’ The Starz Denver Film Festival press release describes Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty — clearly influenced by Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita — as follows: Populated by the debauched, disenchanted or simply disinterested elite of Roman society, Sorrentino’s latter-day Babylon revolves around Jep Gambardella...
- 10/30/2013
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Matteo Garrone made his name as director of the brutal mafia thriller Gomorrah. Now he is back with a dark, Big Brother-inspired satire
No one could accuse the Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone of ploughing the same furrow. His new film, Reality, a bubblegum fable with an acid aftertaste, could scarcely be more different from his previous one, Gomorrah, which announced his entrance into world cinema. He had already made three features before that (including The Embalmer, a taxidermists' love triangle) but Gomorrah was an art-house crossover phenomenon. This violent exposé-cum-thriller, based on the non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano, showed how slaughter and corruption had been absorbed into everyday life under the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. The film picked apart the infrastructure of crime: we saw how far and deep the Camorra's tentacles reach, and how asphyxiating their grasp can be. Gomorrah scooped the Grand Prix at the Cannes...
No one could accuse the Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone of ploughing the same furrow. His new film, Reality, a bubblegum fable with an acid aftertaste, could scarcely be more different from his previous one, Gomorrah, which announced his entrance into world cinema. He had already made three features before that (including The Embalmer, a taxidermists' love triangle) but Gomorrah was an art-house crossover phenomenon. This violent exposé-cum-thriller, based on the non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano, showed how slaughter and corruption had been absorbed into everyday life under the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. The film picked apart the infrastructure of crime: we saw how far and deep the Camorra's tentacles reach, and how asphyxiating their grasp can be. Gomorrah scooped the Grand Prix at the Cannes...
- 3/22/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
DVD Release Date: Sept. 18, 2012
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: Zeitgeist
Gianni Di Gregorio is looking for love in The Salt of Life.
The latest comedy from Italian director/actor Gianni Di Gregorio, 2011’s The Salt of Life is a follow-up to Di Gregorio ‘s popular 2010 arthouse film Mid-August Lunch.
In The Salt of Life, Di Gregorio portrays the middle-aged retiree Gianni, who has become invisible to all the women of Rome, regardless of age or relation. In his day-to-day existence, Gianni must contend with an aristocratic, spendthrift mother (again played by Lunchʼs Valeria de Franciscis Bendoni); a wife who is more patronizing friend than romantic partner; an ambivalent, slacker daughter (played by Di Gregorioʼs real-life daughter); and a wild party-girl neighbor who uses him…as a dog walker. Watching his codger friends snare beautiful younger women, Gianni tries his best to generate some kind of extracurricular love life—with results that are both funny and poignant.
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: Zeitgeist
Gianni Di Gregorio is looking for love in The Salt of Life.
The latest comedy from Italian director/actor Gianni Di Gregorio, 2011’s The Salt of Life is a follow-up to Di Gregorio ‘s popular 2010 arthouse film Mid-August Lunch.
In The Salt of Life, Di Gregorio portrays the middle-aged retiree Gianni, who has become invisible to all the women of Rome, regardless of age or relation. In his day-to-day existence, Gianni must contend with an aristocratic, spendthrift mother (again played by Lunchʼs Valeria de Franciscis Bendoni); a wife who is more patronizing friend than romantic partner; an ambivalent, slacker daughter (played by Di Gregorioʼs real-life daughter); and a wild party-girl neighbor who uses him…as a dog walker. Watching his codger friends snare beautiful younger women, Gianni tries his best to generate some kind of extracurricular love life—with results that are both funny and poignant.
- 8/24/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The Seven Year Itch was the first major Hollywood film to address the wandering eye ( and libido ) of long time, staid husbands. The subject was explored in greater depth in the 60′s with the anthology A Guide For The Married Man and in the 80′s with The Woman In Red ( except Gene Wilder just fixated on Kelly LeBrock as the title character ). As it turns out Red is based on a European film where the rules of marriage are quite a bit looser than in the good ole’ USA. And they’ve been doing many more films across the pond about hubbys gettin’ frisky over the years. For the new film The Salt Of Life, we get a chance to see Italy’s take on love and marriage ( and a little something on the side ).
Salt tells the story of Gianni ( writer/ director Gianni Di Gregorio ), a schlubby sixty-something married...
Salt tells the story of Gianni ( writer/ director Gianni Di Gregorio ), a schlubby sixty-something married...
- 4/20/2012
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In The Salt of Life (with an Italian title better translated as Gianni and the Women), Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio) is a sweet sadsack of a man, nearing 60 but already "retired" for nearly a decade. He is lonely but not alone, since he has a lovely wife, college-age daughter, concerned friend Alfonso (Alfonso Santagata), a sweet dog, and a nonagenarian mother. But it is the latter, played by Valeria de Franciscis, whose imperious manner and spendthrift ways are increasing the size of the Gucci bags drooping under Gianni's tired eyes.
If she has any "problem," large or small, Mama calls her only child and complains that she isn't feeling well and that he must come over right away. Once he arrives at her beautiful estate with a lush garden and rooms full of valuable art, Gianni quickly discovers that she simply needs champagne and sandwiches served to her ancient friends playing poker.
If she has any "problem," large or small, Mama calls her only child and complains that she isn't feeling well and that he must come over right away. Once he arrives at her beautiful estate with a lush garden and rooms full of valuable art, Gianni quickly discovers that she simply needs champagne and sandwiches served to her ancient friends playing poker.
- 4/4/2012
- by Chale Nafus
- Slackerwood
Title: The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) Director: Gianni Di Gregorio Cast: Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis and Alfonso Santagata Most love stories take a look at young love. Two young lovers meet, fall in love and eventually live happily ever after, or break up. When we think of “love,” we think of “young” or the idea of “to be young,” even if a film deals with older people falling in love. Getting an injection from cupid, almost always involves acting and think “young.” As if there is no consequences to actions or the only driving force is youthful and foolish but at the same time charming...
- 3/3/2012
- by Rudie Obias
- ShockYa
“I am disgusted with the way old people are depicted on television. We are not all vibrant, fun-loving sex maniacs. Many of us are bitter, resentful individuals who remember the good old days when entertainment was bland and inoffensive.” -Grampa Simpson
To be sure, Grampa Simpson would be conflicted with “The Salt of Life.” On the one hand, he’d certainly appreciate that Gianni, the recently retired protagonist of the film, is by no means vibrant or fun loving (even if he is lovable), as he’s clearly a bit resentful of and bitter with the natural passing of time. But on the other, one could easily describe Gianni as the kind of ubiquitous “sex maniac” he complains of in the quote above, from a Season 1 episode. Whether Abe would approve or not, though, we found this breezy, but never slight, Italian comedy to be a real treat.
Writer, director...
To be sure, Grampa Simpson would be conflicted with “The Salt of Life.” On the one hand, he’d certainly appreciate that Gianni, the recently retired protagonist of the film, is by no means vibrant or fun loving (even if he is lovable), as he’s clearly a bit resentful of and bitter with the natural passing of time. But on the other, one could easily describe Gianni as the kind of ubiquitous “sex maniac” he complains of in the quote above, from a Season 1 episode. Whether Abe would approve or not, though, we found this breezy, but never slight, Italian comedy to be a real treat.
Writer, director...
- 3/1/2012
- by Erik McClanahan
- The Playlist
by Vadim Rizov
In the 1970 comedy Where's Poppa?, George Segal's every attempt to find a romantic partner is sabotaged with senile maliciousness by his screen mom Ruth Gordon, whose needs preclude finding a romantic partner. It's cinema's ultimate Jewish mother joke about a son whose sexual instincts are incestuously redirected back into the family. Late bloomer Gianni di Gregorio repressed all such lusty urges in his directorial debut Mid-August Lunch, re-enacting his years of maternal care for a woman not ashamed to wheedle to get the care she needs.
The Salt of Life dreams of the future rather than brooding over the past, with all those previously unmentioned desires gushing out. Once again, "Gianni" (di Gregorio himself) is front and center and his mother (Valeria de Franciscis) is still a financial and emotional black hole. She lives in a big house, casually paying 800 Euros for roses while her son...
In the 1970 comedy Where's Poppa?, George Segal's every attempt to find a romantic partner is sabotaged with senile maliciousness by his screen mom Ruth Gordon, whose needs preclude finding a romantic partner. It's cinema's ultimate Jewish mother joke about a son whose sexual instincts are incestuously redirected back into the family. Late bloomer Gianni di Gregorio repressed all such lusty urges in his directorial debut Mid-August Lunch, re-enacting his years of maternal care for a woman not ashamed to wheedle to get the care she needs.
The Salt of Life dreams of the future rather than brooding over the past, with all those previously unmentioned desires gushing out. Once again, "Gianni" (di Gregorio himself) is front and center and his mother (Valeria de Franciscis) is still a financial and emotional black hole. She lives in a big house, casually paying 800 Euros for roses while her son...
- 2/29/2012
- GreenCine Daily
Chicago – One of the annual gems of the Chicago movie scene is the Siskel Film Center’s unmissable European Union Film Festival. It provides local movie buffs with the opportunity to sample some of the finest achievements in world cinema. For many of the festival selections, their EU appearance will function as their sole screening in the Windy City.
This year’s edition, running from March 2nd through the 29th, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Andrea Arnold (“Wuthering Heights”), Bruce Dumont (“Hors Satan”), Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon (“The Fairy”), Abdellatif Kechiche (“Black Venus”) and John Landis (“Burke & Hare”). Moviegoers will have the opportunity to see the latest work from some of the world’s most acclaimed and beloved actors, including Léa Seydoux (“Belle Épine”), Tahir Rahim (“Free Men”), Colm Meaney (“Parked”), Noomi Rapace (“Beyond”), Andy Serkis (“Burke & Hare”), Isabella Rossellini (“Late Bloomers”) and Ewan McGregor...
This year’s edition, running from March 2nd through the 29th, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Andrea Arnold (“Wuthering Heights”), Bruce Dumont (“Hors Satan”), Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon (“The Fairy”), Abdellatif Kechiche (“Black Venus”) and John Landis (“Burke & Hare”). Moviegoers will have the opportunity to see the latest work from some of the world’s most acclaimed and beloved actors, including Léa Seydoux (“Belle Épine”), Tahir Rahim (“Free Men”), Colm Meaney (“Parked”), Noomi Rapace (“Beyond”), Andy Serkis (“Burke & Hare”), Isabella Rossellini (“Late Bloomers”) and Ewan McGregor...
- 2/15/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Peter Bradshaw revisits some of the movies that had a real feelgood factor for him in the last year
• Peter Bradshaw's best of 2011
James Brown sang: "I feel good, I knew that I would …" Readers might be surprised to hear that in 2011 I have shared Mr Brown's certainty. A lot of the really good films this year have been on dark and difficult themes (We Need To Talk About Kevin, Wuthering Heights, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and sombre topics will attract the most talented, thoughtful film-makers. But 2011 for me has been a feelgood year in the cinema. This is partly because going to the cinema for me always feels good, no matter what the film is. People love the cinema because it is a uniquely sensual experience, swathed in darkness and then immersed in light and sound.
Feelgood is a tricky genre to pin down, but there have been...
• Peter Bradshaw's best of 2011
James Brown sang: "I feel good, I knew that I would …" Readers might be surprised to hear that in 2011 I have shared Mr Brown's certainty. A lot of the really good films this year have been on dark and difficult themes (We Need To Talk About Kevin, Wuthering Heights, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and sombre topics will attract the most talented, thoughtful film-makers. But 2011 for me has been a feelgood year in the cinema. This is partly because going to the cinema for me always feels good, no matter what the film is. People love the cinema because it is a uniquely sensual experience, swathed in darkness and then immersed in light and sound.
Feelgood is a tricky genre to pin down, but there have been...
- 12/14/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ The Salt of Life (2011) - otherwise known as Gianni e le donne (Gianni and Women) - is a light, warm-hearted Italian comedy starring, written and directed by the delightfully funny Gianni Di Gregorio. Gianni can count himself as middle-aged - just. Retired, he spends most of his time helping out the numerous women in his life, ranging from visiting his wealthy and demanding mother, doing chores for his estranged wife and walking a St. Bernard for his young and beautiful neighbour Kristina (Kristina Cepraga).
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 12/5/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Despite the UK Film Council's golden age, 2011 was very much a mixed bag of events
In some ways, 2011 was the strangest year in living memory for British cinema. The UK Film Council was officially wound up at the end of March, a showy act from this coalition government, annulling a Labour creation on the grounds of high salaries and cronyism, but transferring much of its budget and responsibilities to the British Film Institute. And this at a time when the Film Council was having a golden age: a bag of Oscars for The King's Speech and a feeling that it had fostered real talent. Something was going very right for British cinema. Lynne Ramsey's We Need to Talk About Kevin premiered at Cannes; Steve McQueen's Shame and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights made waves at Venice.
Two film-makers from Iran showed that cinema was able to address...
In some ways, 2011 was the strangest year in living memory for British cinema. The UK Film Council was officially wound up at the end of March, a showy act from this coalition government, annulling a Labour creation on the grounds of high salaries and cronyism, but transferring much of its budget and responsibilities to the British Film Institute. And this at a time when the Film Council was having a golden age: a bag of Oscars for The King's Speech and a feeling that it had fostered real talent. Something was going very right for British cinema. Lynne Ramsey's We Need to Talk About Kevin premiered at Cannes; Steve McQueen's Shame and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights made waves at Venice.
Two film-makers from Iran showed that cinema was able to address...
- 12/5/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Captain America
Blu-ray & DVD, Paramount
It's not been a great year for superhero movies. We've had the cluttered X-Men: First Class, the patchy Thor and the virtually unwatchable Green Lantern and Green Hornet. Captain America is easily the best of the bunch. There were some pre-release gripes about how this patriotic character would play in this cynical day and age. To the film's credit, rather than make fun of this, it has some fun with it. Chris Evans, with a pumped-up physique that's quite disturbingly digitally reduced to a very weedy level for the scenes leading up to his super-soldier transformation, sells it with charm and conviction. Even if you don't agree that this is the best 2011 superhero movie, there's a strong case that it's the best looking. Director Joe Johnston creates a bizarro take on second world war ephemera that constantly delights. Like Thor, all this film really had...
Blu-ray & DVD, Paramount
It's not been a great year for superhero movies. We've had the cluttered X-Men: First Class, the patchy Thor and the virtually unwatchable Green Lantern and Green Hornet. Captain America is easily the best of the bunch. There were some pre-release gripes about how this patriotic character would play in this cynical day and age. To the film's credit, rather than make fun of this, it has some fun with it. Chris Evans, with a pumped-up physique that's quite disturbingly digitally reduced to a very weedy level for the scenes leading up to his super-soldier transformation, sells it with charm and conviction. Even if you don't agree that this is the best 2011 superhero movie, there's a strong case that it's the best looking. Director Joe Johnston creates a bizarro take on second world war ephemera that constantly delights. Like Thor, all this film really had...
- 12/3/2011
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
John Goodman as Al Zimmer in Michel Hazanavicius’s film The Artist. Photo by: The Weinstein Company
The lights are about to go down, and the stars are getting ready to shine.
The 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) will be held Nov. 10-20. Sliff will screen nearly 400 films: 257 shorts, 89 features and 53 documentaries. This year.s festival features a record 205 programs, with 43 countries represented. The fest will host more than 100 filmmakers and related guests.
The festival opens with the St. Louis premiere of .The Artist,. the major hit of the festival circuit, a black-and-white silent romance about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood that costars St. Louis native son John Goodman.
Other prominent films featured in the festival include .The Descendents,. .Jeff, Who Lives at Home,. .A Dangerous Method,. .Shame,. .Coriolanus,. .In Darkness,. .Butter,. .We Need to Talk About Kevin,. and .I Melt With You.
The lights are about to go down, and the stars are getting ready to shine.
The 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) will be held Nov. 10-20. Sliff will screen nearly 400 films: 257 shorts, 89 features and 53 documentaries. This year.s festival features a record 205 programs, with 43 countries represented. The fest will host more than 100 filmmakers and related guests.
The festival opens with the St. Louis premiere of .The Artist,. the major hit of the festival circuit, a black-and-white silent romance about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood that costars St. Louis native son John Goodman.
Other prominent films featured in the festival include .The Descendents,. .Jeff, Who Lives at Home,. .A Dangerous Method,. .Shame,. .Coriolanus,. .In Darkness,. .Butter,. .We Need to Talk About Kevin,. and .I Melt With You.
- 10/24/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
by Guest Blogger Peter Belsito From her official bio - Nancy Gerstman is co-president and co-founder of the New York-based distribution company Zeitgeist Films. Formed with Emily Russo in 1988, Zeitgeist acquires and distributes independent films from the U.S. and around the world. Gerstman and Russo have distributed first films by notable directors Todd Haynes, Christopher Nolan, Francois Ozon, the Quay Brothers and Gianni di Gregorio and their catalog also includes films from the world's finest independent filmmakers including Agnes Varda, Guy Maddin, Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhang-ke, Atom Egoyan, Abbas Kiarostami, Jennifer Baichwal, Derek Jarman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Peter Greenaway,…...
- 10/6/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
by Guest Blogger Peter Belsito From her official bio - Nancy Gerstman is co-president and co-founder of the New York-based distribution company Zeitgeist Films. Formed with Emily Russo in 1988, Zeitgeist acquires and distributes independent films from the U.S. and around the world. Gerstman and Russo have distributed first films by notable directors Todd Haynes, Christopher Nolan, Francois Ozon, the Quay Brothers and Gianni di Gregorio and their catalog also includes films from the world's finest independent filmmakers including Agnes Varda, Guy Maddin, Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhang-ke, Atom Egoyan, Abbas Kiarostami, Jennifer Baichwal, Derek Jarman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Peter Greenaway,…...
- 10/6/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
Audiences go bananas for James Franco prequel, while The Smurfs hits the jackpot with the kids
The winner
When Twentieth Century Fox's Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened the first weekend of August in the Us with $55m (£33.6m), the UK arm of the studio must have felt some pressure. An equivalent result here would be £5.5m – a tall order, you might think, since Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, although it began life in August 2001 with a remarkable £5.45m, did not bequeath much residual affection for the franchise, and James Franco is not a proven draw in the UK. In fact, Rise delivered a very healthy debut of £5.84m in the UK, albeit boosted by previews totalling £1.1m.
By comparison, Captain America debuted two weekends ago with £2.98m, and X-Men: First Class back in June with £5.44m including previews of £2.01m. Earlier in the summer, Thor kicked off with £5.45m,...
The winner
When Twentieth Century Fox's Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened the first weekend of August in the Us with $55m (£33.6m), the UK arm of the studio must have felt some pressure. An equivalent result here would be £5.5m – a tall order, you might think, since Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, although it began life in August 2001 with a remarkable £5.45m, did not bequeath much residual affection for the franchise, and James Franco is not a proven draw in the UK. In fact, Rise delivered a very healthy debut of £5.84m in the UK, albeit boosted by previews totalling £1.1m.
By comparison, Captain America debuted two weekends ago with £2.98m, and X-Men: First Class back in June with £5.44m including previews of £2.01m. Earlier in the summer, Thor kicked off with £5.45m,...
- 8/16/2011
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
The arthouse film Mid-August Lunch made the colourful streets of Trastevere its backdrop. Our writer explores Rome's quirkiest quarter with Gianni Di Gregorio, the film's star
The street is wide, quiet and tree-lined, with ridiculously steep steps at one end and a chaotic crossroads at the other. Several old men sit outside a bar on plastic chairs, contemplating the world in silence as they absorb the intense early-morning heat. Through a heavy wooden door, up four flights of stairs, there is the screenwriter, actor and director Gianni Di Gregorio on the landing, bowing slightly as he welcomes me into his flat.
He looks exactly as he does in the wonderful low-budget film Mid-August Lunch, the 2009 arthouse hit in which he cast himself as an unemployed bachelor whose life is dedicated to looking after his 90-year-old widowed mother. It's crazy to think that the film almost didn't get made. He wrote...
The street is wide, quiet and tree-lined, with ridiculously steep steps at one end and a chaotic crossroads at the other. Several old men sit outside a bar on plastic chairs, contemplating the world in silence as they absorb the intense early-morning heat. Through a heavy wooden door, up four flights of stairs, there is the screenwriter, actor and director Gianni Di Gregorio on the landing, bowing slightly as he welcomes me into his flat.
He looks exactly as he does in the wonderful low-budget film Mid-August Lunch, the 2009 arthouse hit in which he cast himself as an unemployed bachelor whose life is dedicated to looking after his 90-year-old widowed mother. It's crazy to think that the film almost didn't get made. He wrote...
- 8/15/2011
- by Amy Raphael
- The Guardian - Film News
Italy's sad-faced charmer Gianni Di Gregorio is back as a henpecked son, now in search of a suitable mistress in this warm, witty comedy
Three years ago, after a lifetime of acting in the theatre and working as an assistant director and screenwriter in the cinema, the 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio won major national and international fame as co-author of Matteo Garrone's expansive Italian crime movie Gomorrah, a complex exposé of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. He immediately followed this up with an even greater personal success as the writer, director and star of the low-budget, multi-prizewinning Mid‑August Lunch. In that gem-like chamber comedy he played a retired middle-aged bachelor caring for his ancient mother in the bustling central Roman district of Trastevere and being persuaded to take care of three other old women over a bank holiday weekend.
His new film, The Salt of Life, is quite as good.
Three years ago, after a lifetime of acting in the theatre and working as an assistant director and screenwriter in the cinema, the 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio won major national and international fame as co-author of Matteo Garrone's expansive Italian crime movie Gomorrah, a complex exposé of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. He immediately followed this up with an even greater personal success as the writer, director and star of the low-budget, multi-prizewinning Mid‑August Lunch. In that gem-like chamber comedy he played a retired middle-aged bachelor caring for his ancient mother in the bustling central Roman district of Trastevere and being persuaded to take care of three other old women over a bank holiday weekend.
His new film, The Salt of Life, is quite as good.
- 8/13/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (12A)
(Rupert Wyatt, 2011, Us) James Franco, Freida Pinto, Tom Felton, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis. 105 mins
Like X-Men: First Class, this expensive but empty effects vehicle is a lot of story-so-far bluster, never quite deciding whether it's leading up to the events of the 1968 original or the dire 2001 "reimagining". It's better than the latter, but sadly the story is as pasty as Franco's performance, playing a boffin who develops an antidote to Alzheimer's that works brilliantly on apes but has dire consequences for humanity. The effects are memorable; not much else is.
Project Nim (12A)
(James Marsh, 2011, UK) 99 mins
From the director of Man On Wire, this sad, disturbing documentary about an ineptly-run 70s science experiment to raise a chimpanzee as a human being works much better as a dystopian sci-fi fable than the big-budget Rise …
The Devil's Double (18)
(Lee Tamahori, 2011, Belg) Dominic Cooper,...
(Rupert Wyatt, 2011, Us) James Franco, Freida Pinto, Tom Felton, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis. 105 mins
Like X-Men: First Class, this expensive but empty effects vehicle is a lot of story-so-far bluster, never quite deciding whether it's leading up to the events of the 1968 original or the dire 2001 "reimagining". It's better than the latter, but sadly the story is as pasty as Franco's performance, playing a boffin who develops an antidote to Alzheimer's that works brilliantly on apes but has dire consequences for humanity. The effects are memorable; not much else is.
Project Nim (12A)
(James Marsh, 2011, UK) 99 mins
From the director of Man On Wire, this sad, disturbing documentary about an ineptly-run 70s science experiment to raise a chimpanzee as a human being works much better as a dystopian sci-fi fable than the big-budget Rise …
The Devil's Double (18)
(Lee Tamahori, 2011, Belg) Dominic Cooper,...
- 8/12/2011
- by Damon Wise
- The Guardian - Film News
The director has cast himself in the lead as a hangdog Italian looking for romantic adventure, in a commentary on men and ageing
This thoroughly delightful Italian comedy by screenwriter-turned-auteur Gianni Di Gregorio is a kind of romantic realist-fantasia with Fellini in its DNA, and a little of Woody Allen. It is a continuation of his beguiling low-budget hit Mid-August Lunch, and also a very rare example of a movie whose starring role has been given to a real human being with a real human face. A gloomy househusband in late middle-age is dominated by his formidable mother, disenchanted by his marriage and obsessed with the last-gasp possibility of romantic adventure with one of the many attractive women who seem to cross his path. In any other circumstances, the role would call for a handsome, baby-faced former matinee idol in the style of Marcello Mastroianni. Instead, as in his previous film,...
This thoroughly delightful Italian comedy by screenwriter-turned-auteur Gianni Di Gregorio is a kind of romantic realist-fantasia with Fellini in its DNA, and a little of Woody Allen. It is a continuation of his beguiling low-budget hit Mid-August Lunch, and also a very rare example of a movie whose starring role has been given to a real human being with a real human face. A gloomy househusband in late middle-age is dominated by his formidable mother, disenchanted by his marriage and obsessed with the last-gasp possibility of romantic adventure with one of the many attractive women who seem to cross his path. In any other circumstances, the role would call for a handsome, baby-faced former matinee idol in the style of Marcello Mastroianni. Instead, as in his previous film,...
- 8/11/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The protagonist in writer/director and star Gianni Di Gregorio’s poignant new Italian drama, The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne), may well be in his autumn years and settling down to retirement, but the message is the same for all who catch this touching tale: embrace life and all its opportunities.
Gianni (played Di Gregorio himself) is a middle-aged family man who has recently retired. His wife and grown-up daughter seem too busy with their own lives, his mother (Valeria De Franciscis Bendoni) has him at her beck and call, and his randy old lawyer friend, Alfonso (Alfonso Santagata), is either busy chasing skirt – his younger female clients’ – or setting him up with dates. Gianni struggles not to become old before his time and remain relevant and attractive to those around him, particularly the opposite sex.
This light- and big-hearted tale is almost semi-autobiographical, with Di Gregorio...
Gianni (played Di Gregorio himself) is a middle-aged family man who has recently retired. His wife and grown-up daughter seem too busy with their own lives, his mother (Valeria De Franciscis Bendoni) has him at her beck and call, and his randy old lawyer friend, Alfonso (Alfonso Santagata), is either busy chasing skirt – his younger female clients’ – or setting him up with dates. Gianni struggles not to become old before his time and remain relevant and attractive to those around him, particularly the opposite sex.
This light- and big-hearted tale is almost semi-autobiographical, with Di Gregorio...
- 8/11/2011
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
He may be a little older than your average up-and-comer but Gianni Di Gregorio is steadily carving a niche for himself as one of the freshest voices in Italian cinema. His second directorial gig, The Salt Of Life, has been greeted with similarly rapturous acclaim as 2008's Mid-August Lunch, and, as this new clip illustrates, it's got the same whimsical tone and gentle humour.If gentle humour isn't your bag - and we get that - the dude's versatile too, as his gutsy work on the Gomorrah screenplay testifies. Don't expect too many motorbike-borne gunmen in this one. Di Gregorio plays Gianni, a man entering the autumn of his years, who takes a lawyer friend's (Alfonso Santagata) advice and decides to find himself a mistress. But flirting with the signorinas isn't as straightforward as Gianni imagined, even with a fluffy canine standing by with puppy eyes at the ready. There's...
- 8/5/2011
- EmpireOnline
Film director Gianni Di Gregorio only hit on his signature style – gentle, ironic comedies about ageing, romance and bossy mothers – when he turned 60. He talks to Catherine Shoard
Gianni Di Gregorio became successful, suddenly, at 60. But what if he hadn't? How might his life have been? "Allora!" He shakes his head, gummy eyes a-twinkle. "Terribile! Dead under a bridge. Alcoholic, at least." He laughs, sips his wine and rolls a fag, and isn't kidding.
What changed everything was Mid-August Lunch, which Di Gregorio wrote, directed, starred in and shot at his own flat. A gentle comedy about a man caring for his imperious 93-year-old mother, who then has three extra ageing mammas dumped on him by friends, it won the debut director prize at the Venice film festival in 2008 and hoovered up many other awards. It took £7m round the world from a budget of £400,000: a rare Italian arthouse hit,...
Gianni Di Gregorio became successful, suddenly, at 60. But what if he hadn't? How might his life have been? "Allora!" He shakes his head, gummy eyes a-twinkle. "Terribile! Dead under a bridge. Alcoholic, at least." He laughs, sips his wine and rolls a fag, and isn't kidding.
What changed everything was Mid-August Lunch, which Di Gregorio wrote, directed, starred in and shot at his own flat. A gentle comedy about a man caring for his imperious 93-year-old mother, who then has three extra ageing mammas dumped on him by friends, it won the debut director prize at the Venice film festival in 2008 and hoovered up many other awards. It took £7m round the world from a budget of £400,000: a rare Italian arthouse hit,...
- 7/29/2011
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
The Venice and Toronto film festivals officially announced the big films that would premiere at their event this week. Expect lots of Clooney
The big story
It's festival time as the official announcements of the Venice and Toronto line-ups confirm rumours that had been sloshing around the internet for weeks. Venice leaked via Variety on Tuesday (officially confirmed just this afternoon). Toronto's big catches drip ... dripped out via an organiser's Twitter account later the same day. Tiny, tenacious Telluride's still watertight, but it definitely won't have the world premieres of George Clooney's The Ides of March, Roman Polanski's Carnage or Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (all playing at Venice), and better not have the first showings of The Descendants (Alexander Payne), The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies) or Moneyball (Bennett Miller), if it doesn't want several angry Canadian festival programmers hiking up to its gates.
Venice runs August 31-September 10, Toronto September 8-18. Guardian.
The big story
It's festival time as the official announcements of the Venice and Toronto line-ups confirm rumours that had been sloshing around the internet for weeks. Venice leaked via Variety on Tuesday (officially confirmed just this afternoon). Toronto's big catches drip ... dripped out via an organiser's Twitter account later the same day. Tiny, tenacious Telluride's still watertight, but it definitely won't have the world premieres of George Clooney's The Ides of March, Roman Polanski's Carnage or Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (all playing at Venice), and better not have the first showings of The Descendants (Alexander Payne), The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies) or Moneyball (Bennett Miller), if it doesn't want several angry Canadian festival programmers hiking up to its gates.
Venice runs August 31-September 10, Toronto September 8-18. Guardian.
- 7/28/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Gianni Di Gregorio’s newest film, Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne, 2011) was screened at a special preview at London’s Curzon Mayfair cinema last Thursday (21 July). Following the screening, the director was present for an entertaining Q&A filled with affable anecdotes.
Salt of Life is a story of late middle-age and revolves around Gianni, who lives in Rome with his wife and grown-up daughter. Alerted to the fact that other, less attractive men of his age have lovers, Gianni is compelled to find another woman for himself. That is, if he can find the confidence—or the time, in between phone calls from his mother who is frittering away his much-needed inheritance.
In spite of the comic obstacles, Gianni’s story may sound like just another film about male mid-life crisis. Indeed, during the Q&A, one audience member asked Di Gregorio whether he was inspired by...
Salt of Life is a story of late middle-age and revolves around Gianni, who lives in Rome with his wife and grown-up daughter. Alerted to the fact that other, less attractive men of his age have lovers, Gianni is compelled to find another woman for himself. That is, if he can find the confidence—or the time, in between phone calls from his mother who is frittering away his much-needed inheritance.
In spite of the comic obstacles, Gianni’s story may sound like just another film about male mid-life crisis. Indeed, during the Q&A, one audience member asked Di Gregorio whether he was inspired by...
- 7/26/2011
- by Alison Frank
- The Moving Arts Journal
Take a look at the exclusive UK poster and trailer for Gianni Di Gregorio's followup to Mid-August Lunch and let us know what you think
You can keep your Harry Potters. And you can forget your Trees of Life. The film we're really most eagerly anticipating this year is a low-budget Italian film about the lukewarm lovelife of a middle-aged Italian.
The Salt of Life is Gianni Di Gregorio's followup to Mid-August Lunch, his semi-autobiographical comedy about caring for his elderly mother in Rome (and three other ageing mammas dumped on him by desperate pals). It was slight and short and almost wholly free of the drama and glamour of Gomorrah, the film whose screenplay Di Gregorio wrote, and which enabled him to finally make Lunch. But it was, nonetheless, a marvel of a movie: incredibly charming and fresh, funny and profound.
Anyway, here's the first UK trailer for the followup,...
You can keep your Harry Potters. And you can forget your Trees of Life. The film we're really most eagerly anticipating this year is a low-budget Italian film about the lukewarm lovelife of a middle-aged Italian.
The Salt of Life is Gianni Di Gregorio's followup to Mid-August Lunch, his semi-autobiographical comedy about caring for his elderly mother in Rome (and three other ageing mammas dumped on him by desperate pals). It was slight and short and almost wholly free of the drama and glamour of Gomorrah, the film whose screenplay Di Gregorio wrote, and which enabled him to finally make Lunch. But it was, nonetheless, a marvel of a movie: incredibly charming and fresh, funny and profound.
Anyway, here's the first UK trailer for the followup,...
- 7/8/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Bye bye Harry Potter as a mega-franchise hops on a broom and flies up, up and away
The big story
Stories don't come much bigger than the death of Harry Potter. And the plight of the hundreds who've camped out in the drizzle for up to 72 hours to mourn him.
The $6 billion franchise rumbles to a close with the boy wizard's final movie outing, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which will premiere in the capital's take-away slop tray ... ahem iconic and glamorous Trafalgar Square tonight. It's a momentous occasion - a premiere so big that for the first time since last Saturday night both Leicester and Trafalgar squares will be absolutely plastered ... in glitz and glamour.
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermoine (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) and a whole host of vaguely familiar British character actors will be facing the muggle multitudes. We'll be live-blogging the magic from 4pm today,...
The big story
Stories don't come much bigger than the death of Harry Potter. And the plight of the hundreds who've camped out in the drizzle for up to 72 hours to mourn him.
The $6 billion franchise rumbles to a close with the boy wizard's final movie outing, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which will premiere in the capital's take-away slop tray ... ahem iconic and glamorous Trafalgar Square tonight. It's a momentous occasion - a premiere so big that for the first time since last Saturday night both Leicester and Trafalgar squares will be absolutely plastered ... in glitz and glamour.
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermoine (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) and a whole host of vaguely familiar British character actors will be facing the muggle multitudes. We'll be live-blogging the magic from 4pm today,...
- 7/7/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The Film Society of Lincoln Center tomorrow launches the 11th edition of their film series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, with the U.S. premiere of Gianni Di Gregorio's "The Salt of Life." Other highlights include: the U.S. premiere of Giulio Manfredonia’s "Whatsoeverly," a screening of "1860," Alessandro Blasseti's 1934 epic and new works from past Open Roads directors Sergio Castellitto, Roberta Torre, Gabriele Salvatores and Andrea Molaioli. The series runs ...
- 5/31/2011
- Indiewire
U.S. rights to 2011 Berlin International Film Festival title, "The Salt of Life" by Gianni Di Gregorio have been picked up by Zeitgeist Films, the distributor said Monday. Zeitgeist picked up the film from Fandango Portobello, which also handled the release of Gregorio's first film, "Mid-August Lunch," which Zeitgeist also released in the U.S. An early 2012 roll out is planned. Full press release follows: Zeitgeist Films announced today that ...
- 4/18/2011
- Indiewire
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? The City Dark Trailer Ian Cheney may have something. I never considered the idea about living where the stars are obscured by the blitz of big city light rushing upwards,...
- 3/19/2011
- by Christopher Stipp
- Slash Film
Colin Firth is at the head of the table again, but Never Let Me Go haunts our site like the ghost at the awards season feast
The big story
The King's Speech carriage rattled on towards the Oscars with a seven-strong haul at the Baftas. Yet more pictures of a grinning Colin Firth accompanied the news that Tom Hooper's account of the triumph of King George VI over his stutter had been named best film and best British film. Firth himself walked away with the best actor gong, but Hooper was pipped to the best director prize by The Social Network's David Fincher. Other notable winners included Natalie Portman, rewarded with the best actress Bafta for her performance in Black Swan, and Chris Morris, whose jihad-based comedy Four Lions was deemed the year's outstanding debut. The King's Speech also took both prizes for actors in supporting roles (Geoffrey...
The big story
The King's Speech carriage rattled on towards the Oscars with a seven-strong haul at the Baftas. Yet more pictures of a grinning Colin Firth accompanied the news that Tom Hooper's account of the triumph of King George VI over his stutter had been named best film and best British film. Firth himself walked away with the best actor gong, but Hooper was pipped to the best director prize by The Social Network's David Fincher. Other notable winners included Natalie Portman, rewarded with the best actress Bafta for her performance in Black Swan, and Chris Morris, whose jihad-based comedy Four Lions was deemed the year's outstanding debut. The King's Speech also took both prizes for actors in supporting roles (Geoffrey...
- 2/17/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The 61st Berlin festival offered up blockbuster sneak-peeks, underground gems and a clash of two Teutonic heavyweights
Berlin in February ... the song David Bowie never wrote. But that's the time of year Germany's capital puts on its film festival in the Potsdamer Platz, a plot of land so symbolic it's dizzying. Now a bustling square ringed by glassy skyscrapers, you can still see a portion of the wall – or "Mauer" as I now call it – standing in situ, and a paved track following its route that splits the square in half. The major fault-line of postwar Europe is slowly being buried by the scurryings of tourists, filmgoers and office workers.
But life goes on. The Berlinale Palast, where they show the films in the official competition, is just on the western side of the old divide, in Alte Potsdamer Strasse, and there are two other giant cinema complexes within a few hundred metres.
Berlin in February ... the song David Bowie never wrote. But that's the time of year Germany's capital puts on its film festival in the Potsdamer Platz, a plot of land so symbolic it's dizzying. Now a bustling square ringed by glassy skyscrapers, you can still see a portion of the wall – or "Mauer" as I now call it – standing in situ, and a paved track following its route that splits the square in half. The major fault-line of postwar Europe is slowly being buried by the scurryings of tourists, filmgoers and office workers.
But life goes on. The Berlinale Palast, where they show the films in the official competition, is just on the western side of the old divide, in Alte Potsdamer Strasse, and there are two other giant cinema complexes within a few hundred metres.
- 2/16/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
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