Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Il Divo/Il Divo - La Spettacolare Vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) - Sorrentino's complex, performance-like political biopic

4/27/2016

Il Divo/Il Divo - La Spettacolare Vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) - Sorrentino's complex, performance-like political biopic

♥♥♥♥

+ Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Toni Servillo

The red of the Italian flag runs out like blood on the poster for Paolo Sorrentino's Il Divo

QUICK REVIEW:

Giulio Andreotti is a migraine-plagued top politician and seven-time prime minister of Italy, who in the 1990s gets accused of having ties to the mob.

Toni Servillo (The Consequences of Love/Le Conseguenze dell'Amore (2004)) is masked unrecognizably in Oscar-nominated makeup as the enigmatic and at times comical real-life figure Andreotti, the title 'Divo' [the divine], and is convincing in the part. Il Divo is the 4th theatrical feature of Neapolitan master filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013)), who wrote and directed it.
Sorrentino stages Servillo in a film, which feels more like a performance or perhaps rather a series of performances than a unified story. Il Divo refuses to serve us a conventional biopic narrative, and as a non-Italian, one will inevitably lose track of a lot of the story, also because Sorrentino, especially in the beginning, flings names and other information at us at machine gun pace. The challenging material can make Il Divo seem long, but its very lively camera, by cinematographer Luca Bigazzi (Youth (2015)), eclectic music, by Teho Teardo (The Right Thing/La Cosa Giusta (2009)) and many interesting faces make this difficult film highly inviting and worthwhile regardless.

Related posts:

Paolo Sorrentino: The day after ... The Oscars 2014
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome
This Must Be the Place (2011) - Sorrentino's Nazi-hunting stoner cracker

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Caiman/Il Caimano (2006) - Moretti's unfunny political comedy - strictly for Italians (actor)

Watch the US trailer for the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 6.7 mil. $
Box office: 11.2 mil. $
= Big flop
[Il Divo was released May 23 (Cannes) and runs 110 minutes. The initial cut of the film was 145 minutes long. The real Andreotti walked out of a screening of the film, saying that it was "too much" and added that in the end he would be judged on his record. The film opened #61 in 2 theaters to a 13k $ opening weekend and peaked in 8 theaters in North America, where it grossed a paltry 0.2 mil. $ (1.8 % of the total gross). Its 3 biggest markets were its native Italy with 8.5 mil. $ (75.9 %), France with 0.9 mil. $ (8%) and the UK with 0.5 mil. $ (4.5 %). Il Divo won the Jury Prize in Cannes and was Oscar-nominated for Best Makeup, which it lost to Star Trek. It was also nominated for 4 European Film Awards and 16 David di Donatello Awards (Italy's Oscar), of which it won 7. Il Divo is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Il Divo?

No comments:

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

4/27/2016

Il Divo/Il Divo - La Spettacolare Vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) - Sorrentino's complex, performance-like political biopic

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (4-24)

My Blog List