Rating: 
Summary: Gentle insight into an unfamiliar place and time.
Review: Netflix describes this movie: "This Oscar-nominated film follows a self-described talent scout as he travels the back roads of Sicily. Armed with a camera, he sells screen tests to poor village folk, who are only too eager to fall for the promise of movie stardom. Men, women and children swarm to him, turning their tests into confessions that are tragic, comic, rhapsodic and revealing. But the gambit takes an unexpected turn when 18-year-old orphan Beata enters the picture..."The premise is odd, but it's played out in a marvelously quirky fashion. The lead actor has a face that reacts subtly but completely to everyone around him, while the scenery and supporting cast are Sicily personified. The action and plot move gently as befits the time and place. Definitely worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Gentle insight into an unfamiliar place and time.
Review: Netflix describes this movie: "This Oscar-nominated film follows a self-described talent scout as he travels the back roads of Sicily. Armed with a camera, he sells screen tests to poor village folk, who are only too eager to fall for the promise of movie stardom. Men, women and children swarm to him, turning their tests into confessions that are tragic, comic, rhapsodic and revealing. But the gambit takes an unexpected turn when 18-year-old orphan Beata enters the picture..." The premise is odd, but it's played out in a marvelously quirky fashion. The lead actor has a face that reacts subtly but completely to everyone around him, while the scenery and supporting cast are Sicily personified. The action and plot move gently as befits the time and place. Definitely worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: This is not a charming film.
Review: No, this is not a chic little euro-comedy like the picture on the front cover might suggest, or a charming new bent on "The Music Man" as implied by the plot outlined on the dvd box. In fact, it isn't funny or romantic at all. That said, like "The Music Man," this is also the story of a con man. He travels from town to town, promising to make people stars, taking their money, auditioning them for star quality, advising them on how to make themselves more appealing, then going along his merry way. But in this case, he devirginizes your underage daughter, steals your wife's jewelry, then charges you for telling you that your nose is too big for the Hollywood screen. (Well, perhaps that all didn't happen, but it just as well could have with the inscrupulous nature of the film's antihero.) The interesting and sad aspect of the story, and what should have been advertised about the film, is its demomstration of how people, desperately in need of hope in a time a great depression, will allow themselves to be fooled into believing anything to keep their hopes alive - even if it means buying the dreams spun by a corrupt "Star Maker." It's a good film, but be warned, it is sobering, not lovely.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: This is not a charming film.
Review: No, this is not a chic little euro-comedy like the picture on the front cover might suggest, or a charming new bent on "The Music Man" as implied by the plot outlined on the dvd box. In fact, it isn't funny or romantic at all. That said, like "The Music Man," this is also the story of a con man. He travels from town to town, promising to make people stars, taking their money, auditioning them for star quality, advising them on how to make themselves more appealing, then going along his merry way. But in this case, he devirginizes your underage daughter, steals your wife's jewelry, then charges you for telling you that your nose is too big for the Hollywood screen. (Well, perhaps that all didn't happen, but it just as well could have with the inscrupulous nature of the film's antihero.) The interesting and sad aspect of the story, and what should have been advertised about the film, is its demomstration of how people, desperately in need of hope in a time a great depression, will allow themselves to be fooled into believing anything to keep their hopes alive - even if it means buying the dreams spun by a corrupt "Star Maker." It's a good film, but be warned, it is sobering, not lovely.
Rating:
Summary: A "talent scout" takes advantage of dreamers in Italy.
Review: Set sometime in the early post-WWII era, a con-man travels the Italian countryside with a movie camera and prop truck, masqerading as a talent scout from Universal Studios in Rome. He promises people in local villages the opportunity to be discovered by "Italy's greatest directors and producers, and even those from America". A short screen test is all it takes, requiring an investment only of their "obvious" talents, their time and a "small bit" of money. The simple people are easily seduced by his promises of fame and fortune, and for the man's camera (it has no film!), they open their hearts, their dreams, their memories and, unfortunately, their wallets. The man is not all bad, however, and he meets several people who profoundly affect his opinion of himself. Finally, a beautiful young woman forces him to reconsider his life. The story is at once hilarious, sentimental, touching, sad, and thought-provoking. Shot entirely in quaint Italian villages and the beautiful Italian countryside, the scenery is spectacular. I whole-heartedly recommend this film, even to those who don't speak Italian. I don't speak Italian, and I hope you won't let the need to read subtitles cause you to miss this wonderful film.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful from beginning to end
Review: This is one of the most beautiful films I have seen. I have seen his Cinema Paradiso 40 times, but this one takes your breath away in an even more powerful way. Destiny, love, hope, everything is mixed together in a film you just don't want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding...
Review: This movie, by the director of Cinema Paradiso, "disappointed" a lot of American movie reviewers because it lacks the sentimentality and pat structure of CP. But it's far more epic, poetic & imaginative (& much less PC) and absolutely gorgeous to watch. Ignore Maltin & the puritans at the NY Times & SF Chronicle. Watch this movie. You won't be sorry.
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