Rating: Summary: Food for the soul ... and the eyes Review: When I saw Pane e Tulipani in the theater I fully expected an American version to follow. It's a flick that combines Hollywood style, Gallic humor, and Italian romance. Pair this one with Katherine Hepburn and Rosanno Brazzi in "Summertime" (1954), David Lean's lush valentine to Venice, and you'll see the story of an underappreciated woman told from the perspective of both the middle and the end of the twentieth century. In a word: delicious.
Rating: Summary: Charming Interlude Review: When Rosalba escapes her dreary life as the wife of the philandering and boorish Mimmo, she is transformed before our eyes from a frumpy, stretch-pants clad tourist to a sexy and beautiful object of admiration in romantic Venice. Wrapped in caring from Fernando, a waiter who invites her to share his apartment, and her neighbor Grazia, a masseuse who may be more than just that, Rosalba becomes a confident and self-assured woman. She makes a life for herself where she finally feels appreciated and loved, no longer taken for granted. Most of the comedy is provided by Costantino, a bumbling wannabe detective hired by Mimmo to track Rosalba down and incidentally provides the viewer with a tour of Venice. This film is an escape to unreality, a beautifully filmed feel-good movie with wonderful acting. I finished watching it with a smile on my face!
Rating: Summary: LASAGNA IN THE FRIDGE, LOVE IN THE HEART Review: When we first see Rosalba, the constrained fortysomething wife and mother on a dull vacation with her family in her native Italy, she is an unattractive awkward tourist with a black fanny pack revealing a drooping middle-aged spread, clumsily carrying bags of gawky souvenirs, while not having the time of her life on a bus trek through Italian historic relics. Somewhere along her independent journey, when she misses the bus while detained in a tourist stop restroom, actress Licia Maglietta transforms her character into an eye-popping, sexually exciting woman with an alluring expression of desire and maternal warmth, while doing little else than losing the fanny pack. Ah, that's amore! What a nice, non-abrasive film this is, offering not so much a feel-good response as it does a more satisfying glow of hearts yearning and emotional contentment.
Rating: Summary: Ah, Romance! Review: Wonderful escape movie. Fun characters - great scenery. Warning: if you are a housewife you WILL have a hard time appreciating doing laundry for a while. Grab your favorite friend and a bunch of flowers and enjoy!
Rating: Summary: Eccezzionale! Review: wonderful! a great view of venice, for those who have misplaced homesickness (me?) and an entertaining story that keeps unfolding! Very similar to Amelie--but better because it's Italian! ;) vedettela!
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