Malena

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous but predictable
Review: I rented this movie mainly because I loved the director's previous film, "Cinema Paradiso." Unfortunately "Malena" is, despite the gorgeous Monica Belluci and all that beautiful cinematography (the only department in which it surpasses "Cinema Paradiso"), disappointing.

This film's main problem is its repetitiveness: we are treated to, over and over, shots of Belucci walking through the city in some stunningly tight, sexy-yet-elegant dress and men of all ages salivating at her, understandably. Then all the fantasy scenes of what goes on inside a pubescent boy's imagination when confronted with a woman of Belluci's sexual majesty. Then all the lustful gossip of the men, and the envious bile of the women. Then more shots of the 13 (?) year old protagonist tailing Belucci, spying on her at home, defending her by playing nasty little tricks on townspeople who are badmouthing her... Cute stuff once or twice, but after about the eighth time you just want to hit the fast forward button!

This film simply doesn't build smoothly, but rather just piles on more and more of the same; plotwise, the few turning points in the film come much too late, too slowly, few and far in between, and are more anti-climactic than anything.

One nice thing about this film, though, is that the director at least avoids the more typical Hollywood-style outcomes in favor of the less expected, probably less enjoyable, but definitely more realistic/authentic ones. The love- and lust-struck protagonist never gets anywhere near his object of desire, and nobody rides off into the happily ever after.

All in all, this one's a bit of a dud. Nice film for a slow day if you want to take in some beautiful scenery, female and otherwise, but not much more.

Rating:
Summary: Out of this world
Review: This movie isn't one that should be taken for granted.These kinds of movies don't come along so often.The performances are subtle, but nevertheless powerful.Infact, the main characters barely speak, and yet they are able to leave a profound effect on you.Monica Bellucci, is a wonderful,talented actress, and her performance as Malena, a stunningly beautiful woman in a small Italian village during the second World War.Women are fiercly jealous of Malena, and men look upon her as nothing more than a sex object.Malena overcomes much sadness and lonliness, but in the end,is able to find solid ground once again.Giuseppe Sulfaro plays Renato, a young teen boy whose lust for Malena proves to be much more than a childish crush throughout the movie.This is a movie which is heartbraking and hilarious at the same time, making you laugh through your tears.It's sad that this movie didn't get as much acclaim as it deserved, because everyone should see this movie, there's something wondeful here for everyone.It's also nice to see a movie where there isn't any of the "Hollywood" presense.The people look like real people, not barbie and ken cutouts,and the story is real, it's no fairy tale,and it's not a predictable movie.I reccomend it from the bottom of my heart.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME MOVIE!!!!
Review: This is not a movie you just go see, and walk away from.This movie walks away with you,and lives on in you, evoking a million different emotions, whether they be love,hatred,sadness,rage-this movie leaves you inside out.Ignore the fact that this is a forign movie, or that it did not really recieve much acclaim in america. The fact is, is that we have been brainwashed into watching films which sell good, which recieve millions of awards, and that feature the world's leading stars. But ignore what you feel, all for this movie, because trust me, it is up there with foreign films like "Life Is Beautiful".There is no gloss, no hype, and no essence of sugar which seems to cover up all movies which possibly could be great. This movie is ll real. If an adolescent boy has some acne, it doesn't get covered up.The village people are not made to look like studs, they are meant to look like primative villagers in world war two, in sicily.Malena, around whom the story revolves, is an absolutely breathtaking woman.Beautiful,voluptious,stunning in every single way.And even Malena with all her grace,and outer-worldly beauty manages to look like a real woman, and not a cookie-cutter hollywood actress, one who has been primped,covered up, and bleached into a barbie doll.Monica Bellucci, as Malena, gives an amazing performance.With practically no words,no tears, just by looking into her deep eyes, you are able to feel all the pain,the hurt, and the love this woman has.The story starts out with a young boy, Renato, and his adolescent lust for Malena.Malena, with all her beauty, stirs up nasty rumors, and gossip among the villagers.The women feel a dark jealousy towards Malena,and the men look upon her as nothing more than a sex object.In truth, Malena is a faithful wife, awaiting her husband's return, and a loving daughter, who takes care of her sick,elderly father.Soon, Malena's husband is killed at war, and villagers are no kinder.Instead, she is accused of adultery,forced into sex,and not even sold food in their local marketplace.In the end, Malena has no choice but to become what she was once accused of.I will not give away the end, all I will say is that it is a beautiful ending, not perfect, but that is part of the beauty.When you see the movie, you will know what I mean.And throughout Malena's trials and tribulations, Renato sees it all.Spying on Malena, following her.In a town, where no one seems to have a heart, and no one wants to understand, Renato, stands above all.He has his own heart, his own sense of understanding, he is not at all affected by the evil village people, he is a mature boy, with a soul bigger and warmer than any grown-up could ever have.And even with all the drama in the movie, sharp, warm humor is constantly present.The performances are amazing, Renato was BORN for this role, he was BORN to act.Monica Bellucci is a wonderful actress.In acting, just like in singing, sometimes, less is much more.She pulled this difficult role off with ease, and I could not imagine anyone who would be able to BE Malena.
See this movie,if you like good movies, then this movie is not for you.If you like great movies, hard to say.But if you love movies that are real,raw, made with passion,dedication, and feeling, than perhaps ,just perhaps this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificanto! Bravo! Deliciouso!
Review: The cover caught my eyes...beautiful, sexy...and so is the story. It's about a boy who discover his manhood and finds out he has passion toward Malena. At first it was all for lust and fantasy, but as the story progress, you will find sympathy and emotionally-striking-sadness toward Malena as she goes through the loss of her husband and father and the rumors imposed by lustfull,envy villagers. Monica Bellucci is a great actress in this movie...her looks, her silent, etc...was formidable!!...she gave more weights and values to the whole scene apart from the boy who was more a comedian which also relaxed the tense in this story.

Rating:
Summary: AN ITALIAN MASTERPIECE!!!
Review: THIS MOVIE BALANCES OUT BOTH COMEDY AND DRAMA QUITE WELL. THE MOVIE IS IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES, BUT IT IS AS FUNNY AS ANY ENGLISH MOVIE THAT YOU ARE LIKELY TO SEE!!
IT IS A COMING OF AGE STORY ABOUT A YOUNG BOY AND HIS "LOVE" FOR A TROUBLED WOMAN.
MALENA IS THE TALK OF THE TOWN AND BOY DOES SHE GET AROUND!! THE MOVIE SHOWED THE HATRED OF SOCIETY AND THE COSTS OF LEADING A LIFE OF TROUBLE!!
THIS MOVIE IS QUITE ENJOYABLE- BOTH FUNNY AND YET SERIOUS AT THE SAME TIME!
I HOPE TO ADD THIS MOVIE TO MY COLLECTION REAL SOON!!!

Rating:
Summary: Envy
Review: This is a great film. Monica Bellucci's performance is three dimensional. What I find so engaging is the development of the central theme, envy. This movie has everything that is important in a Greek Tragedy. How nice to learn from a movie. Additionally, the cinematography, casting, and understanding of the Sicilian culture are spot on as well.

Rating:
Summary: Heartbreakingly Beautiful and Triumphant
Review: This wonderful film from Italy by "Cinema Paradiso" writer and director Gieseppe Tornatore is in turns, hilarious, heartbreaking, and ultimately, triumphant. What starts out as a coming of age obsession turns into a meditation on human cruelty, and poses many of the same questions as last years film "The Majestic". Is it what people expect of us that makes us what we are? If we change to be this, where do we belong then, and can we be accepted again in the life we choose to live? Make no mistake, this is the darker side to those questions, and the darker answers.

Giueseppe Sulfaro is terrific as Renato, a young boy in an Italian town during WWII who has just gotten a new bicycle. His biggest goal in life is to get a pair of long pants so he can dress like a man. But once he sees the lovely Malena, his life changes forever. His adolescent fantasies about the most beautiful girl in the town are hysterical. He puts himself into the American films he has seen in these moments. From "Me Tarzan, You Malena" to his stagecoach western fantasy (obviously he's John Wayne) "My, you have the biggest guns in the west, Renato!" we can't stop laughing. His raging hormones are treated in a funny and yet tasteful manner.

His adolescent longing for her turns to something more as this film slowly shows Renato how this small Italian town feels about the lovely Malena. Men gawk and want to have her for themselves and the women hate her because of her dark beauty and make up gossip to cheapen her. But Renato has been spying on her through a peephole and knows the truth. She is pure. She dances alone in her house with her husband's picture, faithful and waiting for his return from war.

Renato loves the beautiful Malena and defends her virtue by playing nasty tricks on the ones who talk about her. When she apparently becomes a widow her life becomes much harder and the gossip more vicious as the entire town pushes her towards the loose woman they want her to be, the men so they can sleep with her, and the women so they can feel superior. Once a "payment" is forced upon her by the town attorney her path is sealed and the young Renato watches the girl he worships from afar become a prostitute, knowing she is still pure, and has no choices.

Monica Bellucci is magnificent as Malena. She is ravisingly beautiful and quietly displays emotions underneath we can not see, an elegant dignity carried all through the film, even as she is dragged into the streets and beaten by the women after American liberation from the Germans. It is a raw emotional scene rarely if ever seen in American cinema. Renato watches her board the train to another town after the beating and the scene where she looks out the window as Renato watches it pull away is moving.

This film is not over yet, though. Malena's husband was not dead and when he returns looking for her in a town where she is a joke, Renato grows up and finds the courage to tell him where she went and how she is not what the town says. When he finds her and returns, the question is how she will be accepted. If we become what people expext, where do we belong?

Don't let this truly wonderful film pass by just because you don't like subtitles. Monica Bellucci is the finest thing to hit Italian cinema since Sophia Loren. She is talented and breathtakingly beautiful. Renato knows he will never forget Malena. Neither will you....

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite Bellucci Asks? "Is Beauty a Joy or a Sin?"
Review: This beautiful film by Tornatore of "Cinema Paradiso" tells about Malena, an extremely beautiful woman whose husband went to war just after two weeks of their marriage, and Renato, a young boy, who appoints himself as protector of Malena without her knowing. Everything is described from the viewpoint of Renato, who keeps on watching over her and the men coming around her, but the film's point is not what you might call "guilty pleasure." It is a coming-of-age story of an Italian boy living at the time of WW2, and you can say that the film, though it belongs to definitely Monoca Bellucci, is about him and his growing pain as a youth.

The story, based on a short, nostalgic story by Luciano Vincenzoni, is very simple, and director made it his own by casting Monica Bellucci, whose beauty is understandably compared to jewels, as Malena, who has to do what she had to do to survive as a widow in a local town in Sicily. She gradually 'falls" into a status of prostitute, in a brothel for Nati officers, and after the war, she is chased away from the town by womenfolks there by the most relentless way (this painful part, I am sure, can never be played by Hollywood counterparts except, perhaps, Ms Streep or Ms Lang).

However, Renato, who passionately loves her, but feels his weak position as a mere boy without power, has been watching over her. He loves her favorite music too, (a romantic song "Ma L'Amore No"),; he even steals her underwear (which his father finds, oh no); but he knows all he can do is watch until the last moment he helps her redemption by giving up his dream of making her his own, by ... well, you must see this melodramatic development for yourself.

There are three virtures in Malena, all of which are extremely beautiful and breathtaking. One is, without doubt, Monica Bellucci with perfect costumes that stand up from 100 miles away. Another is mesmerizing music of veteran composer Ennio Morricone, whose score here reminds us of the fact that he created may times such fantastic melodies in his long career. The last one is its cinematography by Hungarian Lajos Koltai ("Conficence" or "Mephisto") whose magical photography nicely captures the beauty of the Sicilan Island and, of course, Malena, unforgettable heroine of the film.

Probably for non-Italian audience like me, the film looks uneven, like a rollercoaster of (too much) pathos and laughter, but without laughs and tears, what is the point of watching Italian movies? And the last moments of the film, when Malena is reduced to ordinariness so that she is finally accepted by townspeople, looks unconvincing to me simply because even in plain clothes Bellucci is too beautiful. But you will forget about these things before the beauty of the whole film.

Finally, I end this review by quoting the message the director gave in the booklet sold in Japan. This may help understand the film more, I hope: "I would like for people to walk away from the film and wonder -- is it possible that someone could have loved me that much, and I never knew it?" Giuseppe Tornatore.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty under fire...
Review: When Renato looks to become a teenager he gets a bicycle. But, when he looks at Malena, he looks to become a man. Her stunning physical beauty gives him reason to live and he dreams of a physical relationship. He is so infatuated that he carries secret vendettas against Malena's suitors and detractors. He is aware and appreciates what is happening to her. Malena is cursed with stunning beauty and walks around town with her head down. But, she turns every head. The males gaze with a look of fantasy fulfillment and lust while the females leer with hatred and jealousy. In that realm lies the films darkest theme.

Diretcor Giuseppi Tornatore, who brought us the wonderful coming-of-age film CINEMA PARADISO, delivers a confident and thought provoking film with MALENA. But, it does suffer from an intentional split personality. When the story focuses on the young boy suddenly slammed with sexual awareness, it is done with a sense of humor. Sometimes he imagines himself in popular movie scenes with Malena. But, when the film focuses on the almost tragic life of Malena, nothing is funny. In fact, the scene where the women of the town seek revenge by stripping her of her clothing and cutting her hair while the entire town stares his devastating.

The cast is powerful but it is the beautiful Monica Belluci in the title role that leaves the greatest impact. And like the men in the story, that attribute can make you forget a bunch of the films short-comings.

The DVD audio is delivered in French or Italian with English subtitles. The soundtrack features a gorgeous musical score by the prolific Ennio Morricone. The widescreen video transfer is excellent capturing the flavors of the small Italian village. There is also a short English language making of documentary that doesn't get to deep. This film does not carry the magic of some of Tornatore's other works, but is a nice drama.

Rating:
Summary: Four Stars for Monica
Review: The only beautiful part of this film is Monica Bellucci. She is absolutely stunning and her face and body spoke volumes. Not much of a story as the focus was on what an impact Malena (Monica Bellucci) had on Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro). Such prevalent circumstances (where a young boy of 12 or 13 years of age infatuated with a married women whose curves and moves are "talk of the town") dwell in most villages. What really disappointed me was that Ennio Morricone's musical score did not make a mark. There were so many beautiful scenes where I am sure he could have flaunted his brilliance in composition as he did in Cinema Paradiso (still one of my all time favourite).