| Malena | | Cast : | Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro | | Director : | Giuseppe Tornatore | | Studio : | Miramax | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | January 04, 2005 | | Language : | English (Subtitled), Italian (Dubbed), Italian (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | Fantastic Beyond Imagination | Content
 | I watched this movie last night, and i'm so dumbfounded and amazed by it I cant really think straight this morning. One word to describe this movie...? There is none... its so many things put together into one whole great movie motion picture. Monica Bellucci was amazing, and beautiful as always, and I dont think anybody else could have played a better Malena. The story was so sad, yet utterly beautiful at the same time, especialy the end when Malena returns to the village, despite all the terrible things they did to her, with her husband. I was so moved by this movie, I'm going to show it to all my freinds and everybody I know. The only thing I was a bit upset with was this DVD version. I watched the trailer before the movie, and on the trailer it shows the famous scene where Malena is lying down on the chair outside on the porch, lightly glazing a paper towel over her face and neck. That scene wasnt even in the movie!!! Geez, I really should get the FULL version, but whatever... it was still great, and since this DVD is cut to more appropriate srandards (despite its still unjustly rated R, and you can get it in Canada with a 14A rating) more people who are offended by nudity or whatever (thats really stupid but some people are) can see this version and appreciate it just as much. I love this movie to death, and there hasnt been any other greater than it since Amelie. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 27, 2005 | | Summary | Monica- Need I Say More? | Content
| If you have not seen this movie, go immediately to the title and order it! (But get the uncut version!) This is the best, without question, movie, of all genres, I have seen in at least five years.
First of all, with Monica Bellucci in it, I need not say much more. But seldom does a film capture the entire spectrum of emotions as this one does. At times I laughed until it hurt, at other times the sadness was maddening. Few films have exposed the Italian psyche during the confusing Fascist WWII years. Malena captures the backdrop of Fascist Sicily while providing a glimpse of human nature, human frailty and, especially, human failings.
6 stars on a scale of 1-5! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 25, 2005 | | Summary | Why Can't Hollywood Do This? | Content
| I saw Tornatore's, Paridisio and was impressed as were all the other critics. The incredible recreation of the Italian World War Two era was astounding. The sites of old Europe make the trick a little easier for European directors - they only have to move the cars and TV dishes from the roofs, and in some places, Sicily, they may not have to do that. Try making a picture about the 1940's in New York City. It's studio simulation time which just isn't the same thing.
Monica Bellucci may have been just another model, but Tornatore saw something in her, and what a fascinating performance she gave him. The beating and haircut scene is unforgettable, a magnificent work of art by the beautiful woman. Where were the Academy Awards for this portrayal of the lonely Sicilian woman betrayed by her people? The fools! This is why Hollywood is in the dumps. At least Harvey Weinstein was smart enough to front some dough for this flick.
How do Italian directors get so much splash out of every scene, The people jabbering away with their arms in the air expressing every emotion, love, disgust, anger, spite, and jealousy all in a speedy moment. I noticed this with the Italian neo-Realists of the post war years, and of course with the great, great, Enrico Fellini and his marvelous films. Now we have a new master. I can't wait for his next triumph, thank you Giuseppe Tornatore
|
| Rating | | | Date | June 23, 2005 | | Summary | Growing Up | Content
| This wonderful film from Italy by "Cinema Paradiso" writer and director Gieseppe Tornatore is both hilarious and heartbreaking. What starts out as a coming of age obsession turns into a meditation on human cruelty, and poses many questions: Is it what people expect of us that makes us what we are? And if we change to be this, where do we belong then, and can we be accepted again in the life we choose to live?
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. We can't stop laughing at his John Wayne inspired "Stagecoach" western fantasy; "My, you have the biggest guns in the west, Renato!" His raging hormones are treated in a funny and yet tasteful manner.
His adolescent longing for the town beauty 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. They 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 turns 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 ravishingly 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 Bellucci's Malena maintains a rare dignity which separates her from the other women in the town. It is a raw emotional scene of a kind rarely if ever seen in American cinema.
Don't let this truly wonderful film pass by just because you don't like subtitles. Monica Bellucci is very memorable as the breathtakingly beautiful Malena. Renato knows he will never forget Malena. Neither will you. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 01, 2005 | | Summary | *Flabbergasting* | Content
| I just finished watching what I would describe as one of the most well told story a film could ever unfold.Malena is about war,beauty,hypocrasy,society and youth.From the cover the dvd shows one could easily mistake this is as a film with questionable amount of flesh.However, it's much more than you or I can think of. The first hour of the movie is funny and unbelievably exciting.The last half hour is gripping,panic stricken and jolting.
I don't know Italian but it seems like quite an expressive language. From Malena I learn Italy is just a very beautiful places.The direction is absolutely brilliant and the last 20 or so minutes leave you tongue tied and rather distorted.It almost bought me to tears.There is certain Italian music that plays in the film. I'd like to know what it means but not as much as I would like to just listen to it.The emotions deal with each other.There may be many remakes of this movie in many lands but none might quite hold the same gravity.
Recanto's character wins many hearts for sure but it's the silent lucidity in Malena's eyes that bowled me over.
Buy this for the love of impossible movies being made possible.
With much due head bow induced respect,
HSA
|
|
|
|
|
