Giuppi's Movie Reviews

" I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening " says Kym Buchman, a recovering drug addict at the rehearsal dinner of her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. And, as played by Anne Hathaway in a volcanic, unhinged performance, she most certainly is. Don't expect anything light-hearted from Rachel Getting Married , Jonathan Demme's slow-burning, quietly bruising and then finally explosive observation on family dynamics, pain and old wounds. Even the comedic moments leave a bitter aftertaste. But it's not a cruel film that enjoys dwelling into despair: it's a film that talks about that despair and  how to grow from there.  The film opens with Kym's release from rehab so that she can attend her sister's wedding. Right from the beginning it's quite clear that the family relationships are strained: her father Paul (Bill Irwin) is warm and caring towards her, but she sees his concern as mistrust; her mother Abby (De...

The raunchy sex scene between Nanni Moretti and Isabella Ferrari has been both a blessing and a curse for Quiet Chaos : a blessing because it sparkled the audience's interest and made the film quite successful at the box office, a curse because most of the discussion around the film ended up focusing on that single scene. But Antonello Grimaldi's film is much more than that - it's an original, delicate and subtle reflection on grief and healing, buoyed by an almost uniformly great ensemble.  Pietro Paladini (Nanni Moretti), the manager of an important network, is at the beach with his brother Carlo (Alessandro Gassmann), a fashion designer. They see two drowning women screaming for help and they come to their rescue. Upon returning home, Pietro realizes that his wife has died unexpectedly. Instead of falling into despair, he finds himself in a sort of "quiet chaos": unsure of what to do with his life, he stops showing up at work and decides to wait all da...