Giuppi's Movie Reviews

Angie Dickinson made her breakthrough in 1956 with the film Gun the Man Down . Her career was more prolific in television (she received multiple Emmy nominations) than in cinema, where she was often relegated to paper-thin, even sexist roles (looking at you, Rio Bravo ). That was up until 1980, when she was cast in Brian De Palma's erotic thriller Dressed to Kill . The movie is generally held in high esteem nowadays, though there are actually many faults to be found in it. But it is an interesting view, and it offers Dickinson the chance to deliver the best performance of her career. And she does. Dickinson plays Kate Miller, a sexually frustrated housewife. The film opens with Kate's dream in which she masturbates in the shower before being murdered by a masked killer. Is it a gratuitous, needless scene? Perhaps. But Dickinson digs deep into Kate's loneliness and gives the character a painful depth another actress might have missed. In the morning, she confesses her...

Hi everyone! I'm sorry if I've being absent in the last few weeks, but I couldn't find the time to post my reviews here. I hope I'll be more active in the future, in the meantime I've decided to post here a few short reviews of some movies I've seen in the last month.  Monster  (2003) Patty Jenkins' Monster is mostly remembered for Charlize Theron's Oscar-winning turn as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. And while the actress' towering, bone-chilling performance is indeed its strongest asset, it's also a movie worth-mentioning per se. It's hardly a perfect film and from a technical point of view it leaves something to be desired. The cinematography is drab and unappealing, which could have been fitting for the story, but there's no sense of a visual style of any kind. The editing is clumsy, especially in an awkwardly done montage at the movie's end. The structure and the pace are problematic with some passages being far too rus...

Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady is not a conventional period drama. This is evidenced by the opening scene, set in the present and shot in black and white, in which a group of girls tell each other what they think love is all about. Campion, a sensitive, intelligent director, is not interested in merely adapting Henry James' masterpiece: she is interested in the hearts and the minds of the characters, in the motives behind their actions and in the emotions that trascend the time period and make them akin to us. Though not a huge success when it was released, The Portrait of a Lady is a film that deserves to be revalued and that should be acknowledged for its stunning aesthetic, its impressively accurate depiction of the time period, its rich characterizations and its sharp observation of human desire. The film follows the story of Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman), an American girl who lives at her uncle's estate in England. Men are attracted to her delicate beau...

An elderly woman (Cheng Pei Pei), living in a retirement home, is visited by her son (Andrew Leung). They argue a little, both because he forgot to bring her a CD that she had asked him and because she hates living in that place. Then she tells him about a man she has met and with whom she has been sort of dating, and they tenderly joke about it. Only her son isn't actually there. She's just remembering their last conversation together. Her son is dead. That's the opening scene of Lilting , the debute-feature of British-Cambodian director Hong Khaou who proves himself to be someone to keep an eye on. Lilting is far from perfect, but it's a strong first work that shows the director's sensitive, empathetic touch.  The woman is called Junn and she's played by Cheng in an outstanding performance of remarkable subtlety and grace. And she is matched by Ben Whishaw, who gives an aching, soulful portrayal of Richard, the companion of Junn's late son for fou...

" 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...

Lou Pascal (Burt Lancaster) is an aging former gangster who lives in Atlantic City. He runs numbers in poor areas of the city and he is financially supported by Grace (Kate Reid), the widow of his former boss and a faded beauty queen for whom he acts as a caretaker. Lou is obsessed with Sally (Susan Sarandon), a young waitress who lives in the same building: every morning, he watches her from his window as she rubs herself with lemon juice to get rid of the smell of fish. Sally dreams of becoming a croupier and living in Monte Carlo, but first she has to deal with the unexpected return of her estranged husband Dave (Robert Joy) and her pregnant sister Chrissie (Hollis McLaren), with whom he had ran away. Dave crosses paths with Lou and convinces him to help him sell a large amount of cocaine he had stolen in Philadelphia. But the mobsters are looking for him and they are not far behind. The story of Atlantic City is well-constructed, compelling and captivating - but the plot i...

When it was released in 1997, My Best Friend's Wedding was generally well-received by critics, it was a global box-office hit and it played a vital role in reviving Julia Roberts' career. Today, the film is still held in rather high esteem and it is regarded as one of the best romantic comedies of the 1990s. The movie's appeal is quite obvious: its leading stars are rather charismatic and the basic idea of the plot is fun and engaging. But it's also a dated film with various problems - its gender politics first and foremost.  Julianne (Julia Roberts) is a successful and renowned restaurant critic. Her best friend is Michael (Dermot Mulroney), a handsome sport journalist with whom she had a brief fling during college. Julianne and Michael had promised each other that, if by the time they were both 28-year-old neither of them were married, they would marry each other. Shortly before Julianne's 28th birthday, Michael calls her all of a sudden to tell her that ...

The representation of LGBTQ+ characters has improved significantly over the last fifteen years, spreading through a variety of remarkable films. Films like Brokeback Mountain , Blue is the Warmest Colour , Carol , Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name are all masterpieces in their own, unique ways and they represent excellent achievements in both style and substance. There is one thing common to these movies: tragedy. Whether it is death, a painful separation or a bittersweet reunion, all of these characters must bear overwhelmingly aching consequences of their sexuality. This does not take away from the quality of the pictures themselves: as I said, they are all brilliant and deservedly recognized as such, and the tragedy is perfectly coherent to the setting and context of each movie. Love, Simon is certainly a far less ambitious movie than the previously mentioned and it does not reach their technical brilliance nor their raw power. In its style and its execution, Love, Simon ...

The Canaro's killing ("Il delitto del Canaro" in Italian) is one of Italy's most gruesome crimes in recent history. The night of February 18th 1988, Pietro De Negri, a dog coiffeur and small-time cocaine dealer living in Magliana (a small neighborhood in Rome), brutally murdered Giancarlo Ricci, a former boxer and cocaine addict who had long been physically abusive towards him. It's better to leave off the details of the homicide: it's enough to say that the mutilation of several body parts was involved. This tragic episode clearly influenced the realization of Dogman , though it's quite clear that Matteo Garrone ( Gomorra, Tale of Tales ) does not intend to do a faithful telling of a true story: the characters' names have been changed (Pietro De Negri becoming Marcello and Giancarlo Ricci becoming Simone), the story is set in present times instead of 1988 and the actual events play out in a very different way, especially towards the end. These ar...

Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest American writers of all time. He had a gift for vivid descriptions, a talent for conveying complex and layered thoughts with a clear, simple language and a profound ability to observe human behaviors and feelings. That said, adapting his work to the screen is incredibly difficult: Hemingway's novels are full of personal, intimate reflections that carry the meaning of the whole story. In a movie, it's difficult to translate those inner thoughts in a way that does not appear didactic or excessively expository, but, on the other hand, removing them means getting rid of the thematic complexity of the author's work. Unfortunately, this is the case of A Farewell to Arms , Frank Borzage's adaptation of the 1929 novel. Hemingway himself hated the movie, and it's not hard to see why: the novel, a masterpiece, was a powerful, thoughtful meditation on values such as honor, bravery and love and a devastating depiction of a world tor...

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister in four governments, is one of the most fascinatingly puzzling figures of the country's last thirty years. His life is surrounded and punctuated by scandals and controversies, like the unknown source of his money early on in his career, the accusations of him being linked to Mafia, his tax frauds, his affairs with underage girls and prostitutes, his attempts to create laws ad personam to protect himself from criminal charges, his influence over Italian television and his inappropriate or even downright offensive behavior and remarks during national and international political meetings. The list goes on, and yet Berlusconi is still beloved and held in high esteem by a surprisingly large portion of Italian population - at this year election, Berlusconi's party (Forza Italia) received 14% of the votes even though the man himself was currently banned from any legislative office for six years (a sentence overturned in the last two d...

In 1940, Tennesse Williams wrote a play called  Battle of Angels . After Tallulah Bankhead turned down the leading role, the play premiered on Broadway with Miriam Hopkins instead. It was a spectacular failure, both critical and financial. About fifteen years later, after having become one of the most successful and acclaimed playwrights, Williams rewrote his earlier play into Orpheus Descending  but once again his work did not result into a success. Apparently, telling this story was a passion project for Williams and the lack of appreciation for it caused him great frustration. He adapted his play into the film  The Fugitive Kind in 1960: but even the film, in spite of the author's popularity and the presence of three Academy Award winners in the cast, was a failure, earning not-so-great reviews and not a lot of money. Nowadays, the movie is rarely remembered and that's a pity. Sure, just like the play itself, it's not quite perfect: for example, the character deve...

To most people, Gregory La Cava is known as the director of classic screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (1936), the enchanting, lively tale of a homeless man who becomes the butler of a wealthy family. The rest of his filmography is for the most part rather forgotten: films like The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Private Worlds  (1935) and Primrose Path (1940) are mostly remembered because of their Oscar-nominated performances, if they are at all, and among the few people that have actually seen them they are not held in particularly high esteem. Stage Door , loosely based on the play of the same name, is a peculiar case, as it is neither as iconic and revered as My Man Godfrey  nor as obscure as the other movies - and it turns out it's a surprisingly strong piece. Centering around a group of aspiring actresses in New York, Stage Door is not a movie that wants to be revolutionary in its thecnique, nor a social commentary, nor a thoughtful reflection on the theatrical world. ...