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Roberto Andò with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I am rehearsing a new play in Naples. It’s a play by Colm Tóibín.”

Toni Servillo (star of Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning The Great Beauty) plays Luigi Pirandello (winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize for literature) in Roberto Andò’s enchanted Strangeness, which is as gracefully far away from a biopic as it gets. The two men the famous author incognito encounters, both undertakers and madly involved in local theatre, are played by the popular Italian comedy team Ficarra e Picone (Salvatore Ficarra as Sebastiano Vella and Valentino Picone as Onofrio Principato).

Luigi Pirandello (Toni Servillo) with Sebastiano Vella (Salvatore Ficarra) and Onofrio Principato (Valentino Picone) in Roberto Andò’s Strangeness

I first met Roberto Andò the morning before Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà), starring Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Valerio Mastandrea was screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Cinecittà...

Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.

The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.

Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.

The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.

It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.

The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...

“The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards.

Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.

Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.

“It’s pretty incredible,” commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. “Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie.” “Thank you for this declaration of love,” added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. “We love Italy very much.

At the 2020 Academy Awards, “Jojo Rabbit” director Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for bringing Christine Leunens novel “Caging Skies” to the big screen. This award, which dates back to the first Oscars in 1928, has gone to the adapters of 47 novels over the year. The most recent of these prior to 2020 was in 2018 when James Ivory won his first Oscar for his adaptation of André Aciman‘s novel “Call Me by Your Name.” (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2021 Oscars predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay and be sure to check out our predictions for Best Original Screenplay.)

In between those two years, “BlacKkKlansman” director Spike Lee shared in the win for Best Adapted Screenplay for his written work on Ron Stallworth‘s memoir of the same name. In the 92-year history of this category, only a dozen adaptations of such books have prevailed. Five of those non-fiction books adaptations were...

In the 92-year history of the Academy Awards, a dozen of the 44 performers nominated for their work in languages other than English have won. The first to be nominated was “Johnny Belinda” star Jane Wyman who delivered her heartbreaking performance in American Sign Language. She won Best Actress in 1949. Thirteen years later, Sophia Loren won this same award for her work in Italian in “Two Women.”

That screen legend is in contention again this year for her searing portrayal in Italian of a Holocaust survivor who takes care of the children of streetwalkers in “The Life Ahead.” This Netflix drama was directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. He and Ugo Chiti adapted Romain Gary’s 1975 novel “The Life Before Us,” which was also the source of the Oscar-winning 1978 French drama “Madame Rosa,” starring Simone Signoret.

After Loren made Oscar history, there have been two more winners for performances in Italian:...

John Huston directed his father Walter to an Oscar in 1948 for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and his daughter Anjelica to one in 1985 for “Prizzi’s Honor.” Edoardo Ponti, 47, could well do the same for his mother, Sophia Loren, who shines in the acclaimed new Netflix drama “The Life Ahead.”

Ponti, the youngest of Loren’s two sons with her late husband, producer Carlo Ponti, is a graduate for USC School of Cinematic Arts and worked as an assistant with such directors as Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman. He first directed his mother in his 2002 debut “Between Strangers.” Loren won the David di Donatello Award for their 2014 collaboration on “The Human Voice” based Jean Cocteau’s 1930 one-act play “The Human Voice.”

For “The Life Ahead,” Ponti and Ugo Chiti adapted Romain Gary’s 1975 novel “The Life Before Us,” which was also the source of the Oscar-winning 1977 French drama “Madame Rosa,...

It’s always a pleasure to see a screen legend return to starring roles. For Sophia Loren, we haven’t seen her on the screen in a major way in over a decade, since her supporting appearance in Nine. Now, she’s back as a lead, showcasing her talents in Netflix’s latest awards contender, the international feature The Life Ahead. A movie built around her, and one that aptly showcases her, it’s a contender not just potentially in Best International Feature, but in Best Actress for Loren as well. Hitting the streaming service today, it’s well worth a watch, if only to see Loren in action once again, proving she hasn’t missed a beat. The film is a drama, based on the novel The Life Before Us, which has twice been adapted already before this. Taking place in an Italian seaside town, a 12-year-old street kid...

Maybe Netflix knows that people have more important things on their mind this month, maybe the streamer is just saving its big guns for later, or maybe it’s just trying to focus everyone’s attention on Diana’s introduction on “The Crown” (she roller-skates in Buckingham Palace!), but November 2020 might be Netflix’s most anemic month for new releases since this column first ran four years ago. The jury is still out on Ron Howard’s Oscar hopeful “Hillbilly Elegy,” but with “Mank” and “The Prom” waiting in the wings until December that leaves a paltry slate of Netflix Originals topped off by the well-reviewed drama “The Life Ahead” and the as-yet-unscreened pop doc, “Shawn Mendes: In Wonder.”

When it comes to library titles, the offerings range from hard classics like “Boyz n the Hood” and “A Clockwork Orange” to reliable favorites like “Ocean’s Eleven” and… whatever “The Next Karate Kid...

The best actress race is full of veterans this year, with the likes of Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer and Ellen Burstyn all vying for Oscar attention. Joining the list is Sophia Loren, one of the most prolific actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age, in Edoardo Ponti’s “The Life Ahead.”

The Oscar-winning Italian actor landed her gold statuette for “Two Women” (“La ciociara”) in 1962, which made her the first actor to win an Academy Award for a foreign-language film. She put up one more nomination in 1965 for “Marriage Italian Style” (“Matrimonio all’italiana”) and if she manages a nomination for “The Life Ahead,” a new record could emerge. In 2021, it will mark 56 years since her last nomination, and if nominated, she will break the record currently held by Henry Fonda as the longest gap between acting nominations. Fonda was nominated in 1941 for “The Grapes of Wrath” and he won the Oscar in 1982 for “On Golden Pond,...

On paper, “The Life Ahead” sounds like sentimental mush — orphaned immigrant kid gets rescued from a tortuous life of crime by the maternal Holocaust survivor and former prostitute who takes him in. And make no mistake: Director Edoardo Ponti, who directs his mother Sophia Loren as said survivor opposite newcomer Ibrahima Gueye as the immigrant child in question, certainly has made that kind of movie. But with its formidable odd couple at the center and Ponti’s alternately slick and sensitive direction,

While “The Life Ahead” draws from the same Romain Gary novel that inspired the 1977 Oscar-winner “Madame Rosa,” Ponti and co-writer Ugo Chiti have transplanted the setting from France to inner-city Italy and set the drama in the present day. That means cinematic grand dame Loren, returning to the screen for the first time in a decade, can play a role that fits her 86-year-old visage, and she brings a sturdy,...

The last time most of us saw Sophia Loren on screen, we barely saw her at all: not just because her role in 2009’s star-spangled musical deadweight “Nine” was so minor, but because Rob Marshall’s film was so enamored of the shimmery silver radiance generated by its various luminaries that it often forgot to look at them directly. That’s not a failing of “The Life Ahead,” her first feature-length starring vehicle in 16 years, and that alone makes it something of an event. That extraordinary face, regal and leonine as she heads into her mid-eighties, is so generously and adoringly cradled by the camera, it sometimes seems she has to be yanked out of scenes entirely for the narrative to progress.

Who can blame director Edoardo Ponti? His star is not only a last-of-a-generation icon, but his own mother: The film, modest and often maudlin on its own storytelling terms,...

Alone With Her Dreams (Picciridda – Con i piedi nella sabia) Corinth Films Reviewed by Tami Smith, Film Reviewer for Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Paolo Licata Screenwriters: Ugo Chiti, Catena Fiorello, Paolo Licata; based on a novel by Catena Fiorello Cast: Marta Castiglia, Lucia Sardo, Claudio Collova , Ileana Rigano, Tania Bambaci Release Date: October […]

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Alone With Her Dreams (Picciridda – Con i piedi nella sabia) Corinth Films Reviewed by Harvey Karten for Shockya.com Director: Paolo Licata Screenwriters: Ugo Chiti, Catena Fiorello, Paolo Licata Cast: Lucia Sardo, Marta Castiglia , Ileana Rigano, Katia Greco, Claudio Collova, Lorendana Marino, Tania Bambaci, Frederica Sarno Release Date: October 30, 2020 Many couples with […]

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Netflix has debuted the first trailer for Italian drama ‘The Life Ahead’ in which iconic actress Sophia Loren makes her comeback.

In the colourful Italian port city of Bari, the streetwise 12-year-old Senegalese orphan Momo (Ibrahima Gueye) has ambitions to make his fortune in the underworld of the town’s shady alleyways. One day, he steals a bag of items from the elderly Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren), a Holocaust survivor who makes a meagre living raising the children of prostitutes with whom she once shared the streets. When Momo is forced to apologize to Rosa, she reluctantly agrees to take him in temporarily and the two lonely individuals find an unlikely family in each other through a deep and unconventional bond. The kindred spirits become connected to a common destiny that will change the course of their lives.

Directed by Edoardo Ponti and adapted by Ponti, Ugo Chiti from Romain Gary’s novel,...

After spending a decade away from movies, Sophia Loren is back in the Italian feature, “The Life Ahead.”

The film, arriving on Netflix Nov. 13, tells the story of Madame Rosa (Loren), who takes in a 12-year-old street kid named Momo (Ibrahima Gueye) — the same child who had recently robbed her. The strangers eventually become each other’s protectors and form an unlikely bond and friendship.

In the trailer, Momo at first dreams of making his living by working as a drug dealer in the underworld of backstreets and alleyways in Bari, Italy. At first, Rosa tells her friend that Momo is “rotten to the core,” but as dynamics change between them and they start bonding, Rosa tells him, “It’s precisely when you give up hope that good things happen.”

The trailer also features original song contender “lo Si (Seen)” written by Diane Warren and performed by Italian superstar Laura Pausini.

Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to Sophia Loren’s return to the screen and her first feature film in over a decade, a drama called “The Life Ahead,” the streaming service announced Monday.

Edoardo Ponti directed Loren in the film, and Netflix will debut it later this year.

Loren plays a Holocaust survivor named Madame Rosa who runs a daycare business living in seaside Italy and takes in a 12-year-old street kid named Momo after he robs her. The two loners become each other’s protectors, anchoring an unconventional family.

Ponti and Ugo Chiti adapted the screenplay from the book “The Life Before Us” by Romain Gary. “The Life Ahead” also stars Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri and Massimiliano Rossi alongside Loren.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to be working with Netflix on such a special film. In my career, I...

Edoardo Ponti’s The Life Ahead, the Italian drama that marks the big screen return of Sophia Loren, has had its worlds rights snapped up by Netlfix, with the streamer planning to release later this year.

The pic, co-written by Ugo Chiti (Dogman) and Ponti, sees Loren play a Holocaust survivor who takes in a 12-year-old boy who recently robbed her. The film is a contemporary adaptation of Romain Gary’s novel The Life Before Us.

The project comes from Rome-based outfit Palomar, which has credits including Rupert Everett’s Oscar Wilde movie The Happy Prince and Claudio Giovannesi’s 2019 Berlinale premiere Piranhas.

Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri and Massimiliano Rossi also star.

“In my career, I’ve worked with the biggest studios but I can safely say that none have had the breadth of reach and the cultural diversity of Netflix, and that’s what I love about them. They...

Netflix has acquired global rights to The Life Ahead, starring Sophia Loren.

The global streamer will release the film, directed by Edoardo Ponti and written by Ugo Chiti and Ponti, later this year. Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri and Massimiliano Rossi star alongside Loren in the adaptation of the best-seller The Life Before Us by Romain Gary.

"In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business, Madame Rosa (Loren), takes in 12-year-old street kid Momo, the boy who recently robbed her," according to a plot description. "The two loners become each other's protectors, anchoring an unconventional family."...

Netflix has acquired global rights to The Life Ahead, starring Sophia Loren.

The global streamer will release the film, directed by Edoardo Ponti and written by Ugo Chiti and Ponti, later this year. Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri and Massimiliano Rossi star alongside Loren in the adaptation of the best-seller The Life Before Us by Romain Gary.

"In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business, Madame Rosa (Loren), takes in 12-year-old street kid Momo, the boy who recently robbed her," according to a plot description. "The two loners become each other's protectors, anchoring an unconventional family."...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)

For over two decades the filmmaker Jia Zhangke has, through his movies, shown Western audiences a barometer of life in 21st Century China. Ash is Purest White was both the most expensive and, arguably, least political film that Jia has made (read into that what you will) but it was also his most shape-shifting, adventurous and heart wrenching work, too. The director’s partner Zhao Tao provides that heartbeat as the wife of an absent mob guy who goes on an odyssey to find him. The film–and perhaps the world of Jia itself–would simply evaporate without her. – Rory O.

Dogman Magnolia Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net by: Harvey Karten Director: Matteo Garrone Screenwriter: Ugo Chiti, Maurizio Raucci, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso Cast: Marcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce, Alida Baldari Calabria, Nunzia Schiano, Adamo Dionisi Screened at: Dolby 24, NYC, 4/2/19 Opens: April 12, 2019 “Dogman” is the movie that won the “Palm Dog Best […]

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Pawel Pawlikowski’s “”Cold War” swept the European Film Academy Awards on Saturday, winning five of its bids: Best Picture, Director, Actress (Joanna Kulig), Screenplay and Film Editing. This Polish picture contended for the top prize against three other films that are also entered in this year’s Oscar race for Foreign-Language Film — Sweden’s “Border,” Poland’s “Cold War,” Italy’s “Dogman” and Belgium’s “Girl.” The fifth nominee was “Happy as Lazzaro,” which is also from Italy.

Winners of the 31st edition of these awards were decided by the 3,000 plus members of the academy, drawn from all parts of Europe. Scroll down to see all the winners (and nominees).

Last year Ruben Ostlund‘s satire “The Square” swept the EFAs with six wins including both Best Picture and Best Comedy. Ostlund claimed both the writing and directing awards for his savage satire set in the high stakes art...

“Cold War” was the big winner at the European Film Awards, picking up the prizes for Best European Film, Actress (Joanna Kulig), Director, and Screenwriter (both Paweł Pawlikowski). Best actor went to Marcello Fonte of “Dogman,” while Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin” was named Best European Comedy.

“Cold War” also led all films with five nominations, continuing a strong year for the black-and-white drama — Pawlikowski, whose “Ida” won the Foreign-Language Oscar, also took home Best Director laurels from Cannes.

Ali Abbasi’s “Border” and Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro” left the ceremony empty-handed despite picking up four nominations apiece.

The full list of winners:

Best European Film

“Border,” Ali Abbasi

“Cold War,” Pawel Pawlikowski

“Dogman,” Matteo Garrone

“Girl,” Lukas Dhont

“Happy as Lazzaro,” Alice Rorhwacher

European Comedy

“C’est La Vie,” Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano

“Diamantino,” Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt

“The Death of Stalin,” Armando Iannucci

European Director

Ali Abbasi,...

“Cold War,” Pawel Pawlikowski’s black-and-white romance set in the 1950s, scooped the prizes for best film, director and screenplay at the 31st edition of the European Film Awards on Saturday.

“Cold War” star Joanna Kulig also won the award for best actress. Marcello Fonte, the star of Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman,” won for best actor.

Armando Iannucci’s political satire “The Death of Stalin” won for best European comedy. Adapted from the French graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, “The Death of Stalin” is a comic look at how Joseph Stalin’s stroke in 1953 threw the U.S.S.R. into chaos and inspired a mad power grab among his top advisors.

“This is very brave of you. This movie was banned in Russia,” Iannucci said upon picking up his award onstage. The British writer-director added that he loved Europe and made a joke about Brexit.

Lukas Dhont’s “Girl,...

Nominations for the European Film Academy Award were announced on Saturday (Nov. 10) at the Seville film festival in Spain. Four of the entries in this year’s Oscar race for Foreign-Language Film — Sweden’s “Border,” Poland’s “Cold War,” Italy’s “Dogman” and Belgium’s “Girl” — are up for Best Picture. The fifth nominee is “Happy as Lazzaro” from Germany (which submitted “Never Look Away” at the Oscars).

Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” leads with five nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Tomasz Kot), Actress (Joanna Kulig) and Screenplay. “Dogman” and “Border” have four nominations apiece as does “Happy as Lazzaro.”

Winners of the 31st edition of these awards will be decided by the 3,000 plus members of the academy, drawn from all parts of Europe. The ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 15 in Seville.

Last year Ruben Ostlund‘s satire “The Square” swept the EFAs with six wins including both Best Picture and Best Comedy.

Paweł Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” leads the pack in this year’s European Film Awards, picking up five nominations after winning Best Director laurels earlier this year at Cannes. The black-and-white romance is followed closely by Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman,” Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro,” and Ali Abassi’s “Border,” all of which also picked up awards on the Croisette and now find themselves with four nods apiece.

This year’s ceremony takes place on December 15 in Seville, Spain. Here’s the full list of nominations:

European Film 2018

Border, dir: Ali Abbasi

Cold War, dir: Pawel Pawlikowski

Dogman, dir: Matteo Garrone

Girl dir: Lukas Dhont

Happy As Lazzaro, dir: Alice Rohrwacher

European Documentary 2018

A Woman Captured, dir: Bernadett Tuza-Ritter

Bergman – A Year In A Life, dir: Jane Magnusson

Of Fathers And Sons, dir: Talal Derki

The Distant Barking Of Dogs, dir: Simon Lering Wilmont

The Silence Of Others, dirs:...

The nominations for the 2018 Efa awards were revealed at the Seville European Film Festival.

After winning best birector at Cannes Film Festival, Pawel Pawlikowski’s melodrama about love and modern European history leads the European Film Awards (Efa) nominations with five nods including for European film, director, actress (for Joanna Kulig), actor (for Tomasz Kot) and screenwriter (for Pawlikowski).

Cold War was followed closely by Dogman, Border and Happy As Lazzaro with four Efa nominations each. The latter three joined Cold War in being nominated for European film, director and screenwriter.

Like Pawlikowski, Rohrwacher was nominated on her own for Lazzaro’s screenplay,...

Nominations are in for the 31st European Film Awards with previous winner Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War leading the pack. The romance drama won the Best Director prize in Cannes and Pawlikowski is up here for the same nod. Cold War, Poland’s Oscar hopeful this year, is also mentioned in the Best Film, Screenwriting, Actress and Actor categories.

Joining Cold War in the main race are a series of Oscar entries for the Best Foreign Language Film statue. They include Sweden’s wild Border from Ali Abbasi, Italy’s Dogman from Matteo Garrone and Belgium’s Girl by Lukas Dhont. The latter won the Camera d’Or in Cannes for best first film, and also scored the Best Performance nod in the Un Certain Regard section for lead Victor Polster who received a nomination today from the European Film Academy. Netflix acquired Girl for North and Latin America out of the festival.

Matteo Garrone’s Dogman features many of the same themes and motifs as his 2002 film, The Embalmer. Its grisly narrative is again loosely based on real events drawn from the news, it is again set in a run-down coastal suburb in southern Italy, and it again focuses on the skewed power dynamics between two male characters, one tall and the other short. The metaphorical slant, however, is even more pronounced this time around. By depriving their David and Goliath story of geographical and chronological specificity – both setting and time period are kept purposely vague – Garrone and his co-writers, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudisio, have also stripped the film of any genuine social relevance. The result is a philosophically bankrupt, if effectively constructed, spectacle of violence.

The two protagonists are Marcello (Marcello Fonte), a literal and figurative little man who owns a dog grooming salon, and Simone (Edoardo Pesce), a hulking...

It's strange, it's different, and I can see why it wasn't a theatrical hit... but Matteo Garrone's superb telling of three very adult, very extreme 17th century folk tales is a special item, beautifully directed and visually splendid. Tale of Tales Blu-ray Shout! Factory 2016 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 133 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / 22.97 Starring Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave, Stacy Martin, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Laura Pizzirani, Franco Pistoni, Jessie Cave. Cinematography Peter Suschitzky Film Editor Marco Spoletini Production Design Dimitri Capuani Original Music Alexandre Desplat Written by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso from a book by Giambattista Basile Produced by Matteo Garrone, Anne Labadie, Jean Labadie, Jeremy Thomas Directed by Matteo Garrone

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Matteo Garrone needs no more endorsement than a mention of his terrific modern gangster film Gomorrah (2008), an epic that makes the...

Stars: Salma Hayek, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Vincent Cassel, Hayley Carmichael, Shirley Henderson, Toby Jones, Bebe Cave, Guillaume Delaunay, John C. Reilly | Written by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso | Directed by Matteo Garrone

Tale of Tales is a peculiar film and it’s difficult to know where to start with it. It has been directed by Matteo Garrone, who is best known for the Italian gangster film Gomorrah, a film so naturalistic in its approach, it almost felt like a documentary. Which makes Tale of Tales, a retelling of three archetypal fairystories with a surreal dream-like approach, a surprise straight out of leftfield.

The three interwoven stories take place in separate kingdoms. In the first, Salma Hayek’s queen uses dark magic to finally give her a son (Christian Lees), but becomes violently jealous when her progeny prefers the company of his mysterious doppelganger (Jonah Lees) to her.

Even though fairy tales themselves have often been dark throughout the years, the translation to film from book form has almost exclusively been directed towards young audiences. Occasionally we get more adult themed fairy tales, but they tend to be few and far between. Lost a bit in the Tribeca shuffle for me was the release last weekend of the new movie from Matteo Garrone, the fantasy film of sorts Tale of Tales. It’s a real unique flick, having debuted last year at the Cannes Film Festival before finally now in theatrical release, as of the weekend. It’s interesting enough that I wanted to make a quick mention of it, as it’s really something else. The film is, more or less, a collection of a few fairy tales, just given a different spin than usual. There’s three main ones, including the obsessive quest of the Queen...

The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.

AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.

World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...

A live action movie adaptation of Boom! Studios' supernatural comic book series, Lumberjanes, is in the works. We also have details on Tale of Tales being acquired for U.S. distribution and a look at Fright Rags' T-shirt depiction of the Doof Warrior.

Lumberjanes Movie: According to TheWrap, Will Widger (who wrote the Black List screenplay, The Munchkin) is lined up to pen a live action feature film adaptation of the Lumberjanes comic book series for 20th Century Fox.

Producing the project are Boom! Studios' Ross Richie and Stephen Christy, with Adam Yoelin co-producing. The folks at 20th Century Fox have reportedly put the Lumberjanes film near the top of their priority list, so we could see this project move rather quickly along the path to the big screen.

A Boom! Studios comic book series that debuted last year, Lumberjanes has propelled past its original eight-part planned run, with its...

The post-Cannes acquisitions trickle continues as IFC announced it has picked up Us rights from Hanway Films to Matteo Garrone’s Competition premiere.

Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, John C Reilly and Toby Jones star in Tale Of Tales, Garrone’s English-language gothic debut that weaves together several fairytales from the Middle Ages Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile.

Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave and Alba Rohrwacher also star.

Garrone co-adapted the screenplay with Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso.

Jeremy Thomas produced with Jean Labadie and Garrone, while Alessio Lazzareschi, Peter Watson, Nicki Hattingh, Anne Sheehan and Sheryl Crown served as executive producers.

IFC’s Cannes acquisitions haul includes A Perfect Day, while sister label Sundance selects picked up Disorder and held rights to Palme d’Or winner Dheepan ahead of the festival.

IFC Films announced Thursday that it has acquired U.S. rights to Matteo Garrone’s “Tale of Tales.” The film stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly, Toby Jones, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave and Alba Rohrwacher. It was produced by Jeremy Thomas, Jean Labadie and Garrone from a screenplay by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso and Garrone. It’s executive produced by Alessio Lazzareschi, Peter Watson, Nicki Hattingh, Anne Sheehan and Sheryl Crown. See photos: The Scene at Cannes 2015: Red Carpet Premieres and Beyond “Tale of Tales,” Garrone’s first English language film, had its...

Il Racconto dei Racconti (Tale of Tales)

Directed by Matteo Garrone

Written by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso

Italy & UK, 2015

The temptation of making it big internationally must have been too strong for Matteo Garrone to resist and two films later, the filmmaker who charmed Cannes with the Neapolitan lilt of Gomorra is back in competition with an incongruous fairy-tale offering teeming with midgets, unidentified beasts and an ogre.

Based on the fairy tales of Giambattista Basile, the seventeenth-century inventor of Cinderella, “The Tale” recounts the regal travails of three grotesque feudal lords in medieval Italy, speaking in various accents of English as you do when you are a medieval Italian feudal lord. Garrone’s production, no doubt betting on the international cachet of some of the cast such as Selma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and John C. Reilly, goes the magical surrealism route, throwing in some beautiful princesses and misshapen old hags,...

Cannes already has a standout movie: the horrific new Renaissance fairytale from Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone. Features scenes of flea-petting, heart-eating and a right royal nightmare

Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales is fabulous in every sense: a freaky portmanteau film based on the folk myths collected and published by the 16th-century Neapolitan poet and scholar Giambattista Basile – Garrone worked on the adaptation with Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso.

It is gloriously mad, rigorously imagined, visually wonderful: erotic, hilarious and internally consistent. The sort of film, in fact, which is the whole point of Cannes. It immerses you in a complete created world.

Ovid is mulched in with Hansel, Gretel, the Beauty, the Beast, the Prince, the Pauper, in no real order. At times, Garrone seemed to have taken inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni’s own fabular tale The Mystery of Oberwald – at others, it felt like he had deeply inhaled the strange and unwholesome odour still emanating from Walerian Borowczyk’s Immoral Tales. But there’s also a bit of John Boorman’s Excalibur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Blackadder, The Company of Wolves, the Tenniel illustrations for Alice in Wonderland… and Shrek.

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Cannes already has a standout movie: the horrific new Renaissance fairytale from Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone. Features scenes of flea-petting, heart-eating and a right royal hag-shagger

Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales is fabulous in every sense: a freaky portmanteau film based on the folk myths collected and published by the 16th-century Neapolitan poet and scholar Giambattista Basile – Garrone worked on the adaptation with Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso.

It is gloriously mad, rigorously imagined, visually wonderful: erotic, hilarious and internally consistent. The sort of film, in fact, which is the whole point of Cannes. It immerses you in a complete created world.

Ovid is mulched in with Hansel, Gretel, the Beauty, the Beast, the Prince, the Pauper, in no real order. At times, Garrone seemed to have taken inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni’s own fabular tale The Mystery of Oberwald – at others, it felt like he had...

The Tale of Tales

Director: Matteo Garrone // Writers: Matteo Garrone, Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Guadioso

Italian director Matteo Garrone reached international renown in 2008 with Gomorrah, which took home the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. However, it was actually Garrone’s sixth feature, a director who started making films only slightly before fellow countryman Paolo Sorrentino, and Garrone’s 2002 title The Embalmer played in the Director’s Fortnight, and he’s made appearances in Venice (Roman Summer, 2000) and Berlin (First Love, 2004) as well. After the success of Gomorra, Garrone’s next film, Reality, would also score the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 2012. While 2015 will see the second English language feature film from Sorrentino, Garrone makes his English language debut with The Tale of Tales, a film that will be a giant fresco of the Baroque period, based on “Tale of Tales” by Giambattista Basile, the famous author of Neapolitan tales from the 17th century.

Chicago – Like Sebastián Silva’s equally mesmerizing and maddening “Magic Magic,” Matteo Garrone’s “Reality” explores a psyche as it slowly unravels, obscuring the line between truth and fiction until it becomes hopelessly blurred. In fact, both filmmakers utilize a similar technique in portraying their heros’ delusions by occupying their peripheral vision with eerie apparitions.

This might make “Reality” sound like a horror film, but it’s actually a Felliniesque comedy—at least for its first act. A surprising portion of the film’s running time is devoted to detailing the modest life of Luciano (Aniello Arena), a fishmonger with an adoring wife (Loredana Paone) and family who harbors an exuberant love of performance. We first see him greeting a Reality TV show star, Enzo (Raffaele Ferrante), in full drag, playing the role of a smitten ex. Though the faces of his surrounding audience are delighted, the scene straddles the line between amusing and squirm-inducing.

Title: Reality Oscilloscope Laboratories Director: Matteo Garrone Screenwriter: Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso Cast: Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Raffaele Ferrante, Nando Paone Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 3/7/13 Opens: March 15, 2013 Most people will turn their heads even in New York if Robert De Niro, Al Pacino or Tom Cruise passed by on the street. Americans, like people the world over, are attracted by celebrity, particularly since here in the U.S. more people have TVs than bathtubs. We’re all an audience. But how many people seriously think that they can themselves become famous, so much so that people will turn their heads when they walk down [ Read More ]

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With February almost over, we’ve not got long to go at all before Cannes rolls around once more in May. But before it does, we’ve still got a handful of films to look forward to from last year’s festival, and one of those is Matteo Garrone’s Reality.

The film took home the Grand Prix award at the festival last spring, and spent much of last year on the festival circuit. And now it’s finally about to make its way into UK cinemas towards the end of next month, following its UK debut at the London Film Festival last year – you can read our review here.

With just a few more weeks to go before Reality arrives, we’ve had the new trailer and UK quad poster sent our way to share, giving us a new look at the upcoming comedy-drama.

“A fascinating take on the darker side of celebrity culture,...

Tagline: "The sins of the father shall revisit the sons." It has been over a year since this film fan has heard anything from Italy's horror scene. Not since The Shadow Within (2009) and Death of a Virgin (2009) has there been much from Italy that involves terror. That will change in 2012 when Monte Cristo Entertainment pushes for distribution of Michael Zampino's The Heir (L'Erede). Already released in Italy, The Heir tells a tale of family secrets and brothers fighting over a weighty inheritance. Even neighbours get involved. As the trailer below shows, characters will go to any lengths to secure their piece of the pie. This title will likely release in 2012. Release Date: 2012. Director: Michael Zampino. Writers: Ugo Chiti and Michael Zampino. Cast: Alessandro Roja, Guia Jelo, David Lorino, Tresy Taddei Takimiri i, Maria Sole Mansutti. The trailer for The Heir is here: Source: The Heir at Monte Cristo Ent.

#77. Big House Director: Matteo Garrone Writer(s): Garrone, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso and Maurizio Braucci Producers: Garrone and Fandago's Domenico ProcacciDistributor: Rights Available The Gist: Focusing on the myth of reality shows in our society, this is about a Neapolitan based family who await the news about a their father being selected for a Big Brother type show...(more) Cast: Claudia Gerini, Ciro Petrone, Nunzia Schiano, Angelica Borghese, Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli List Worthy Reasons...: Before his inside look into modern-day crime and corruption (Gomorrah), Matteo Garrone was better known as the helmer of Euro hits The Embalmer and First Love. Hopefully this comedy slash drama will be a biting commentary rather than a Truman Show like concoction. Release Date/Status?: Cannes is a distinct possibilty since his last film was a Grand Prix winner.  ...

Matteo Garrone caught the attention of many critics when his mafia film Gomorrah hit the Us in early 2009. Despite praise that he may have received for the movie (including a home video release by Criterion), word on what would be next for him has been relatively quiet. Now, it’s been revealed that he’s begun shooing his next movie, titled Big House.

The news was broken by Cineuropa (via ThePlaylist), who say that the upcoming movie has started an eleven week shoot in Naples and Rome, with Aniello Arena and Loredana Simioli set to star. It’s said to investigate “the TV industry, reality shows and the illusions of notoriety,” with the script coming from the director, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso. Much of his Gomorrah team is returning, such as cinematographer Marco Onorato, editor Marco Spoletini, production designer Paolo Bonfini and sound designer Maricetta Lombardo.

No release date has been set,...

Italian director Matteo Garrone made a big wave in 2008 with his crackling, layered gangster epic "Gomorrah," which earned the support of Martin Scorsese and wound up with a Criterion Collection edition as well. Not too shabby at all. Well, for his next film, he's turned his eye from crime to the media. According to Cineurope, the helmer has started work on "Big House." Starring Aniello Arena and Loredana Simioli, the film written by Garrone, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso will focus on "the TV industry, reality shows and the illusions of notoriety." The film has begun an 11 week…...

La pecora nera or if you prefer, The Black Sheep is the feature debut from Ascanio Celestini, which is In Competition for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

Yes, we said it’s a comedy, but they also describe it as an “inventive, funny and tragic” movie. Check out the La pecora nera synopsis and see why…

“The psychiatric hospital is an apartment block of saints. The poor crazy inmates tucked into their Chinese sheets – industrially manufactured shrouds – are saints, the nun lit up like an ex-voto by her bedside lamp is a saint.

And the doctor is the saintliest of all, he is the head of the saints, he is Jesus Christ.”

This is how Nicola describes his 35 years in the “electric asylum” and in his messed-up head reality and fantasy merge, producing unexpected illuminations.

Nicola was born in the 1960s, “the fabulous sixties”, and...

Chicago – Matteo Garrone’s revelatory crime picture joins the esteemed group of worthy foreign film Oscar contenders (like “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”) inexplicably snubbed by the Academy. But such accolades are meaningless compared to the reaction it has received, breaking box office records in its limited release, while acquiring the passionate support of film icons like Martin Scorsese. It has gained a reputation for being the “ultimate Mafia movie” (even though it’s actually about a different crime family), besting everything from “The Godfather” and “GoodFellas” to “The Sopranos.”

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Yet Garrone doesn’t even attempt to mimic the larger-than-life style and scope of Coppola or Scorsese, and his film achieves an entirely different kind of greatness, stripping away any shred of romanticism or artifice to reveal the primal horror lying behind scenes of deceptively mundane life. His film also has the distinction of being set in modern-day Italy,...

Release Date: Dec. 19 (limited), Feb. 13

Director: Matteo Garrone

Writers: Roberto Saviano, Garrone, Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Massimo Gaudioso

Cinematographer: Marco Onorato

Starring: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo

Studio/Run Time: IFC, 137 mins.

A bureaucracy of blood, Italian-indie style

Gomorrah’s portrait of Italy’s Camorra crime family is more a Fast Food Nation-style exposé of a teeming criminal ecosystem than a typical mob drama. Powered by several parallel plots corresponding to the family’s interests (drugs, textile manufacturing, waste disposal, weapon running, etc.), the Camorras recall a massive, barely functioning bureaucracy whose internal conflicts happen to be frequently (and efficiently) resolved with insane carnage, both emotional and bodily. There’s a mid-level manager (Gianfelice Imparato’s Don Ciro, proud to work every day in a tie), an Hr department (systematically testing adolescent recruits by decking them with bulletproof vests and shooting) and plenty of corporate politics.