Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage
OPEN ROADS: New Italian Cinema
Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater
June 3-10, 2010
The highly anticipated film series returns for its 10th Anniversary showcasing the latest in Italian cinema. This is the best in contemporary Italian film with its annual fan-favorite selections. This film series has shepherded in the Summer film going season since 2001 as well as brought new Italian cinema to the forefront of international film. This year's sterling selection is no exception.
Oscar winning director, Giuseppe Tomatore (Cinema Paradiso) returns with BAARIA. Set in his hometown of Bagheria, Tomatore's saga spans decades in the lives of a multitude of characters, yet remains one of his most personal films to date. Another alum of the series, Giorgio Diritti, offers the moving wartime drama THE MAN WHO WILL COME. The series also features the work of first time directors Susanna Nicchiarelli with COSMONAUTA and Valerio Mieli's TEN WINTERS.
For more information visit www.Filmlinc.com or call (212) 875-5601.
PREVIEWS BY GERALD WRIGHT
THE WHITE SPACE (Lo Spazio Bianco)
Directed by: Francesca Comencini
Running time: 98 min.
Genre: Drama in Italian with English subtitles
White Space is a film adaptation from the novel with the same title by Valeria Parrella. In the film a single middle-age female teacher of adult education Maria (played by the winner of the Best Actress prize at Venice, Margherita Buy) finds herself in an unexpected pregnancy with a premature birth.
Margherita Buy offers a towering performance in her role as Maria, a woman whose clock is ticking on the child birthing years. She idolizes everyone with a child rearing family. Her brief affair with a man who has a child is even more disturbing. Once it is diagnosed that she is pregnant, Maria is torn between having an abortion and allowing herself to be alone - or - making a commitment to have a child and raise it by herself at this point of her life.
When her child arrives prematurely, she partially moves into a hospital's special-care unit. This introduces her to a world of women in similar situations watching their children living in an incubator. However, her teaching profession is her livelihood and passion.
The outcome of this very good film offers a sensitive portrait of a complex woman attempting to take back control of her own life - no matter what the price.
THE DOUBLE HOUR (La Doppia Ora)
Directed by: Giuseppe Capotondi
Running time: 102 min.
Genre: Drama, Thriller, and Romance in Italian with English subtitles
This is a remarkable, ever changing psychological romantic crime thriller about a hotel chambermaid, an ex-cop, a speed dating service and a murder. All of these elements come together while numbers on digital clocks are referenced.
From the opening scenes of The Double Hour, the audience is watching a young woman jump from a hotel balcony. It is Sonia (Kseniya Rappoport) the hotel maid who reports the incident. However, Sonia's personality is puzzling to everyone she comes in contact with. The beautiful Sonia is fond of sitting in the roundtable speed dating circles and meeting men. She meets former policeman and widower Guido (Filippo Timi) which leads to a romantic interlude.
When a catastrophic murder, and robbery happens causing Sonia's injury, ultimately everything in her life begins to change. Questions arise from police investigators, and answers only arrive through a continuous twist and turn of events.
From the beginning to the end I was amazed and bewildered watching this supernatural thriller. This is good stuff!
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