Marco Bellocchio has ruffled some feathers over the years – starting with his feature debut “Fists in the Pocket.”
“I do remember that people were shocked about me making a film, in Italy, about a son killing his mother. They were surprised and I don’t know why. I thought it was a good idea – from a dramatic point of view,” he said at International Film Festival Rotterdam during a talk with festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.
While his colleague Bernardo Bertolucci found himself in even bigger trouble – “They wanted to burn the negative of ‘The Last Tango in Paris,’ which was absurd! I had issues, but not as big as this one” – “Fists in the Pocket” still angered many. Including Luis Buñuel.
“He is perceived as this great surrealist, a revolutionary, but he was a conservative moralist. He couldn’t believe this angry young man was so bitter against his mother.
“I do remember that people were shocked about me making a film, in Italy, about a son killing his mother. They were surprised and I don’t know why. I thought it was a good idea – from a dramatic point of view,” he said at International Film Festival Rotterdam during a talk with festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.
While his colleague Bernardo Bertolucci found himself in even bigger trouble – “They wanted to burn the negative of ‘The Last Tango in Paris,’ which was absurd! I had issues, but not as big as this one” – “Fists in the Pocket” still angered many. Including Luis Buñuel.
“He is perceived as this great surrealist, a revolutionary, but he was a conservative moralist. He couldn’t believe this angry young man was so bitter against his mother.
- 1/29/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
For his last trick, at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Italian maestro Marco Bellocchio turned the 1978 Red Brigade kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro, an unparalleled event in Italian political history, into a riveting five-and-a-half-hour miniseries called Exterior Night. For his newest trick––Kidnapped, which debuted in competition in Cannes––he returns to Italian history, this time to tell the story of Edgardo Mortara, a seven-year-old Jewish boy who was taken from his family in Bologna to be raised Catholic in the actual arms of Pope Pius IX.
“Why?” his family cries in a thousand different ways, powerless to the pawns of the Cardinal that carry Edgardo (Enea Sala) away in the night plainly. Because there’s a rumor he was secretly baptized. There were no witnesses, and the Mortara family hasn’t even been informed who or where this rumor came from. But it doesn’t matter. The...
“Why?” his family cries in a thousand different ways, powerless to the pawns of the Cardinal that carry Edgardo (Enea Sala) away in the night plainly. Because there’s a rumor he was secretly baptized. There were no witnesses, and the Mortara family hasn’t even been informed who or where this rumor came from. But it doesn’t matter. The...
- 5/25/2023
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
Revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio is returning to Cannes with “Kidnapped,” a drama that reconstructs the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a drama about Mortara for which he began scouting locations in Italy.
Last year, Bellocchio was in Cannes with another kidnapping drama, the limited TV series “Exterior Night,” about the abduction and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran auteur’s first foray in TV has had the rare distinction of playing well in Italian cinemas — in two installments — before airing on Rai and selling globally. Earlier this month it also scored a slew of statuettes, including best director, at Italy’s David Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a drama about Mortara for which he began scouting locations in Italy.
Last year, Bellocchio was in Cannes with another kidnapping drama, the limited TV series “Exterior Night,” about the abduction and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran auteur’s first foray in TV has had the rare distinction of playing well in Italian cinemas — in two installments — before airing on Rai and selling globally. Earlier this month it also scored a slew of statuettes, including best director, at Italy’s David Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
- 5/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Cinema Italiano is on a roll, as reflected by the fact that this year Italy has scored three Cannes competition slots.
Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming the crisis,” noted Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux after announcing the lineup.
The robust Croisette contingent marks the second time in 20 years that Italy lands three Cannes competition berths. Though the trio of selected directors — Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and Alice Rohrwacher — are all Cannes regulars “they represent three different generations of auteurs,” said Paolo Del Brocco, chief of state broadcaster Rai’s Rai Cinema arm that co-produced all three titles. And each of these films, he went on to point out, displays “very different ideas and cinematic visions.”
Moretti is back on the Croisette...
Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming the crisis,” noted Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux after announcing the lineup.
The robust Croisette contingent marks the second time in 20 years that Italy lands three Cannes competition berths. Though the trio of selected directors — Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and Alice Rohrwacher — are all Cannes regulars “they represent three different generations of auteurs,” said Paolo Del Brocco, chief of state broadcaster Rai’s Rai Cinema arm that co-produced all three titles. And each of these films, he went on to point out, displays “very different ideas and cinematic visions.”
Moretti is back on the Croisette...
- 5/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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 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,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“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.
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.
- 5/10/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Milan’s Anteo Palazzo del Cinema is set to become Italy’s first moviegoing venue to program VR cinema on a year-round basis.
The Anteo, a 10-screen cityplex considered a temple of quality cinema in the northern Italian city, is launching the VR space, as it celebrates its 44th year of activity. The launch is being made in tandem with Rai Cinema, the film arm of Italian state broadcaster Rai that is providing the first batch of VR titles.
Anteo now has a space with 20 VR chair platforms, each with a Pico G2 4K VR headset, where for a low €5 ($5.4) ticket price viewers can watch a selection of titles. These currently include: “Lockdown 2020 – Invisible Italy,” a doc by Omar Rashid taking viewers on a tour of the beauty and desolation of Italian cities such as Venice, Florence and Rome during the pandemic; “The Divine Comedy VR – Inferno”; and “Volcano – The Life That’s Sleeping,...
The Anteo, a 10-screen cityplex considered a temple of quality cinema in the northern Italian city, is launching the VR space, as it celebrates its 44th year of activity. The launch is being made in tandem with Rai Cinema, the film arm of Italian state broadcaster Rai that is providing the first batch of VR titles.
Anteo now has a space with 20 VR chair platforms, each with a Pico G2 4K VR headset, where for a low €5 ($5.4) ticket price viewers can watch a selection of titles. These currently include: “Lockdown 2020 – Invisible Italy,” a doc by Omar Rashid taking viewers on a tour of the beauty and desolation of Italian cities such as Venice, Florence and Rome during the pandemic; “The Divine Comedy VR – Inferno”; and “Volcano – The Life That’s Sleeping,...
- 5/5/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness was the big winner at the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), which took place today (December 10) in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
The class warfare comedy won best European film, director, screenwriter and actor, for Zlatko Burić.
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Mariupolis 2 won the European documentary prize, whilst Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs Or Italians Allowed picked up the animated feature award.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss,...
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness was the big winner at the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), which took place today (December 10) in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
The class warfare comedy won best European film, director, screenwriter and actor, for Zlatko Burić.
Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.
Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Mariupolis 2 won the European documentary prize, whilst Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs Or Italians Allowed picked up the animated feature award.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss,...
- 12/10/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
The Efa ceremony is taking place December 10 at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík.
The 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs) ceremony is taking place today (December 10) at 19.15 GMT in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
Screen will be posting the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates). The ceremony kicks off at 19.15 GMT.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness is among the five titles up for the European film award, and is also competing in the director, actor (for Zlatko Burić) and screenwriter (Ostlund) categories.
Lukas Dhont’s...
The 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs) ceremony is taking place today (December 10) at 19.15 GMT in Reykjavík.
Scroll down for winners
Screen will be posting the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates). The ceremony kicks off at 19.15 GMT.
Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness is among the five titles up for the European film award, and is also competing in the director, actor (for Zlatko Burić) and screenwriter (Ostlund) categories.
Lukas Dhont’s...
- 12/10/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Marco Bellocchio is to receive the award for European innovative storytelling.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss and Mascha Halberstad’s Oink are among the eight additional titles that have been nominated for the upcoming European Film Awards, while the European Film Academy has also named Marco Bellocchio as the recipient of the award for European innovative storytelling.
The Good Boss premiered in San Sebastian in 2021, and stars Javier Bardem. The Spanish title was nominated for a record 20 Goya awards, winning six. It tells the story of the petty boss of an industrial scales factory, played by Bardem.
Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss and Mascha Halberstad’s Oink are among the eight additional titles that have been nominated for the upcoming European Film Awards, while the European Film Academy has also named Marco Bellocchio as the recipient of the award for European innovative storytelling.
The Good Boss premiered in San Sebastian in 2021, and stars Javier Bardem. The Spanish title was nominated for a record 20 Goya awards, winning six. It tells the story of the petty boss of an industrial scales factory, played by Bardem.
- 10/19/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
European Film Academy will honor Italian director March Bellocchio for his mini-series Exterior Night at its 35th European Film Awards ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.
The veteran filmmaker will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the drama, exploring the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978.
The academy introduced the Innovative Storytelling category in 2020 to reflect the changes in the cinematic landscape.
Exterior Night was produced by Lorenzo Mieli at Fremantle company The Apartment Pictures with Simone Gattoni at Kavac Film, in co-production with Rai Fiction and Arte France.
The academy has also unveiled the nominees in the comedy, animated feature and short film categories.
In the comedy feature category, they comprise Hannes Þór Halldórsson’s Cop Secret (Iceland), Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss (Spain) and Catherine Corsini’s The...
The veteran filmmaker will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the drama, exploring the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978.
The academy introduced the Innovative Storytelling category in 2020 to reflect the changes in the cinematic landscape.
Exterior Night was produced by Lorenzo Mieli at Fremantle company The Apartment Pictures with Simone Gattoni at Kavac Film, in co-production with Rai Fiction and Arte France.
The academy has also unveiled the nominees in the comedy, animated feature and short film categories.
In the comedy feature category, they comprise Hannes Þór Halldórsson’s Cop Secret (Iceland), Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss (Spain) and Catherine Corsini’s The...
- 10/19/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio will be presented with the European Film Academy’s Award for European Innovative Storytelling for his miniseries “Exterior Night.” The director will be guest of honor at the 35th European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 10 at Reykjavik.
In “Exterior Night,” Bellocchio returns to the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978, a subject that he tackled in his feature film “Good Morning, Night,” for which he received the Fipresci Prize at the 2003 European Film Awards.
The academy has also revealed nominations in several categories for the awards.
European Comedy:
“Cop Secret” (:Leynilögga”), directed by Hannes Þór Halldórsson (Iceland)
“The Good Boss” (“El Buen Patrón”), directed by Fernando León De Aranoa (Spain)
“The Divide” (“La Fracture”), directed by Catherine Corsini (France)
European Animated Feature Film:
“Little Nicholas – Happy As Can Be” (“Le Petit Nicolas – Qu’est-ce...
In “Exterior Night,” Bellocchio returns to the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978, a subject that he tackled in his feature film “Good Morning, Night,” for which he received the Fipresci Prize at the 2003 European Film Awards.
The academy has also revealed nominations in several categories for the awards.
European Comedy:
“Cop Secret” (:Leynilögga”), directed by Hannes Þór Halldórsson (Iceland)
“The Good Boss” (“El Buen Patrón”), directed by Fernando León De Aranoa (Spain)
“The Divide” (“La Fracture”), directed by Catherine Corsini (France)
European Animated Feature Film:
“Little Nicholas – Happy As Can Be” (“Le Petit Nicolas – Qu’est-ce...
- 10/19/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Harvey Weinstein drama “She Said,” the Emmett Till biopic “Till” and new documentaries from Martin Scorsese and James Ivory have been added to the New York Film Festival lineup as world premieres.
The films will all premiere in the Spotlight section of the festival, and they’re headlined by Maria Schrader’s “She Said” starring Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. There’s also Chinonye Chukwu’s civil-rights era drama “Till” about the lynching of Emmett Till.
Also world premiering are “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” a new documentary film from film critic Elvis Mitchell that looks at the Black revolution of 1970s cinema, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s “A Cooler Climate” about Ivory’s trip to Afghanistan in 1960, and “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer-songwriter David Johansen of the New York Dolls.
The films will all premiere in the Spotlight section of the festival, and they’re headlined by Maria Schrader’s “She Said” starring Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. There’s also Chinonye Chukwu’s civil-rights era drama “Till” about the lynching of Emmett Till.
Also world premiering are “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” a new documentary film from film critic Elvis Mitchell that looks at the Black revolution of 1970s cinema, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s “A Cooler Climate” about Ivory’s trip to Afghanistan in 1960, and “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer-songwriter David Johansen of the New York Dolls.
- 8/16/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
“She Said,” a drama about the sexual harassment investigation that took down Harvey Weinstein and sparked the #MeToo movement, will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival.
The Universal Pictures movie is screening as part of the festival’s spotlight section. Other movies that will be highlighted include Chinonye Chukwu’s historical drama “Till,” Elvis Mitchell’s documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s non-fiction film “A Cooler Climate,” and Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s New York Dolls documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only.”
Additional spotlight entries include “Bones and All,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet; Marco Bellocchio’s “Exterior Night,” a six-part series about the kidnapping and eventual murder of the Italy’s influential statesman and former prime minister Aldo Moro; director Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom Exodus,” a third season of...
The Universal Pictures movie is screening as part of the festival’s spotlight section. Other movies that will be highlighted include Chinonye Chukwu’s historical drama “Till,” Elvis Mitchell’s documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s non-fiction film “A Cooler Climate,” and Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s New York Dolls documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only.”
Additional spotlight entries include “Bones and All,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet; Marco Bellocchio’s “Exterior Night,” a six-part series about the kidnapping and eventual murder of the Italy’s influential statesman and former prime minister Aldo Moro; director Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom Exodus,” a third season of...
- 8/16/2022
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Film at Lincoln Center has officially announced the Spotlight lineup for the 60th New York Film Festival, taking place from September 30 to October 16.
The world premiere of #MeToo true story “She Said,” directed by Maria Schrader and starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, leads the Spotlight section, along with Emmett Till biopic “Till” helmed by Chinonye Chukwu. Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal love story “Bones and All” with Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell is also set to make its New York premiere.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres, films, by acclaimed auteurs, a selection of must-see documentaries, as well as a one of a kind evening of film and music,” Eugene Hernandez, executive director of the New York Film Festival, said. “Our aim once again with Spotlight is to engage,...
The world premiere of #MeToo true story “She Said,” directed by Maria Schrader and starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, leads the Spotlight section, along with Emmett Till biopic “Till” helmed by Chinonye Chukwu. Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal love story “Bones and All” with Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell is also set to make its New York premiere.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres, films, by acclaimed auteurs, a selection of must-see documentaries, as well as a one of a kind evening of film and music,” Eugene Hernandez, executive director of the New York Film Festival, said. “Our aim once again with Spotlight is to engage,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The New York Film Festival on Tuesday revealed its Spotlight section lineup, which includes the world premiere of She Said, Universal’s drama based on the work of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who investigated and wrote the bombshell 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse story.
Maria Schrader directed the pic starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan that features a cast including Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle. Adapted from the reporters’ book by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film hits theaters November 18.
Other Spotlight world premieres set for NYFF, which runs September 30-October 16, includes Till, Chinonye Chukwu’s story of Mamie Till-Mobley, the Chicago woman whose son, Emmett, was lynched while visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955. Also, a pair of documentaries: A Cooler Climate, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s film that uncovers boxes of film Ivory shot during a trip to Afghanistan in 1960; and Personality Crisis: One Night Only,...
Maria Schrader directed the pic starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan that features a cast including Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle. Adapted from the reporters’ book by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film hits theaters November 18.
Other Spotlight world premieres set for NYFF, which runs September 30-October 16, includes Till, Chinonye Chukwu’s story of Mamie Till-Mobley, the Chicago woman whose son, Emmett, was lynched while visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955. Also, a pair of documentaries: A Cooler Climate, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s film that uncovers boxes of film Ivory shot during a trip to Afghanistan in 1960; and Personality Crisis: One Night Only,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Following their stellar Main Slate lineup, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Spotlight section, featuring a number of notable world premieres. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s David Johansen documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only will debut at the festival, along with Maria Schrader’s She Said, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough for You?!?, and James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s A Cooler Climate.
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Line-up includes Martin Scorsese doc Personality Crisis: One Night Only about New York Dolls frontman David Johansen.
The world premiere of Maria Schrader’s #MeToo flm She Said starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan will screen in Spotlight at the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Schrader’s follow-up to I’m Your Man centres on Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from The New York Times as they uncover decades of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and others, helping to start the #MeToo movement.
Selections in Spotlight, the NYFF section highlighting anticipated films from the upcoming season,...
The world premiere of Maria Schrader’s #MeToo flm She Said starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan will screen in Spotlight at the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Schrader’s follow-up to I’m Your Man centres on Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from The New York Times as they uncover decades of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and others, helping to start the #MeToo movement.
Selections in Spotlight, the NYFF section highlighting anticipated films from the upcoming season,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Line-up includes Martin Scorsese doc Personality Crisis: One Night Only about New York Dolls frontman David Johansen.
The world premiere of Maria Schrader’s #MeToo thriller She Said starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan will screen in Spotlight at the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Schrader’s follow-up to I’m Your Man centres on Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from The New York Times as they uncover decades of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and others.
Selections in Spotlight, the NYFF section highlighting anticipated films from the upcoming season, include...
The world premiere of Maria Schrader’s #MeToo thriller She Said starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan will screen in Spotlight at the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Schrader’s follow-up to I’m Your Man centres on Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from The New York Times as they uncover decades of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and others.
Selections in Spotlight, the NYFF section highlighting anticipated films from the upcoming season, include...
- 8/16/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Veteran Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio returned to Cannes this year with “Exterior Night,” a limited TV series about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists that, prior to playing on pubcaster Rai, is now on release in two installments via Lucky Red in Italian cinemas where it’s doing quite well.
Bellocchio, who previously recounted Moro’s still-mysterious abduction in the 2005 film “Goodmorning, Night” from the viewpoint of one of his captors, is taking a different narrative approach in this series consisting of six one-hour episodes that reconstruct the 55 days of Moro’s imprisonment from different points of view, including that of his family, his fellow high-echelon Christian Democrat politicians, and the ailing Pope Paul VI, played by Toni Servillo.
He spoke to Variety about what drove him to revisit Italy’s deepest recent collective trauma and why he thinks the crucial...
Bellocchio, who previously recounted Moro’s still-mysterious abduction in the 2005 film “Goodmorning, Night” from the viewpoint of one of his captors, is taking a different narrative approach in this series consisting of six one-hour episodes that reconstruct the 55 days of Moro’s imprisonment from different points of view, including that of his family, his fellow high-echelon Christian Democrat politicians, and the ailing Pope Paul VI, played by Toni Servillo.
He spoke to Variety about what drove him to revisit Italy’s deepest recent collective trauma and why he thinks the crucial...
- 5/30/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Most films ask nothing of you. You simply press play and watch the story unfold, gleaning context as the filmmaker colors in their narrative. But the occasional movie demands prerequisites to appreciate. Think: Dušan Makavejev’s Man Is Not a Bird, or last year’s competition title Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov’s mind-numbing swan dive into the socio-political climate of post-Soviet Russia whose commentary nearly requires a Ph.D. to unpack. Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night hovers somewhere in-between.
It would help if the historical thriller came with the equivalent of a summer reading list, but there’s enough explanation to clue you in if you’re not brushed up on your 1970s Italian politics. Perhaps more important that the story is easy to get wrapped up in, a six-episode miniseries that feels like a brisk five-and-a-half hours. No doubt it will be richer the more you know, but Bellocchio––with co-writers Stefano Bises,...
It would help if the historical thriller came with the equivalent of a summer reading list, but there’s enough explanation to clue you in if you’re not brushed up on your 1970s Italian politics. Perhaps more important that the story is easy to get wrapped up in, a six-episode miniseries that feels like a brisk five-and-a-half hours. No doubt it will be richer the more you know, but Bellocchio––with co-writers Stefano Bises,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
Dead in Red: Bellocchio Returns to Infamous Kidnapping for Television Debut
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco Bellocchio returns to territory he’s covered before in Esterno Notte, the auteur’s first stint in television as a five-hour plus six episode event dealing with several main players in the wake of the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It’s no surprise to find Bellocchio in top form dealing with material he’s keenly fascinated by, this time taking significant liberties with this semi-fictionalized account.
Co-written by noted television scribes Stefano Bises (The New Pope) and Davide Serino (who penned the series 1992 and 1993 inspired by Italy’s political turmoil in the early part of that decade) plus Ludovica Rampoldi (co-writer on Bellocchio’s phenomenal The Traitor – (read review), it’s a meaty dive into the underbelly of governmental discord during the Years of Lead.
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco Bellocchio returns to territory he’s covered before in Esterno Notte, the auteur’s first stint in television as a five-hour plus six episode event dealing with several main players in the wake of the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It’s no surprise to find Bellocchio in top form dealing with material he’s keenly fascinated by, this time taking significant liberties with this semi-fictionalized account.
Co-written by noted television scribes Stefano Bises (The New Pope) and Davide Serino (who penned the series 1992 and 1993 inspired by Italy’s political turmoil in the early part of that decade) plus Ludovica Rampoldi (co-writer on Bellocchio’s phenomenal The Traitor – (read review), it’s a meaty dive into the underbelly of governmental discord during the Years of Lead.
- 5/18/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Marco Bellocchio, who is in Cannes with TV series “Esterno Notte” about the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists, is set to return behind camera in late June.
The veteran Italian auteur and Cannes aficionado will reconstruct the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a...
The veteran Italian auteur and Cannes aficionado will reconstruct the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a...
- 5/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The latest batch of Italian TV series for the international market is a mix of genres spanning from a new Elena Ferrante adaptation made for Netflix, to two Rai reconstructions of the country’s terrorism-plagued past and Sky’s spaghetti Western “Django.”
Django
This English-language reimagining of the world of “Django,” the cult 1966 Sergio Corbucci spaghetti Western that launched the career of Italian icon Franco Nero, is a Sky Studios and Canal Plus original. The show’s cast includes Noomi Rapace, Nicholas Pinnock and Matthias Schoenaerts. Director Francesca Comencini has called it “a universal story with a narrative that celebrates diversity and minorities.”
Esterno Notte
Marco Bellocchi is in post on this limited TV series from Rai Fiction about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran helmer previously recounted Moro’s still-mysterious abduction from the viewpoint of one of his...
Django
This English-language reimagining of the world of “Django,” the cult 1966 Sergio Corbucci spaghetti Western that launched the career of Italian icon Franco Nero, is a Sky Studios and Canal Plus original. The show’s cast includes Noomi Rapace, Nicholas Pinnock and Matthias Schoenaerts. Director Francesca Comencini has called it “a universal story with a narrative that celebrates diversity and minorities.”
Esterno Notte
Marco Bellocchi is in post on this limited TV series from Rai Fiction about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran helmer previously recounted Moro’s still-mysterious abduction from the viewpoint of one of his...
- 4/2/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
TV production is growing in Italy, where U.S. streamers are gradually raising their investment levels just as pubcaster Rai, which is still the industry’s main driver, is cutting back.
According to local TV producers association APA, the Italian market in 2022 will generate more than €1.2 billion (1.3 billion) worth of scripted content resulting in double-digit growth. Exports of the country’s high-end shows, such as “My Brilliant Friend,” now in its third season, and upcoming spaghetti Western saga “Django” are also gaining more traction.
But though demand is increasing, the picture for Italian producers isn’t all rosy.
While pubcaster Rai remains the main driver of content in Italy, its 2022 budget has been trimmed by 33 million to 176 million. This is the second year of cuts as it tries to recover following Covid-related ad and tax revenues drops.
Like many of his cohort, producer Rosario Rinaldo, head of TV production company Cross Prods.
According to local TV producers association APA, the Italian market in 2022 will generate more than €1.2 billion (1.3 billion) worth of scripted content resulting in double-digit growth. Exports of the country’s high-end shows, such as “My Brilliant Friend,” now in its third season, and upcoming spaghetti Western saga “Django” are also gaining more traction.
But though demand is increasing, the picture for Italian producers isn’t all rosy.
While pubcaster Rai remains the main driver of content in Italy, its 2022 budget has been trimmed by 33 million to 176 million. This is the second year of cuts as it tries to recover following Covid-related ad and tax revenues drops.
Like many of his cohort, producer Rosario Rinaldo, head of TV production company Cross Prods.
- 4/2/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s Stand By Me and Rai have partnered on “The General’s Men,” a high-end drama that delves into the country’s battle against Red Brigades terrorism by portraying a special paramilitary unit set up by a high-ranking police official played by Sergio Castellitto.
Castellitto (first look image above) plays General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the heroic chief of the Carabinieri paramilitary police force who in 1974 set up the Nucleo Speciale Antiterrorismo, a unit of elite young officers, to fight Red Brigades terrorists who were running rampage. In 1978 the Red Brigades abducted and killed then Italian prime minister Aldo Moro.
“They are all young [both the terrorists and the elite police officers] and they represent two distinct groups who have decided to be on different sides of history,” said Stand By Me chief Simona Ercolani.
“The show’s underlying theme is the defense of democracy, which is very timely,” she added.
The eight-episode show directed by Lucio Pellegrini...
Castellitto (first look image above) plays General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the heroic chief of the Carabinieri paramilitary police force who in 1974 set up the Nucleo Speciale Antiterrorismo, a unit of elite young officers, to fight Red Brigades terrorists who were running rampage. In 1978 the Red Brigades abducted and killed then Italian prime minister Aldo Moro.
“They are all young [both the terrorists and the elite police officers] and they represent two distinct groups who have decided to be on different sides of history,” said Stand By Me chief Simona Ercolani.
“The show’s underlying theme is the defense of democracy, which is very timely,” she added.
The eight-episode show directed by Lucio Pellegrini...
- 3/16/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
For the Rome Film Festival’s 16th edition — which opens Thursday — Artistic Director Antonio Monda has secured high caliber guests such as Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton, who are being fêted. Also attending are “Gravity” director Alfonso Cuaron and influential comics writer, artist and director Frank Miller, creator of the “Dark Knight” Batman comics series as well as “Sin City” and “300,” who is coming for the world premiere of celebratory doc “Frank Miller — American Genius” by Silenn Thomas.
The Eternal City’s Festa del Cinema, as the event is known locally, will close with Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals,” which marks “the first time a Marvel movie goes to a festival,” Monda boasts. Angelina Jolie is expected by the Italian press to hit the red carpet, although Monda won’t confirm.
Jessica Chastain and Vincent D’Onofrio are instead confirmed for Rome’s opening film, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” by Michael Showalter.
The Eternal City’s Festa del Cinema, as the event is known locally, will close with Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals,” which marks “the first time a Marvel movie goes to a festival,” Monda boasts. Angelina Jolie is expected by the Italian press to hit the red carpet, although Monda won’t confirm.
Jessica Chastain and Vincent D’Onofrio are instead confirmed for Rome’s opening film, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” by Michael Showalter.
- 10/14/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio (“The Traitor”) is set to reconstruct the true-life drama of Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy kidnapped and converted to Catholicism in 1858. It’s a story that Steven Spielberg was in advanced stages to bring to the screen a few years ago.
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
Unlike Spielberg — who announced his Mortara drama in 2014 based on a book by U.S. academic David Kertzer — Bellocchio is basing his pic, titled “La conversione” (“The Conversion”), on first-hand documents. Spielberg’s project reportedly lost steam after he was unable...
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
Unlike Spielberg — who announced his Mortara drama in 2014 based on a book by U.S. academic David Kertzer — Bellocchio is basing his pic, titled “La conversione” (“The Conversion”), on first-hand documents. Spielberg’s project reportedly lost steam after he was unable...
- 2/26/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, recently the big winner at Italy’s David di Donatello awards with elegant mob drama “The Traitor,” is busy with a trio of projects involving personal and also national history, all shepherded by his now regular producer Simone Gattoni.
Gattoni, partner with Bellocchio in Rome’s Kavac Film, and among Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch last year, is riding high after the Davids — “The Traitor” having won six statuettes including best picture and director — and ramping up a robust slate of film and TV projects in various stages, to be directed by a mix of veteran names such as Bellocchio and Gianni Amelio (“Open Doors”), as well as younger, emerging Italian helmers. Most of these projects are being mounted by Kavac in tandem with other prominent Italian and European producers.
The most advanced project on the Kavac slate is Bellocchio’s “L’Urlo” (“The Scream”), a very...
Gattoni, partner with Bellocchio in Rome’s Kavac Film, and among Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch last year, is riding high after the Davids — “The Traitor” having won six statuettes including best picture and director — and ramping up a robust slate of film and TV projects in various stages, to be directed by a mix of veteran names such as Bellocchio and Gianni Amelio (“Open Doors”), as well as younger, emerging Italian helmers. Most of these projects are being mounted by Kavac in tandem with other prominent Italian and European producers.
The most advanced project on the Kavac slate is Bellocchio’s “L’Urlo” (“The Scream”), a very...
- 5/22/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
For decades Marco Bellocchio has been making films dealing with important moments of Italian history, most successfully with Good Morning, Night, his look at the Aldo Moro kidnapping by the Red Brigade, and Vincere, about Mussolini. He’s back in Cannes with a film in competition, this time looking at the maxi Mafia trials of the 1990s, which led to a slew of convictions, in part thanks to the traitor of the title, ex-Cosa Nostra ‘soldier’ turned state witness Tommaso Buscetta.
Buscetta is played by the extremely watchable Pierfrancesco Favino, whose portrayal of this don is both highly credible and somewhat disturbing. The latter is not due to Favino’s performance, which is one of his best, but to the director’s choice to depict Buscetta as a man of honour. Instances of Buscetta’s past are glimpsed throughout the film, but there is little evidence of what this man...
Buscetta is played by the extremely watchable Pierfrancesco Favino, whose portrayal of this don is both highly credible and somewhat disturbing. The latter is not due to Favino’s performance, which is one of his best, but to the director’s choice to depict Buscetta as a man of honour. Instances of Buscetta’s past are glimpsed throughout the film, but there is little evidence of what this man...
- 5/28/2019
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.
Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.
The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.
The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.
Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.
While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.
At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.
Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.
As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.
A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT
A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio
Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone
Director of photography: Pasquale Mari
Production designer: Marco Dentici
Music: Riccardo Giagni
Costume designer: Sergio Ballo
Editor: Francesca Calvelli
Cast:
Chiara: Maya Sansa
Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio
Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka
Enzo: Paolo Briguglia
Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio
Primo: Giovanni Calcagno
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.
Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.
The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.
The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.
Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.
While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.
At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.
Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.
As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.
A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT
A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio
Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone
Director of photography: Pasquale Mari
Production designer: Marco Dentici
Music: Riccardo Giagni
Costume designer: Sergio Ballo
Editor: Francesca Calvelli
Cast:
Chiara: Maya Sansa
Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio
Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka
Enzo: Paolo Briguglia
Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio
Primo: Giovanni Calcagno
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
COLOGNE, Germany -- Rithy Panh's "S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine," in which the survivors of Pol Pot's genocide confront their tormentors, has won this year's European Film Prize for best documentary, the European Film Academy (EFA) said Tuesday. The three-person jury made up of filmmakers Alfredo Knuchel (Switzerland), Ben Lewis (United Kingdom) and Michael Muschner (Germany) picked the critically acclaimed documentary over high-profile competition that included Byambasuren Davaacq and Luigi Falorni's "The Story of the Weeping Camel" and Lars von Triercq and Jorgen Leth's "The Five Obstructions". The EFA also said that Marco Bellocchio's "Good Morning, Night", a re-enactment of the kidnapping and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by Red Brigade terrorists in 1978, is this year's winner of the Prix Fipresci, the European film critics' award. Fipresci president Michel Ciment said in a statement that by selecting Bellocchio's film, the critics group wanted "to single out not only a masterwork -- one of the best of its author -- but also (Bellocchio's) outstanding filmography, which goes back to 1965 and comprises more than 20 films." The awards will be presented Dec. 6 at an EFA ceremony in the Arenacq in Berlin.
- 11/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.
Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.
The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.
The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.
Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.
While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.
At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.
Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.
As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.
A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT
A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio
Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone
Director of photography: Pasquale Mari
Production designer: Marco Dentici
Music: Riccardo Giagni
Costume designer: Sergio Ballo
Editor: Francesca Calvelli
Cast:
Chiara: Maya Sansa
Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio
Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka
Enzo: Paolo Briguglia
Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio
Primo: Giovanni Calcagno
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- In "Good Morning, Night" (Buongiorno, Notte), Marco Bellocchio dramatizes one of the most traumatic events in recent Italian history -- the kidnapping and murder of its former prime minister, Aldo Moro, by a Red Brigade faction in 1978. The writer-director's inquiry into this tragedy makes for a moving and intelligent film, but the dark story never feels fully realized. Bellocchio experiments with a number of fictional methods to penetrate the minds of his characters, but not all work -- and some add confusion rather than clarity.
Nevertheless, this film will be a must-see in its native land, while festival exposure here and in Venice should lead to theatrical releases in many international territories. The film is certainly one of the better attempts by a European filmmaker to grapple with the terrorist activity that plagued Western Europe in the '70s.
The film's early moments depict two of the kidnappers, Ernesto Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, the director's son) and Chiara (Maya Sansa), posing as a married couple to rent a large Roman apartment with an underground garage. Here they plan to sequester their victim. Under the leadership of Mariano Luigi Lo Cascio), Primo (Giovanni Calcagno) and the other two design and construct a hiding place behind a bookshelf wall.
The bloody shootout and kidnapping in broad daylight occur off camera. Chiara learns about it from a TV news bulletin, which alerts her to her colleagues' success and to the imminent arrival of a houseguest.
Moro (Roberto Herlitzka) languishes in the flat for 55 days. During this time, his kidnappers conduct fruitless negotiations with authorities. Moro even writes to the pope to gain concessions that would win his release.
While all of this is happening, Bellocchio imagines conversations between Moro and his communist kidnappers, chiefly their ideologue leader Mariano, a dialogue in which the two parties talk past each other. The story is told from the point of view of Chiara, the cell's only woman. Her doubts about the group's action grow with each passing day. She experiences flashbacks (in black-and-white) to the struggle against fascism during World War II, which lead her to wonder whether her colleagues' radical ideology is uncomfortably akin to the fascists'.
At her job in a library, she develops a relationship with a young man (Paolo Briguglia) who just happens to have written a screenplay about a similar terrorist kidnapping. What Bellocchio wants to achieve here is never clear, nor is the police arrest of her colleague ever explained.
Having trouble sleeping at night, Chiara experiences dreams when she does fall asleep in which Moro roams freely about the apartment, checking out books in the bookshelf, and later, a fantasy in which she frees him before her pals can kill him.
As the film moves back and forth between these hallucinations and the tense boredom of the waiting period, during which the cell's members start to suspect one another, the movie loses some of its grip on the audience. Bellocchio's impressionistic approach never quite jells with the more realistic account of the terrorists' methodology. One also wishes that at least one terrorist would offer a cogent rationale for their actions. Indeed, only Chiara seems able to question their motives and goals.
A movie about the Moro incident should be unsettling, and this one is. The failure of ideology to justify such a crime is clearly dramatized by Bellocchio. The actors convey the blindness of much of the European radical left of that era to the consequences of such acts. In the way Bellocchio lights and shoots the claustrophobic flat, he makes clear that everyone is a prisoner there, not just Moro.
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT
A Filmalbatos/RAI Cinema production in association with Sky
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Marco Bellocchio
Producer: Marco Bellochio, Sergio Pelone
Director of photography: Pasquale Mari
Production designer: Marco Dentici
Music: Riccardo Giagni
Costume designer: Sergio Ballo
Editor: Francesca Calvelli
Cast:
Chiara: Maya Sansa
Mariano: Luigi Lo Cascio
Aldo Moro: Roberto Herlitzka
Enzo: Paolo Briguglia
Ernesto: Pier Giorgio Bellocchio
Primo: Giovanni Calcagno
Running time -- 108 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/22/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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