ARCHIVES

‘MAFIA MAMMA’ is an entertaining though perhaps needlessly bloody comic romp | FILM REVIEW

Stars Toni Collette, Monica Bellucci and Alessandro Bressanello
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke

In the Land of High Concept, this has got to be among the more outlandish—but somehow it works. Toni Collette is Kristin, a sexually frustrated mother in midlife who one day discovers her husband in flagrante with a much younger woman, with the paramour’s fake-apology going as follows: “I’m a feminist!” So therefore OK? It’s been quite a week for Kristin, who also learns that her Italian ... more >

QUOTE – When Monica Bellucci got the call to be the next Bond girl she thought

"Specter," the next James Bond movie (directed by Sam Mendes), recently finished shooting on location and is slated for a November rollout. This latest installment in the film world's most famous franchise stars Daniel Craig in the role of the MI-6 renegade uber-agent. But this is not just any old Bond movie. It's a bit of a revolution, in fact. Why? Because the Bond girl is a spot over fifty. ... more >

PHOTOBOOK: When they were young (I)

(this is the first article in the multiseries) Funny, how people with a knack already look the part of success at a young age. They have the shine, that thing that can't be defined with words but that says, "I can't be for sure where, but I'm going places." The viewer of these images likely projects unto them, a forecasting of extraordinariness, the success that we're familiar with but that the ... more >

Bellucci and Kusturica in BOSNIA

The new film's narrative is about love in the time of war

Monica Bellucci arrived yesterday in Bosnia to commence principal photography on a new film by Serbian director Emir Kusturica. The film is a love story in the time of war. "Monica will be with us for about fifty days of shooting. My plan is to finish in November and for the film to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival next year," Kusturica said yesterday at a press conference in Trebinje, ... more >

Irreversible

Cannes Fest’s most controversial film in years
Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel
Directed by Gaspar Noé

The first thirty minutes of Gaspar Noé's "Irreversible" had a background noise added which hovers around the 28 hz frequency. This type of frequency causes nausea, sickness and vertigo in humans; this might help explain the numerous walkouts on the festival circuit the year the film came out (2002; San Sebastian, Cannes)--though there were other reasons (fire extinguisher, anyone?). ... more >