The Romantic Gesture

November 19th-December 19th 2011 is Rom-Com Season at Kid In The Front Row.

Once upon a time a king gave a feast

and there were all the most beautiful

princesses of the realm. Basta, one

of the guards, saw the king's

daughter: she was the loveliest of

all! And he immediately fell in love

with her. But what could a poor

soldier do compared with a king's

daughter?!...One day he managed

to meet her and told her he couldn't

live without her. The princess was so

struck by the depth of his feeling

that she said to the soldier 'If you

will wait a hundred days and a

hundred nights beneath my balcony,

then in the end I'll be yours.'

Christ, the soldier ran off there and

waited! One day, two days,

ten, twenty... every night she looked

out of her window, but he never

budged. Come rain, wind, snow, never

budged! The birds shat on him and the

bees ate him alive! After ninety

nights he was gaunt and pale and

tears streamed from his eyes but he

couldn't hold them back. He didn't

even have the strength to sleep any

more. The princess kept watch... and

on the ninety-ninth night, the

soldier got up, picked up his chair

and left!

This is the stuff that wrecks us, as human beings. We watch movies and we buy into the romance. Imagine what would happen if you waited outside a woman's house for a hundred days? Jeez, I get to her house ten minutes early and she'll read into it as me being 'too keen.'

Movies are insane. 

We're all romantic, all of us. And we all want the big loves and gestures. It's just that we don't want them in real life, we just want them in the movies.

At some point, we buy into the nonsense. We act on it. The big gesture. It doesn't work! Some people say it does work, but then two years later they're staring at their lawyers, waiting for the divorce to be finalized. 

So we play the game. The game of disinterest. The game of mild romance. We're a generation of mildly romantic people. We'll buy someone a pencil, as a gesture, and then immediately snap it in half just in case they think we're being 'too romantic'. 

Your instinct is to give someone the world. You remember that feeling? You were seventeen and you gave someone a present that meant the world. They took the present but they let you go. 

But we need it. We crave it. That's what makes the movies so enticing. 'Cinema Paradiso' is my favorite movie. I buy into the romance. But in the real world, you don't get an Ennio Morricone score and you don't get the girl chasing after you; you just get a text saying "Why the fuck did you stand under my balcony for a hundred days you freak!?"

WHAT ARE WE MEANT TO DO? How real are movies? How romantic is life? How real is real life? How romantic were people BEFORE movies? What are the boundaries? The cinema has forever fucked up everyone's chances of ever being happy. 

My new theory: Anyone who is TRULY happy in a relationship doesn't love movies. And anyone who truly loves movies is alone, miserable, and about to watch a DVD. So for all of us who are alone and miserable, at least we are here together. And that, after all, is what love and togetherness are all about. Actually, that's too romantic, don't read into it! Don't stop reading my blog! It's not meaningful at all! I didn't mean to over-romanticize, I'm sorry! 

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Interview with GIUSEPPE SULFARO, Star Of 'Malèna'

Malèna is a perfect film. One of the most memorable things about it is the incredible performance by GIUSEPPE SULFARO. When they shot the movie, he was only fourteen years of age, and had never acted before. He was discovered by one of the world's finest director's, Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) - who gave him the enviable privilege of working alongside Monica Bellucci. I talked to Giuseppe about what it was like to be discovered at such a young age and given such a great opportunity - and found out about the great work he's been doing since.

When did you first know that you wanted to be an actor?

It all started when my aunt read in a newspaper that Tornatore was looking for the protagonist of his new movie with Monica Bellucci. My aunt has always been convinced since I was a child that I had very expressive eyes, so I took pictures and sent them to the production, and from there began the road that allowed me to discover this world to me which was completely unknown but fantastic at the same time. Tornatore began to select 2500 photos of kids from here and summoned 90. These 90 kids he met for an interview, where he liked to tease my adolescence! The first was followed by another two or three, the second meeting was a test on hand, from the 90 kids we were then 40. In the next audition an actress took the place of what would be Monica Bellucci, From 40 actors we were down to 9, then another meeting with Tornatore, who chose three finalists, then a video with the 3 finalists was sent to Miramax. Miramax was also thrilled with me, so from that day, I was catapulted into the world of cinema for a year.

In "MALENA". It's amazing that your performance was so perfect, considering you were only 14. What was the experience like for you?

It was the best year of my life, I was away from home for about one year, I followed my father as I was underage, I did not go to school but when I went to the production, I kept in touch with my teachers, so I could integrate school. Filming began in September.I was the youngest and most spoiled, even though my father was very hard with me, but he understood the time and sometimes turned a blind eye and let me do what I liked.

Giuseppe Tornatore is such an amazing writer and director. What is his directing style like? How would he direct you?

Initially, before six months of shooting, me and Tornatore talked about much of the script in general and, once we started filming - every night we met and talked of the work to be done the next day. Sometimes Monica attended, this was so Monica and I gained great confidence that would help us in the "hottest" scenes, other times I let the scenes play at my leisure and if there was something he did not like we would talk about it and try to reach an agreement .... I was very young and had my first experience at the cinema, he was very patient with me, as I was with him, since he is very meticulous and precise, sometimes too much. Tornatore carefully thought how to complete the whole film, as the attention to detail in dubbing and editing.. sometimes the perfectionism borders on madness!

I'm trying to think of what it would be like to be 14 and working with Monica Bellucci. Was it exciting? Scary?

With Monica I had a great relationship from the beginning, we talked about everything, obviously being 14 years old, after a couple of days you will begin meetings with Monica Bellucci to fall in love; this she understood and maintained this relationship of complicity to facilitate the work later. Well I was glad of this, Monica greeted me every morning with a little kiss on the lips, and it made me feel like her husband Vincent Cassel [Giuseppe smiles]. The film was turning into reality - a reality that I knew would fade when the film was released. This was good and made me feel safer at work, sometimes I feel Monica and I remember with great joy and satisfaction the moments spent with her.

What to say more?!?! I was 14 when they called me to make the film and I had never seen a live naked woman, the first was Monica, now you can understand my teenage years ...... [the memory makes Giuseppe smile] it was a special and wonderful experience.

Recently you have been doing TV work, which most of us don't get to see in other countries. What have you been working on?

A couple of years ago I was in a film by Krzysztof Zanussi "The Black Sun" nothing special, but always a great experience. Then I was in Greece to shoot a film in original Greek, was a good challenge; I was there for three months learning Greek.. just for the script. The film screenplay was nice, but technically quite poor even though the budget was not so strangely low ... but always an experience. I recently worked in Italy for a fiction with Thérence Hill, do not know if you know it, the new series will resume in December for another year.

Do you think you will always work in Italy, or would you like to work elsewhere?

If I had to leave Italy and learn another language, after acting in Greek does not scare me or anything .... almost. [smiles].

What Film Director would you most like to work with?

To be honest I do not have a favorite director to work with, the important thing is to work... but if I have to say a few names there are many like Pupi Avati, Ettore Scola, Giovanni Veronesi, Gabriele Muccino, Neri Parenti.

MALENA is one of my favorite films, by one of my favorite director's, with one of my favorite acting performances (Giuseppe's, of course). If you haven't seen it already, I thoroughly recommend it - it's a magical, heartbreaking film about youth and unrequited love.

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Giuseppe Tornatore And Ennio Morricone - One Of The Best Collaborations In Film.

I saw 'La sconosciuta' (The Other Woman) for the first time today. It's written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and the music is composed by Ennio Morricone. Their previous collaborations, which include 'Cinema Paradiso', 'Malena' and 'The Star Maker' are amongst my favorite films (in fact, Cinema Paradiso is my favorite film). I don't think there is any better Director/Composer pairing than these two. Their styles compliment each others perfectly; and elevate good work to truly great.

Here is the final scene from 'The Other Woman' which I've just uploaded. I could give some back story; but it's nice as it is; the look on the character's faces and the music tell their own story. It's a subtle, simple scene - I love the music -- it's a great way to end the film.


For those of you in London, Ennio Morricone will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday April the 10th. At 81 years old, it's hard to say how many more opportunities we'll get to see this master at work. I hope I see you there.. tickets can be bought here.

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Malèna

"I pedaled as fast as I could, as if I were escaping,
From longing, from innocence, from her.
Time has passed, and I have loved many women.
And as they've held me close,

and asked me if I'll remember them,
I've said, "Yes, I'll remember you."
But the only one I've never forgotten,
is the one who never asked:

Malena."

There was a moment, at around 11pm, when I considered going to bed. That plan was soon laid to rest when a voice inside my head said "watch a film, watch Malèna." My film viewing decisions aren't always made by this particular voice, but when they are - it's like magic; I find myself watching films that I need to watch. Exactly why I need to watch them is often difficult to explain - it's like that magic moment you get sometimes on a random Thursday when you're in your car and just as you're about to flick over to another radio station a song comes on that you haven't heard since 1997 - and you realize, at that very moment, that the song is exactly what's been missing in your life. And what I needed, tonight, was 'Malèna.'

The film is about first love. Unrequited love. It's about a young boy called Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro), who, like every man in his town, falls in love with the beautiful Malena (Monica Bellucci). What we soon realize is that the other men don't love her, they just want her. The men of the town want to have sex with her, and the women of the town spread vicious rumors about her. The only person who takes the time to get to know her and believe in her is Renato.

Renato and Malèna don't say a word to each other in the entire film - and that's what's so beautiful about it. It masterfully shows what it is to be a 14 year old who doesn't exist to the opposite sex - it shows the pain, the longing, the hope and the sad beauty of it. At the same time; there are far deeper and more painful things going on with Malena - whose husband died at war, whose Father disowned her and whose town was against her and eventually forced her out. I haven't followed much of Monica Bellucci's film work since; I find her Italian films hard to track down and her Hollywood efforts aren't the type of films I actively seek to watch -- but in this film, she is incredible. Sure, she's stunning to look at, but far and beyond that - she spends most of the film in silence, and her grace, elegance, heartbreak and sorrow are handled with subtlety and beauty in a way rarely seen since the silent era. Monica Bellucci, based on this performance, is extremely talented.

'Malèna' is written & directed by Giuseppe Tornatore who, along with Wilder, Chaplin and Woody Allen-- is amongst my favorite writer/directors. His work always speaks to me in a way that no other director really can. His films speak to my heart, to my hopes, to my dreams, to my ideals. I felt the inner-editor in me cringe as I wrote 'speaks to my heart' but then, if I can't speak about what speaks to my heart, then really, what's the point in living? A lot of people criticise his work as being too sentimental, too heart-warming. I'm not the type of person who can really take those words as a criticism. It works for me. He dares to have characters that are innocent, that are naive, that do good. There is a magic in 'Malèna' and 'Cinema Paradiso' that I've not found in the works of any other writer/director. Another thing about 'Malèna' is how outstandingly, outrageously, achingly beautiful it looks. Okay, it probably helps that they had Sicily as a location - but Lajos Koltai, the DP, deserves credit for the cinematography - I'd happily watch this film without sound just to take in the visuals.

The attention to detail in Tornatore's films is what really sets his work apart from others. Everything fits together so perfectly. The core of the crew have done a lot of films together; and it shows. The editing is absolutely perfect (Massimo Quaglia cut two of Tornatore's previous films and has continued to be his editor since) - and the film was also scored, as all of the Director's films are, by Ennio Morricone. Morricone's composing is perfect in everything he does, he's one of the all time greats - but to me, he feels most at home when working with Tornatore. The music in 'Malèna' is possibly my favorite film score -- and even tonight, when deciding to stay up and watch the film, part of the reason was that I really wanted to hear the music.

'Malèna' is about as wonderful as cinema can be. If you've ever found your filmic sensibilities to be similar to mine - then please consider my recommendation. That being: buy this film.

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