*Saturno SPOILERS* When young Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) suddenly collapses during a dinner with friends, his (not officially, obviously) husband Davide (Pierfrancesco Favino), and their friends, among whom there is Antonio (Stefano Accorsi), who is cheating on his wife Angelica (Margherita Buy) with a florist (Isabella Ferrari) but still loves her, are all forced to face the fact that he isn't ever going to come back, because as one of them informs the others, it's a condition which you cannot come back from without a miracle, and in real life there are no miracles...
I probably am the only one who has added 'Saturno Contro' to his 'Buy As Soon As It Comes Out On DVD' list, but maybe it's because I can relate a lot to the plot, being myself a guy who tries to keep things as they were, 'forever... even if forever isn't possible'.
Maybe the fact that it had a top-notch cast (especially good were Argentero, Favino, Accorsi, and Ambra Angiolini as a drug addict businesswoman, who is actually more deep than anyone gives her credit for.
Serra Ylmaz is a little obnoxious (as an example, when she scolds Lorenzo a few hours before he slumps into unconsciousness and never returns), Fantastichini is cute as Davide's 'Rebecca, the first wife' (the first wife is the Italian subtitle of the Hitchcock movie Rebecca) ('first' lover) Sergio, and TV Stars Lunetta Savino and Milena Vukotic give two very nice performances, the first as Lorenzo's bubbly stepmother, and the second as a sympathetic nurse.
This is my first Ozpetek movie (besides having begun to watch 'La Finestra Di Fronte'), but his subdued directing has already won me over, as has his not making Davide and Lorenzo's relationship some kind of political statement, but showing that homosexuals are not aliens from another world, like some bigoted Government members and Church members seem to think, but people like everyone else, who live and die like everyone else, and suffer as such.
The script, and especially the characters, were also well written, and the music by Italian R&B Singer Neffa, who also sang the theme 'Passione' ('Passion') was very involving.
One trivia: the title was supposed to be 'Mentre Lorenzo Dorme' ('While Lorenzo Sleeps') before becoming 'Saturno Contro' ('Negative Saturn' - it's an astrology term).
Saturno Contro: 9/10.
I probably am the only one who has added 'Saturno Contro' to his 'Buy As Soon As It Comes Out On DVD' list, but maybe it's because I can relate a lot to the plot, being myself a guy who tries to keep things as they were, 'forever... even if forever isn't possible'.
Maybe the fact that it had a top-notch cast (especially good were Argentero, Favino, Accorsi, and Ambra Angiolini as a drug addict businesswoman, who is actually more deep than anyone gives her credit for.
Serra Ylmaz is a little obnoxious (as an example, when she scolds Lorenzo a few hours before he slumps into unconsciousness and never returns), Fantastichini is cute as Davide's 'Rebecca, the first wife' (the first wife is the Italian subtitle of the Hitchcock movie Rebecca) ('first' lover) Sergio, and TV Stars Lunetta Savino and Milena Vukotic give two very nice performances, the first as Lorenzo's bubbly stepmother, and the second as a sympathetic nurse.
This is my first Ozpetek movie (besides having begun to watch 'La Finestra Di Fronte'), but his subdued directing has already won me over, as has his not making Davide and Lorenzo's relationship some kind of political statement, but showing that homosexuals are not aliens from another world, like some bigoted Government members and Church members seem to think, but people like everyone else, who live and die like everyone else, and suffer as such.
The script, and especially the characters, were also well written, and the music by Italian R&B Singer Neffa, who also sang the theme 'Passione' ('Passion') was very involving.
One trivia: the title was supposed to be 'Mentre Lorenzo Dorme' ('While Lorenzo Sleeps') before becoming 'Saturno Contro' ('Negative Saturn' - it's an astrology term).
Saturno Contro: 9/10.