dino_cattaneo Reviews

Still Life (2006)

May be I don't get it....

[4/10 · 24 March 2007]

If you need to name the good things of "still life", the first would be probably the clear picture of the lives a portion of China's people. Apart from that, well, I have to admit I'd have a very hard time to mention anything else. "Still life" is a very appropriate title, as, on the background of a deeply changing region (and society) nothing happens. Nothing happens in the movie, too, with very slow -well "still"- sequences that do not manage to communicate anything to the average western viewer.

I tend to like "intellectual" movies, but while I was in the theater I had the clear impression I was wasting two hour of my life. Actually, two of my friends fell asleep watching it.

It may have won the Golden Lion, but that is the ultimate proof that awards do not make a good movie.

Black Book (2006)

Disappointing

[4/10 · 12 February 2007]

The best thing I can say about this movie is that it looks like a relatively good TV mini-series. There is nothing terribly wrong, with the possible exception of the plot which has too many twists to fit the lenght of the movie, but the general impression is "poor". Everything in this movie is average at best. Average cinematography, average direction, mostly average acting...and not a single memorable scene - but some useless ones (like the kibbutz scenes).

It would have been a good TV-mini series... but it fails to achieve the level of quality that I expect from a theathrical release. There are far better WWII-drama movies out there, The Pianist being the leader of the pack. Honestly I cannot recommend this to anyone who likes to go to a movie theathre to get something you can't get on your home TV.

Harakiri (1962)

Excellent cinematography

[10/10 · 20 April 2006]

It's quite surprising that some old masterpieces fall easily into the oblivion. Harakiri (Seppuku) is a good example. Quite simply this is one of the best Japanese movies I've ever seen.

Everything is this movie is exceptional: the cinematography is top notch, the acting is very good, the direction is almost perfect.

Tragedy, revenge, ethics, political contents...this movie has all of these elements wrapped in an exceptional 16th century samurai environment.

The only defects I could see in this movie is that someone may feel it is slightly slow (as actually there are very few action scenes...this is not a "chambara" movie!) and the fact that it is not dubbed (at least in the Italian edition)...so you lose some of the details while reading the subtitles....that is, unless you understand Japanese.

If you like black & white Japanese movies this is definitely a must see. GREAT.

...e se domani (2005)

Not as good as I expected

[6/10 · 18 April 2006]

"E Se Domani" (which is a line of famous Italian song) is vaguely based on the true story of Mimì Rendano (Luca Bizzarri) who, after having held hostages in a bank, planned to throw the money he stole over Milan from an helicopter.... and got jailed while trying.

The movie is a long flashback to tell the economic rise (and fall to bankruptcy) of Mimì, his love for Ketty Lomunno (Sabrina Impacciatore) and his friendship with his lawyer Matteo (Paolo Kessisoglu).

All in all it is a "not so" movie: not so good-not so bad-not so funny-not so boring. The plot is pretty simple, with no major twists or surprises, and even if this cannot be considered a fault of the writers (as it is based true story), it surely does not make the movie more enjoyable.

PROS: -Some fun scenes -Based on a very peculiar real-life fact -Good acting -Enough unrelated to specific aspects of the Italian society to appeal foreign viewers (if it will ever be released outside Italy)

CONS: -Not as fun as someone may expect -The story is simple...the movie may seem slow -Some cartoon-like characterizations (and -in some shots- colors and visual effects) which don't match the rest of the movie.

All in all, it is not a bad movie... but fails to be emotionally or visually intense, nor it is as fun as someone may expect from Luca & Paolo.

The Big Red One (1980)

Somewhat disappointing, but not bad.

[7/10 · 22 November 2005]

This movie was released in Italy on DVD a couple of weeks ago, and some critics celebrated this release as a major event. I was too young to see this movie in a theater, and I must confess that after all those enthusiastic reviews I was really curious to see it and when I did, I had huge expectations. And I was somewhat disappointed.

The cinematography is poor, the combat scenes are flat, and some shots are really uninspired. The general "feel" is that you're looking to a good TV series instead of "one of the greatest war movies ever did".

Nevertheless this movie has some good points. Some scenes are original and unexpected, the performance of Lee Marvin is really good and the plot has epic dimensions.

All in all, this is not a bad movie but it is not a masterpiece. And definitely not a match for "Thin Red Line" or "Saving Private Ryan", just to mention WWII movies.

Not worth the current Italian price (24.90 Euros!!!)... but a good pick for a rent.