albertocrienzi Reviews

Apartment Zero (1988)

Naked

[10/10 · 7 January 2008]

Adrian Leduc is a loner one of those that seem to be the prototype for a serial killer. He is quite the opposite. Misunderstood even by himself. He doesn't have a clue about who he is. His rules are dictated by movies. I was transfixed because, as Martin Donovan repeats in his delightful and moving commentary "I'm nothing like him", I kept saying the same to myself "I'm nothing like him" but I felt a link and recognized myself in him even if, I repeat, I'm nothing like him. I understood his unacknowledged loneliness and his wanting something, someone, without knowing that he does. Colin Firth, in a beautifully constructed performance strips naked the heart and soul of Adrian Leduc, layer by layer. It is strange to realize how seldom we see characters so truthfully portrayed. "Apartment Zero" is not a film I can say I like but I do love it. 15 years after I saw it for the first time, it seems more relevant today, even more clear. For film lovers this is a collector's item.

Across the Universe (2007)

All We Needed Was Love

[7/10 · 21 December 2007]

A phenomenal feature length video clip with the Beatles songs and Julie Taymor's eye at the helm. The story, of course, is wafer thin but who cares, right? We're not here for intellectual enlightenment but for the forceful, visionary, smart ass style of one of the female filmmakers that has already revolutionize the Broadway stage without, really, changing anything. I believe that's the kind of revolution that leaves a sign. The kind that reassures rather than confuse and "Accross the Universe" does just that. The Beatles are reassuring their message is reassuring. Little did that generation know that things were going to take a terrifying turn. Love! Love! Love! All You need is love. Still true but we've never been, as a society, so far apart. It was great to see teen agers humming the Beatles tunes coming out of the theater. The lyrics are like Gospel or lullabies. Was it only yesterday? It feels like centuries ago. The innocence seems foreign and at the same time so real. It will be nice to go back with the experience of hindsight. It doesn't work like that, does it? No, I'm afraid not. In the meantime the great Julie Taymor gives as a beautiful reminder. And a lovely evening out at the movies.

Gods and Monsters (1998)

Remembrance Of Things Past

[9/10 · 16 December 2007]

Ian McKellen is superb as James Whale, the man behind the celluloid Frankenstein. Departing from that point, everything works. We're taken by the hand of this elderly celebrity in a world - and a town -that worships celebrity. The town also worships youth and box office grosses. For Whale, youth and box office grosses are way back in his distant pass. That's why, I imagine, the arrival of the gardener with Brendan Fraser's body, awakens in the old man some kind of spark. Their relationship is filled with a sort of emotional suspense that makes the entire movie, riveting. The story is told with a sort of personal melancholy that Bill Condon, the young writer/director, seems to understand fully. Compassion is in his eye and in his soul. The scene in which Ian McKellen remembers his swimming pool crowded with naked young men is one of the most beautifully reminders of how the aging heart remains alive within his memories. Very moving, very sad and very, very good.

Miracle in Milan (1951)

For True Film Lovers Only

[10/10 · 19 September 2007]

The snobs and pseudo experts consider it "a far cry from De Sica's best" The ones suffering from a serious lack of innocence will find a problem connecting to this masterpiece. De Sica spoke in a very direct way. His Italianness doesn't have the convoluted self examination of modern Italian filmmakers, or the bitter self parody of Pietro Germi, the pungent bittersweetness of Mario Monicelli, the solemnity of Visconti or the cold observation of Antonioni. De Sica told us the stories like a father sitting at the edge of his children's bed before they went to sleep. There is no attempt to intellectualize. Miracolo A Milano and in a lesser degree Il Giudizio Universale are realistic fairy tales, or what today we call magic realism. The film is a gem from beginning to end and Toto is the sort of character that you accept with an open heart but that, naturally, requires for you to have a heart. Cinema in its purest form. Magnificent.