THE STAR MAKER
(L' UOMO DELLE STELLE)
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Mirimax) Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore Written by Giuseppe Tornatore and Fabio Rinaudo Cast Sergio Castellitto, Tiziana Lodato, Franco Scaldati, Leopoldo Trieste, Clelia Rondinella, Tano Cimarosa, Nicola Di Pinto, Costantino Carrozza MPAA Rating Rated "R" (presumably for nudity and sexual content) Running Time 106 minutes Reviewed at The Rialto, Raleigh, NC (26MAY96)
==
One of last year's Best Foreign Film nominees is an odd, dour drama about a movie-studio talent scout (Sergio Castellitto) scouring Sicily for the Next Big Star. He travels from village to village in his vehicle, announcing over megaphone the promises of rags to riches, and then setting up his lights, camera, and action to anyone willing to pay the 1,500 lire fee. (To cover the cost of film and developing, he says.) The villagers all end up baring their souls to the camera, which makes for an interesting travelogue of local Sicilian color. (Early in the movie, however, he has everyone reciting dialogue from GONE WITH THE WIND. In one hilarious sequence, the camera captures the various butchered readings of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.) Though a very well- produced and good-looking film, THE STAR MAKER suffers on a number of a fronts. The talent scout, for example, isn't exactly the most likable of characters. And though his world-- and the film-- is brightened after he meets a simple convent girl (Tiziana Lodato), she arrives so late into the story that her presence barely makes a difference. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (CINEMA PARADISO).
Grade: C+
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC
legeros@nando.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w)
Visit me in MOVIE HELL
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews