Hamster's Wheel (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
LGBT people born today: 1906 – Luchino Visconti – Italian Director – Died 17 th March 1976 1916 – John Burnside – US Inventor – Died 14 th September 2008 1943 – Casey Donovan – US Porn – Died 10 th August 1987 1946 – Michelle Cliff – Jamaican / US Author / Poet / Literary Critic 1961 – KD Lang – Canadian Singer / Musician...
The Agitation of the Mind (Free subscription) | 10/14/2009
It is Dirk Bogarde's collaborations with Joseph Losey (five films) and Luchino Visconti (two films) that are made the most of by the critics. But what of his four-film association with Basil Dearden? It was under Dearden's direction that the world got its first glimpse of the dark side of Dirk - as Tom Riley in 'The Blue Lamp' . They did their finest work together with 'Victim' - an incredibly brave,...
The Wild Eye (Free subscription) | 10/09/2009
Ok, here’s my totally un-academic review of the Luchino Visconti classic Senso. Now this was one of those films which I felt a certain obligation to watch in order to broaden my knowledge of Italian cinema, but it was a task which I approached with as much trepidation as enthusiasm. I have ambiguous feelings about [...]
New York Times (Free subscription) | 10/07/2009
“Araya” comes preapproved, but not everyone will be convinced.
The One-Line Review (Free subscription) | 10/06/2009
Italy Feature Film Original Title: La terra trema: Episodio del mare Director: Luchino Visconti Writers: Antonio Pietrangeli, Luchino Visconti Cinematographer: Aldo Graziati Composer: Willy Ferrero Cast: Antonio Arcidiacono, Giuseppe Arcidiacono, Nelluccia Giammona, Agnese Giammona, Rosa Costanzo, Nicola Castorino Although a tad didactic at times, Visconti’s much praised neo-realist film - shot...
Turbulence Ahead (Free subscription) | 10/04/2009
"Everything must change so that everything can stay the same." The Leopard I never quite understood the emotion invested by both the No side and the Yes side in the first and second Lisbon Referendums. The Lisbon Treaty itself struck me as a turgidly dull manual for making modest changes to the operation of the European Union with a view to modest improvements in efficiency. A triumph of...
CultureQueens (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
The now-classic film from gay director Luchino Visconti ("Rocco and His Brothers," "The Damned") about an artist in search of purity and beauty but who ultimately becomes fatally obsessed with an exquisite teenage boy is a melancholy experience. Set in turn-of-the-century Venice, this languidly paced, darkly atmospheric film stars Dirk Bogarde as Aschenbach, an older man enamored...
Vulture (Free subscription) | 09/23/2009
Luc Bondy, whose blow-job–filled production of Puccini's Tosca drew boos on its opening night at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday, has opened both barrels on Franco Zeffirelli, whose 1985 staging of Tosca was more popular than Bondy's with Met audiences and who yesterday called him "third-rate." Says Bondy: "I'm a third-rate director, and he is a second assistant of Visconti,"...
Hollywood Elsewhere (Free subscription) | 09/22/2009
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love, the Milan-based, Luchino Visconti-ish melodrama about a wealthy family with Tilda Swinton starring....
things to look at (Free subscription) | 09/20/2009
Managed to get my hands on the latest issue of Thomas Lenthal's Paradis the other day. True to form, its the usual mix of interesting articles and gorgeous photography. Highlights include a nude shoot by Juergen Teller at the Louvre and a story on Luchino Visconti by his nephew Luchino Gastel. The star of issue by far and away is surely '55, rue de Babylone' a 16 page feature at the home of the late...
The Great Swifty Speaketh! (Free subscription) | 09/13/2009
Actually, I didn't take that many photos of Venice compared to the others in my group. I was too, ah, busy. Nonetheless, I have taken some videos, and for this post, I will share with you photos and videos of the Venetian waters. Frankly, unlike my team, I never really had the time to explore Venice much as I was in the festival most of the time, doing interviews with the Japanese press. The film festival...
Movie Talk (Free subscription) | 09/07/2009
For years, the cognoscenti have agreed on two things about Marcel Proust’s epic 2,500-page, seven-volume semi-autobiographical novel A la recherché du temps perdu – it’s the greatest novel ever written and it’s un-filmable. Over the decades, the challenge of putting Proust on screen has tempted and frustrated an impressively high-calibre list of filmmakers. Luchino Visconti...
Variety.com (Free subscription) | 09/07/2009
International News: Actress, Guadagnino hope to remake 1958 hit -- Tilda Swinton is on the Lido wearing a double hat: as star and producer of Italo helmer Luca Guadagnino's "I Am Love."
Holiday Cottage Edinburgh (Free subscription) | 09/03/2009
A selection of films are in the cottage but if there are any specifics, particularly off the following list, just ask & we'll try & reserve them for you We love films… We’re continuing to build up a collection of films, it’s our second decade and the library is getting bigger. At this point we’ve bought loads of old classic foreign language flicks, mostly with subtitles....
Variety.com (Free subscription) | 09/02/2009
Venice Film Festival: Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto offer enticing incentives -- Venice and its environs conjure, for many film buffs, the venerable Venice Film Festival and movies shot in and around the picturesque lagoon city -- from Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" to Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You."
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