| chopped copy |
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| written by kaream |
August 4, 2008 - 6:21 AM PDT |
From the AMG blurb, above: 'Malèna was released in Europe at 106 minutes, while the American version was edited by ten minutes to tighten the pace and remove nudity and sexual material considered too strong for the U.S. marketplace.'
Actually, according to the entry at IMDb the original Italian release was 109 minutes, compared to this damn-near-Disneyfied 92 minute cut, so that's at least 16 minutes of film chopped out, no matter how you count it. Ever since the Weinsteins sold out Miramax to Walt Disney/Buena Vista in 1993 you never know who to trust any more. You can get some idea of what you're missing from this Miramax version of Malèna by checking unexpurgated scenes at
http://www.celebritymoviearchive.com/tour/source.php/2859.
(Or, as of this date Amazon lists a 2-disc Korean all-region NTSC release of the uncut director's version, apparently with occasionally iffy English subtitles, for $140; some reviews there discuss the differences and explain how the cuts have damaged the sense of the film.)
I did like the movie, even in this chopped-up incarnation. Tornatore is an interesting director in everything I've seen of his, and Bellucci is stunning as always. But it just burns my butt that Disney is so uptight and so quick to take a hatchet to the more mature movies that they buy, instead of leaving them for a more responsible distributor.
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| Great music |
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| written by thingstodo |
February 16, 2006 - 7:11 PM PST |
The movie starts with a quirky and funny beginning involving a young Italian teen living in an almost comical town (I have never been there, but I really doubt Sicily was ever like that).
Ronato is the kid trying to adjust into adolescence. Seeing the hot Malena walk down in a hip-hugging skirt doesn't exactly help regulate the hormone rush. I'm in my mid-30's and I sit up when I see her, let alone a teenager. Before you brand me a pervert, it seems that I'm not alone--all the men in town want a piece of her.
So you get these comical stunts that the kid goes through to fantasize about her. Half way through the movie things take a turn for the worse for our gal when she runs out of money and has only the envy (form the women) and lust (from everyone else) of the townspeople to deal with. You know what happens when a beautiful woman runs out of money and friends, right? I feel sorry for ugly men who run out of money and friends. But I digress.
Since the movie is from the perspective of the kid, we don't really how Malena thinks but are forced to extrapolate from her actions. So we're always kept at a distance from her but instead are forced to identify with the kid, which is annoying.
So it's Kinda like watching an R-rated Wonder Years in Italian. Every now and then we get to see Monica Bellucci topless.
If you come out of this balance on the plus side, go right ahead and give this one a try.
One last thing: the music is great. I was tempted to jump on Amazon to get the soundtrack after the movie.
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