The Mafia Only Kills In The Summer (orig. La Mafia Solo Uccide d'Estate) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)  CineBlog.it (7/10)  OndaCinema.it (7/10)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmTV.it listing*

CineBlog.it (G. Capolino) review*
MyMovies.it (M. Gandolfi) review*
OndaCinema.it (A. Pettiere) review*

Hollywood Reporter (S. Dalton) review 
I Love Italian Movies (Cheri) review

The Mafia Only Kills In The Summer (orig. La Mafia Solo Uccide d'Estate) [2013] [IMDb] [FT.it]* (starring, directed and screenplay cowritten by Palermo native Pierfrancesco Diliberto (Pif) [en.wikip] [it.wikip]* [IMDb] [FT.it]* along with Michele Astori [IMDb]) is a critically acclaimed / award winning and really quite brave Forrest Gump [1994]-like, dramedy about growing-up in Palermo, Sicily during the various Mafia Wars of the 1970s-90s. 

The film won two Donatello di David (Italy's closest equivalent to the Oscars) awards (for best new Director and best "Young David") [Official Site] [en.wikip] [it.wikip]* and a host of nominations as well as several Italian Golden Globe nominations and wins.  The film played recently as part of the 1st Chicago Italian Film Festival organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and held at the Music Box Theater here on the North Side.

The film tells the story of Arturo (played by Alex Bisconti [IMDb] [FT.it]* as a child and the director Pif [IMDb] [FT.it]* himself as a 20-something young adult).  In voice-overs throughout the film, Arturo explains that his entire life FROM CONCEPTION TO THE PRESENT has been tied-up with the Mob:

He explains that he conceivably owes his very existence to the Mob, as while his parents (played in the film by Barbara Tabita [IMDb] [FT.it]* and Rosario Lisma [IMDb] [FT.it]*) were making love on their wedding night, Toto Reiina (played in the film by Antonio Alveario [IMDb]), a local Mob boss, engineered his first Hit, eliminating a rival, in a room on the floor below, scaring the daylights-out of his parents and "almost certainly effecting" which of the millions of his father's sperm would that night inseminate his mother's egg, thereby creating him ("Any sperm of any sense would have 'cowered and hid.'  Only the bravest or most clueless one would have continued with his mission" ;-). 

He then explains that his baptism was "probably the shortest one in the history of Polermo."  Arturo's parents' entire families' presence notwithstanding, apparently mobbed-up Friar Giacinto (played by Antonino Bruschetta [IMDb] [FT.it]*) had to rush through his Baptism to "make it on time" to another Baptism, that of the child of the (presumably quite well) "connected" mayor of Palermo ;-).

Later, when Arturo was 2-3 years old and Fra Giacinto was by Arturo's parents' new apartment to bless it and Arturo's parents expressed their concern that little Arturo still wasn't talking, Fra Giacinto assured them that "NOT talking too much" is "not necessarily a bad thing" ;-).  As he left their apartment (again in a rush ...) little Arturo said his first word.  Pointing at the back of the priest on his way out, with his thumb up and index finger out, he said ... "MA ... FIA ..." (to the shock / surprise of his parents, now rendered speechless themselves ;-).

When Arturo was little growing-up in Palermo, he explains to viewers that the various mafia hits in the city were routinely explained away as "involving women."  That didn't bother him until ... a new girl, Flora (played in the film as a child by Ginevra Antona [IMDb] [FT.it]* and as a 20-something young-adult by Cristiana Capotondi [IMDb] [FT.it]*), came to his school.  Then he became concerned.  But the parish priest (again good ole Fra Giacinto) assured him, "Oh don't worry my son, NOBODY in this town gets killed 'because of women.'  They get shot (Fra Giacinto starts getting upset) BECAUSE THEY DO SOMETHING STUPID, BECAUSE THEY TALK TOO MUCH, BECAUSE THEY MAKE SOME SORT OF MISTAKE.  THAT's why they get shot, but CERTAINY NOT 'because of a woman.'" ;-).  Thus Arturo gets permission from the parish priest to fall in love ;-). 

Arturo comes home, and still pondering these feelings that as a ten year old he now has for this new student Flora and asks his father: "Dad, how did you first tell mom that you've fallen in love with her."  "Beh ... I don't know, I think I just kind of told her.  These things come kind of naturally you know.  Now be quiet and watch TV.  Our favorite show is coming on ..."

The show coming on was some kind of a 1970s Italian news magazine show, and the guest that week was the somewhat shifty-looking and certainly NOT particularly charismatic Italian Prime Minister of the time, Giulio Andreotti [en.wikip] [it.wikip]* of the "catch all" (by reputation "eyes rolling" corrupt and possibly /probably even "mobbed up") Italian Christian Democratic Party [en.wikip] [it.wikip]* of the time (Heck, the "alternative" of the time, remember it was the Cold War ..., was the Italian Communist Party [en.wikip] [it.wikip]*...). 

So though all kinds of people were dropping dead because of the Mob back in Sicily, the FIRST QUESTION that he's asked on this television news magazine was the UNBELIEVABLY SOFT-BALL QUESTION: "So Prime Minister, how'd you first propose to your wife?" which he, relieved, proceeded to answer ;-)

Now while almost everybody in Italy was "rolling their eyes" accepting of "the way things were," BUT CERTAINLY NOT looking at Italy's political leadership of the time as even remotely "inspiring," this "swarmy," NOT particularly charismatic Giulio Andreotti [en.wikip] [it.wikip]* becomes something of a HERO to Arturo (for giving him an answer to Arturo's then _very pressing_ 'romantic question' that Arturo's father didn't have the courage to answer).

Well, much then ensues in the film:  And almost every significant moment in Arturo's life gets SOMEHOW interrupted by mafia inspired stragi (hits):  A kindly police officer who recommends to Arturo a pastry to buy his 10 year-old beloved Flora gets knocked-off some months later in the same pastry shop where he made his recommendation to Arturo.  A similarly kindly judge who spots 10-year-old Arturo spying on Flora by her parents' apartment, gets blown-up by a car bomb later at the same spot where he first runs into Arturo.  Even a random "pol" of the quite boring (and often enough, quite corrupt, but again, look at the alternative...) Christian Democratic Party of the time on whose campaign a 20-something Flora becomes a staffer, a pol that NO ONE WOULD ARGUE WAS EVEN REMOTELY INSPIRING (His slogan, that even he didn't seem to say particularly convincingly, was simply: "Europe needs Sicily and Sicily need Europe") eventually gets knocked-off by the Mob, for ... no one honestly had a clue anymore.

But eventually the people of Palermo are shown as having had enough.  And at the end of the film, when (mild spoiler alert...) Arturo and Flora do finally definitively get together and start a family, Arturo tells the audience in a voice over: "Parenthood quickly teaches you two things: First you want to protect your children from the Evil in the world.  But then second, you want to teach your children TO IDENTIFY IT."  And so the close of the film is a several minute homage to the various GOOD HONEST PUBLIC SERVANTS (that police officer, that judge (both ACTUAL PEOPLE) as well as various others) WHO WERE KILLED OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS TRYING TO STAND UP TO THE MOB.
 
It all makes for one heck of a film, both funny at times and HEART RENDING AT OTHERS.

Good job!  Very good job!



ADDENDA (how to find / play this film):

This film albeit in European PAL format is available with English subtitles for a reasonable price through Amazon.com (Amazon.it)

Further, DVD players capable of playing DVDs from various regions (North America, Europe, etc) are no longer particularly expensive (costing perhaps $10 more than a one region DVD player).

Finally, a simple program called DVDFab Passkey Lite (downloadable FOR FREE from Softpedia.com) allows one to play DVDs from all regions on one's computer's DVD-Rom drive. 


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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Horrible Bosses 2 [2014]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChicagoTribune (1 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune/Variety (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (B. Tallerico) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review 

Horrible Bosses 2 [2014] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Sean Anders along with John Morris) is an inevitable sequel to Horrible Bosses [2011] a comedy that, let's face it, was never intended to be Academy Award material.   However, with a pedigreed ensemble cast, allowing many in that cast to "let down their hair" and either "play against type" (Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Aniston) or play it to the hilt (Kevin Spacey and joining this film Christoph Waltz) both the original and "the inevitable sequel" were more or less guaranteed to succeed. 

So what we have here is an (appropriately R-rated) "popcorn movie" that's perhaps even an adult "revenge fantasy" of put-upon "good people" against the people (mostly "Bosses") above them.

In the original film, conscientious "company man" Nick Hendricks (played by Jason Bateman) is strung along by his scheming Machiavellian "a-hole of a boss" Dave Harken (played by an ever-snarling Kevin Spacey).  His friend, accountant, Kurt Buckman (played by Jason Sudeikis) finds himself working for the spoiled/entitled son of his company's original owner.  If Kurt ever believed in the company for which he worked, said spoiled son, seeking to hire and fire secretaries (some working there for decades) simply on the basis of who'd most likely grant him sexual favors, ripped that loyalty out of him.  Finally, there was Dale Arbus (played by Charlie Day), poor Dale, who after being put on "a sex offender" list after being arrested for urinating by a tree next to a bar after said bar's closing time found his job prospects severely restricted.  Who'd hire "a registered
offender"?  Well, we find out: An employer like Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (played hilariously, over-the-top and against type by Jennifer Aniston) who finds his "convicted sex offender" status a "turn on."

So in the original movie, the three put-upon employees conspire to kill each others' bosses.  Since none of them had the faintest idea of how to do this, they seek-out "a mentor." They settle an ex-con "so tough" that he was born with an unspeakable name (played again hilariously and against type by Jamie Foxx) who they meet in an appropriately over-the-top seedy dive.  Much then ensued.  One of the bumbling three's bosses does, indeed, die (arguably by accident), another ends up in prison, the third in sex-addiction rehab.  Guess who ends up where...

The current film begins with the three former employees of "Horrible Bosses" having decided to go into business for themselves having come-up with a show gadget that they call "The Shower Buddy."  (Basically the gadget allows liquid soap to mix with water in the shower-head).  We see them showing-off said gadget on a random morning TV news-show, a presentation that they, of course, horribly mess up.

No matter, they do get a call from a potential investor: a twenty-something Rex Henson (played by Chris Pine) the born rich and not particularly competent son of a vaguely German accented immigrant with the strangely British sounding name, Burt Henson (played by Christoph Waltz) -- honestly, there could have been a fun/interesting back-story there.  Burt the father had made a fortune marketing and distributing this kind of junk.  How?  Well, we soon find out: 

Burt has the three business neophytes make him 100,000 units of said "Shower Buddy" then promptly cancels the order, knowing that the three will almost certainly have to go bankrupt whereupon he could purchase the 100,000 units for pennies on the dollar...

That, of course, enrages the three, and they come-up with another half-baked / obviously illegal plan to recoup their losses: they decide to try to kidnap Rex and then demand that Burt pay ransom equal to the amount that they owed their creditors.  Well, when they do kidnap Rex, it turns out he's "on board as well" to try to get back at his dad and he promptly convinces the three to greatly increase the ransom amount (giving himself by far the biggest cut).  Much (mostly in the form of bumbling incompetence) ensues ...

Yes, there's not much particularly edifying in this film (or for that matter in the previous one).  The films have three "ordinary Joes" plotting SERIAL MURDER (of their "Horrible Bosses") in the first film and KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM (from an "evil Investor that screwed them") in the current one.  Then ever-randy Dr. Julia obviously feels "rather unbounded" (ya think?) by the constraints of anything resembling traditional Catholic/Christian teaching on sexual morality (She shocks / appalls, but like Charlie Sheen's character, Charlie Harper, in Two and Half Men [2003+] or previously Ted Danson's character, Sam Malone, in Cheers [1982-1993] , or Rue McClanahan's character Blanche Devereau, in The Golden Girls [1985-1992], what adult honestly would not immediately see in Jennifer Aniston's character here wildly (and often hilariously) over-the-top exaggeration that's precisely _intended_ to shock/amuse the audience.   In this film, she matter-of-factly asks the three bumbling anti-heroes for "preferences" as to how she "should shave her ..." WHO'D ASK SOMETHING LIKE THAT?  HONESTLY.   It's MEANT TO SHOCK / APPALL and yes, as a result, AMUSE).

SO then, this is NOT (!) a "film for the kids," nor, one hopes, to be an "instruction manual" for "how to lead one's life."  But it is, often, _stupidly_ ... funny ;-) 


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Lovely Article about "Fr. Dennis at the Movies" at Chicago Archdiocese's "Catholic New World"

A lovely article by local journalist Dolores Madlener that recently appeared in Chicago's Archdiocesan newspaper Catholic New World.  Thank you very, very much!  

From chemical engineer to priest and film aficionado

By Dolores Madlener

STAFF WRITER

Servite Father Dennis Kriz, associate pastor at Annunciata Parish, 11128 S. Avenue G, pictured in the church on Nov. 13. Brian J. Morowczynski/Catholic New World

He is: Servite Father Dennis Kriz, associate pastor of Annunciata Parish on the Southeast Side. Popular movie reviewer with his blog, “Fr. Dennis at the Movies.” Ordained in 1999.

Youth: “My younger sister and I grew up mainly in Mount Prospect. I went to Prospect High. Dad was a chemist for a company that made specialized toners and paints (including some for the Space Program). Mom was an artist who had a degree in dress-designing from the Art Institute. My dad never had to buy her a new dress during their marriage. She even made her wedding dress. And as a good Czechoslovakian immigrant, she loved the resale stores.

“Faith was always important to our family though mostly at home with the immigrant experience as part of it.  We’d all consider ourselves believers, but in terms of Church attendance, we’d have to admit that we were the “three times a year” variety – Christmas, Easter and St. Wenceslas Day -- until my mom came down with cancer.

“I got hooked on movies as a teenager. ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ was perfect: History, Archeology, the Bible and Nazis all mixed in.  How great was that!?”

Vocation: “I went to the U of I and studied chemical engineering. Then I went to grad school at USC in Los Angeles. While at USC, my mom died. That was a life-changing experience for me. I got involved at the USC Catholic Center, staffed by the Servites. I was in my 20s and enthusiastic. I found religion much more meaningful and explainable to others than my chemistry work. How much can you say about microscopic polymer beads? At least if you’re talking about religion — everyone has an opinion. But I finished my doctorate in chemical engineering, because ‘You finish what you start.’

“I was searching for something bigger, and entered the Servite community. I spent my first year at Berkeley at the Franciscan School of Theology, and then did my novitiate. At the end they sent me to our international college in Italy to finish my theology. Our final thesis project was to be based on an aspect of the culture we came from. In the USA our culture is so diverse one has to talk about some form of mass media, and the easiest for me was movies. My thesis title: ‘Marian Imagery in “The Terminator.’”

Parish life: “Since our parish is involved in “To Teach Who Christ Is,” my contribution has been giving up a movie or two a week that I would otherwise see.  We’ve been asking parishioners to give sacrificially.  I believe in the value of my blog, but I wanted my participation in the Parish Campaign to hurt a bit.  So it comes to about $50/month (plus missing 6-8 movies a month).  I’m responsible for our youth group at Annunciata. I’ve been here 10 years and started the blog 4 years ago. I try to alert kids to be aware of messages in films and especially who’s portrayed as a ‘good’ person and who’s a ‘bad’ person.  A lot of times the ‘bad’ people portrayed are darker skinned and foreign (yet as Catholics we believe that we’re all children of God).

“I’ve found the Marvel Comic book movies – Iron Man, Spider Man, Thor – actually quite good.  Even though they’re “superhero” types, the characters are usually complex and even the villains have their story.  Not all comic book films are like that. In Batman/Superman (DC Comics), the heroes are super-good and the villains super-evil, and the rest of us are nothing.  In contrast, the Marvel Comic stories there’s almost always a moral message to them: “With great power comes great responsibility” is the message of the first Spider Man film.  It’s hard to argue with that message and it’s expressed in a manner a teenager can understand.

“I use movies in my homilies, only when it really applies. But everyone in the parish knows I do movie reviews. They know I see the more obscure ones than the average movie-goer. By visiting my blog, they’ll know these other movies are at least out there. I’m drawn to a film by its story – if I see a point to it.”

His Blog:  “I blog several times a week at frdennismoviereviews.blogspot.com.  My ideal audience would be young adults in their 20s-30s.  The culture tends to pander to teens by calling them young adults, but they’re still too young.  However in their 20-30s is when people have options and are most free to learn and grow.” His blog lists reviews for the past four years, with various age group categories – For instance, he gave the 2013 kids’ movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” 3-stars and a good review! His blog has nine genres of movies, including documentaries and foreign. He also carries reviews by others, like the USCCB when available.

Film and dialogue: “For the millennium I led Servite parishes with youth groups to Italy for a youth experience. I helped lead a group to the Servites in the Amazon, where we have a mission, and led two groups to a Servite mission in Mexico. Nice projects but very expensive. The Servite Order is using Facebook now to build bridges to share what Servites are doing around the world. Movies fit in with this as well. While the cost of flying to visit the missions in Brazil or South Africa would run thousands of dollars, for 10 bucks you can pick up a movie that’s also about that culture and community. And foreign film festivals exist all over the place.” He speaks English, Czech, Italian and Spanish. There are four Servites who live in community at the Annunciata Priory. They have morning and evening prayer, Mass, and meals in common.

Favorite Scripture verse? “Peter’s words, ‘To whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life.’” (John 6:68)

Foxcatcher [2014]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

Foxcatcher [2014] (directed by Bennett Miller, screenplay by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman) based on the actual 1996 murder [NYTimes] of former Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler turned wrestling coach David Schultz by John Eleuthère du Pont (yes, of the billionaire Du Pont family) tells one sad, sad triangle of a story (there's also Mark Schultz, also a gold-medal winning wrestler, but never quite as good, nor as charismatic as his older brother) about limitations:

 John Eleuthère du Pont (played in the film to IMHO Oscar nomination worthy heights by Steve Carrell) is SUPER-RICH but ... off, and off to an extent that no matter how much money he had, he was destined to have a difficult and disappointing / frustrating life, somehow serving as living, walking, breathing proof that MONEY ITSELF can't buy EITHER LOVE or HAPPINESS.

Mark Schultz (played in the film again to Oscar nomination worthy or at least consideration worthy levels by Channing Tatum) is AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST and yet, not particularly bright, and DAMNED to be THE YOUNGER BROTHER of a BOTH EVEN MORE SUCCESSFUL AND THEN FAR MORE CHARISMATIC OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST ... IN THE SAME SPORT.  Oh, TO BE a GOLD MEDALIST and STILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE FROM FEELING LIKE A LOSER.

And then David Schultz (played in the film, to ... eh, okay, BUT THAT'S ALL THAT WAS NECESSARY levels by Mark Ruffalo) who was the most "together" of trio, NOT RICH but MARRIED WITH KIDS, NOT FEELING THE NEED TO PROVE ANYTHING TO ANYONE ... BUT ... ENDING UP DEAD ... all the same.

Yes, what a (if the shoe fits) "Greek Tragedy" built around a sport invented by ... Greeks.


The film begins with a representative of said Billionaire John with "more money than God" but "with issues" searching out Mark Schultz to make him an offer that the poor post-Olympics sap, a Gold Medalist but in debt, couldn't possibly refuse: "My employer will fly you out on his helicopter to his (or more accurately his 80 year old mother's...) 800 acre horse farm, where you will have your own home, food / all other expenses paid, and you'll be able to do NOTHING but train for the next Games... three years hence."  Poor Mark, what's he supposed to do?  He was worried that his gas was going to be cut off in his appt.

What Mark does do, IS TALK TO HIS OLDER BROTHER DAVE, WHO TELLS HIM that a rep from the SAME "odd rich guy" CAME TO HIM with THE SAME OFFER a couple of weeks before AND HE TOLD HIM NO. ;-). 

Seeing Mark's crest falling before his eyes, Dave, "jumps back" and tells his younger, more struggling brother: "But, I think that this COULD BE a GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU."  Poor Mark, holding his heart in his hands after Dave had it going up and down and all over the place over the last 15 seconds, comes to the final conclusion that Dave's being a "good older brother" and, now, with his blessing, goes back to accept the eccentric weirdo's offer.

Thus begins a long, awkward, story that, yes, IMHO inevitably had to end badly.  Mark was just trying to get by in life.  Billionaire John was trying to grasp for that which his billions could not get him ... and certainly Mark was not what/who he wanted.  Indeed, John wanted Dave, but Mark was what/who he got.  So INEVITABLY Billionaire John starts "pining for" Dave even as Mark who's living on Billionaire John's (er Billionaire John's mother's) 800-acre horse farm, increasingly feels like fundamentally INADEQUATE ... again. 

Eventually (mild spoiler alert) finds a way to buy Dave after all.  BUT (1) how does that make Mark feel? and (2) does he _really_ succeed in "buying Dave."

If nothing else, the story leads to ... where the actual story came to ... with Billionaire John shooting Dave.

This is one heck of a sad, sad story, most filmed mostly in grey skied, slushy, Pennsylvania ... in winter.  But IMHO it's also, one heck of a film, reminding us once more that none of us is a God.


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I Can Quit Whenever I Want (orig. Smetto Quando Voglio) [2014]

MPAA (UR would be R)  CineBlog.it (6.5/10)  FilmTV.it (3 Stars)  MyMovies.it (3 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmTV.it listing*

CineBlog.it (A.M. Abate) review*
Film.it (P. Feast) review*
MyMovies.it (D. Zonta) review*
 
I Can Quit Whenever I Want (orig. Smetto Quando Voglio) [2014]  [IMDb] [FT.it]* (directed and screenplay cowritten by Sidney Sabilla [IMDb] [FT.it]* along with Valerio Attanasio [IMDb] [FT.it]* and Andrea Garello [IMDb] [FT.it]*) is a fun Italian Ocean's 11 [2001] [IMDb] /  Breaking Bad [2008-2013] [IMDb] even Revenge of the Nerds [1984] [IMDb] / Horrible Bosses [2011]-like comedy that played recently as part of the 1st Chicago Italian Film Festival organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and held at the Music Box Theater here on the North Side.  The film won the 2014 Italian Golden Globe for Best Comedy and was nominated for twelve 2014 David di Donatello Awards (the closest Italian equivalent to the Oscars) [IMDb] [Official Site] [en.wikip] [it.wikip]*

And the film is about something that a lot of American young people of the current "occupy" (?) generation could understand: Just because one gets a college degree does not necessarily mean that one will get a good / high-paying job.

So this is a film about A LOT of quite talented, well-educated, late 20-something to mid-30-something Italians who despite said education and perhaps even some brilliance are not exactly "living the dream," and then the temptation to use that talent / education "to get" what one may feel one "deserves" through more nefarious means.

To those who may be (initially) "disoriented" by seeing the frustrations of SO MANY WELL EDUCATED ITALIANS being portrayed in this film, remember that Italy would not have possibly become the birthplace of the European Renaissance if it was inhabited exclusively (or even largely) by the "Luca Brasi" types of the Godfather [1972].   Instead, Italy has been (also) the land of Dante, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Verdi and Puccini, and in more recent times of everyone from Fermi to Marconi to Fellini to Versace and about as "cultured" a land as they come.  The "dangerous" and certainly _frustrating_ question that the film asks is: Why does it seem that "being educated" / "being cultured" or even "being _buona gente_ (good people)" is "not enough"?

And so ... this film has Pietro Zinni (played wonderfully by Edoardo Leo [IMDb] [FT.it]*) a fictionalized, talented, even possibly "brilliant" and certainly well-liked neurobiology professor at a random (Catholic) university somewhere in Italy telling us "his story" of his slide into addiction / crime.  What went wrong?

Well, brilliant or not, well-liked by his students as a lecturer or not, he finds himself reduced to "1/2 time" due to budget cuts at his University.   His Department Head is heard mostly yelling over the phone at unseen penny pinching bureaucrats bent on apparently driving the University into the ground or at least selling its soul.  (Apparently, the draconian cuts resulting in Dr. Zinni's tenure being reduced to "half time" could have been avoided if the Department Head had consented to accepting a grant do some (unspecified) kind of research.   But we hear him yelling into the phone: "We are a Catholic University.  We have Values (!) and we are simply NOT going to do that kind of (unspecified) research."  Va bene ... call finished, and apparently feeling good about himself that he "saved" his department from being "prostituted" (in some unspecified way), he heads off to Pietro's office to tell him ... that he has to cut his (and the other Professors') time / salar(ies) in half.  Ah the joys of integrity and "sticking to one's guns ..." even in the face of monstrous costs (to be suffered BY OTHERS ;-) 

So ... it's left to Pietro to go home to tell his wife, Giulia (played by Valeria Solarino [IMDb] [FT.it]*), who actually is the only one of the late-20-somethings / 30-somethings in this film with a job to be proud of (as a drug rehab counselor...), that what they've expected / feared for years was finally happening, that his job at the University, mind you as a researcher with a team of grad students, beloved as a teacher, was finally becoming not worth holding-onto.   "Great.  So what now?  And when are we _ever_ going to be secure enough to start a family?" is his wife's response.

Depressed, Pietro puts on his goofy-looking red cyclist helmet and reflector jacket to take a ride on his bike.  He stops at a gas station where he talks to two of his former classmates, Mattia (played by Valerio Aprea [IMDb] [FT.it]*) and Giorgio (played by Lorenzo Lavia [IMDb] [FT.it]*), "Latinists" they once were (now pumping gas for a living) to share with them his news.  They're sympathetic and even a bit surprised.  They knew that their field was kinda hopeless when it comes to getting a job (to be a "Latinist" in Italy would seem to be like being a "PolySci major" in my time in the States), but EVEN NEUROBIOLOGY (!)

Well, while at the gas station, goofy red cyclist helmet on, bike leaned against his hip, talking to his long-out-of-luck former classmates, Pietro spots ONE OF HIS CURRENT STUDENTS Maurizio (played with magnificent happy cluelessness by Guglielmo Poggi [IMDb] [FT.it]*), drive-up in a bright SHINY AND NEW S.U.V. ..

Wasn't Maurizio ON SCHOLARSHIP?  What the heck was he doing, all dressed-up in trendy threads driving a bright, shiny and new S.U.V.?  So ... after Maurizio fills-up (the GIANT S.U.V. that he was driving) and drives away, Pietro decides to follow him, goofy red helmet and reflector jacket on, with his bike.

Maurizio arrives at some trendy discotheque, Pietro, still with his goofy red helmet and reflector jacket on, enters to find him.  He does.  "Ciao Professore!" Maurizio calls out, "What are you doing here?"  "I could ask you the same?"  "I'm here with my people."  "How CAN they be 'your people'?  You're supposed to be an orphan, on scholarship."  "But I am, professore!"  "So how the heck can you afford to be here?"  And here the story really begins ...

Maurizio has found that he could pay his "non-scholarship" expenses (and have a WHOLE LOT MORE MONEY BESIDES) by ...selling ... "smart drugs."  That is, drugs that are _technically not illegal_ (not on a list of OFFICIALLY ILLEGAL DRUGS in Italy, but ever so similar, both in chemical structure, and, more to the point, in effect).  "But Professore, I'm NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL ..." Maurizio assures Pietro.

And that then gets Pietro thinking.  If this underachieving, always-sleeping-in-his-class (now he knows why) Maurizio can do this, why can't he and PERHAPS THE WHOLE GROUP OF HIS UNEMPLOYED / UNDEREMPLOYED 30-40-something FRIENDS do the same?  And mind you, he's NOT going to do this to do something "illegal" but to simply give him and his friends a chance to "finally" live the dignified life that he/they all "deserve."  (This is where the title of the film, "I can quit when I want..." first comes into play ;-)

So Pietro goes home, spends the night googling the legal ins-and-outs of making "smart drugs," and then uses the computer simulation equipment of his department (his own field after all) to design "a perfect smart drug molecule."  And then ... he sets out to pick-out among his vast legion of underemployed and certainly UNDER-UTILIZED but well educated friends to put together "A BANDA" (a "gang") to manufacture this smart molecule and put it on the market.  Specifically he recruits:

Alberto (played by Stefano Fresi [IMDb] [FT.it]*) a organic chemist, synthetics wiz, who's taken a job as a chef at a local "Benihana" style restaurant where he spends most of his time arguing with his Asian sous chefs who don't speak a word of Italian.  He'll be the one to synthesize the drug.

Andrea (played by Pietro Sermonti [IMDb] [FT.it]*) a brilliant PhD cultural anthropologist, speaking 30 languages, but helping out at his dad's junk yard unable to find a job in his field, would be responsible for "Marketing."

Bartolomeo (played magnificently by Libero De Rienzo [IMDb] [FT.it]*) an unemployed mathematician, introduced to us arguing with a group of poker players in tent somewhere in the back of a carvival telling them "Look guys, I'm a statistician and I can tell you that the odds that you'd come up with this hand THREE times in a row is astronomically low, SO YOU MUST BE CHEATING..." (to which the card-dealer answers "AND ..." ;-) is signed-on by Pietro to be the group's "finance man."

Arturo (played by Paolo Calabresi [IMDb] [FT.it]*) an archeologist with actually a job in his field (but that means that he goes around the city following a construction crew begging them to "please, please, please not BREAK anything valuable" that they might run-into during their excavations) is initially "hired" apparently because Pietro "feels sorry for him."  Later, however, he comes to the assistance of the group, when things start to "get hot."  He brings them a crate of NAPOLEONIC ERA MUSKETS AND SIDEARMS ;-) that he pilfered "from storage" at a local museum telling them: "Look guys, they may be old (ya think? ;-), BUT THEY ARE PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL" :-) Besides where would a group, still-thinking-of-themselves as, "good" people going to QUICKLY get access to LEGALLY ACQUIRABLE FIREARMS in A PLACE LIKE ITALY (or Europe in general)? ;-)

Together, they form "A Gang" ... manufacture Pietro's "designer drug" and then going back to the club where Pietro found his student Maurizio, and start selling said drug, hand-over-fist.  It's a HUGE, HUGE SUCCESS.

Now INITIALLY THEY ALL SAY TO THEMSELVES, "We're JUST DOING THIS to: (1) pay off old debts, (2) finally buy the house/car/whatever that we've always wanted, (3) finally, stand with head high, knowing that we accomplished something ..." BUT ... as the TECHNICALLY NOT ILLEGALLY MADE MONEY KEEPS ROLLING IN ... how do you say no to "continuing on"?

BESIDES, they're meeting ALL KINDS OF "INTERESTING PEOPLE."  The "Latinists", soon living like CALIGULA-LIKE BOND VILLAINS with a VILLA ON A HILL with a POOL overlooking, is it Rome? is it Naples? is it Salerno? whatever ... find that their lifestyle is now attracting all kinds of BEAUTIFUL "ESCORTS" who TO THEIR SURPRISE SEEM TO _ALL_ BE FORMER "LIT. MAJORS" FROM RUSSIA, the UKRAINE and other former Eastern Bloc countries ;-).  They HONESTLY have some of the most "intellectually stimulating" ;-) discussions that they've ever had with these BEAUTIFUL BIKINI CLAD former PhDs ;-) ;-)

And Alberto, who was frustrated previously with working with a bunch of Asian chefs that he didn't understand, now has a drop-dead gorgeous former humanities major from Russia as a girlfriend, who he doesn't understand either, but now does not seem to mind ...

YET ... as "business" gets ever BETTER and BETTER problems set in: Pietro's wife Giulia (remember the drug counselor) starts getting people at her clinic talking about this "wonder drug" that "makes you so happy that you just want to sit, smiling, forever, not wanting to do anything anymore." And more to the point, "The Mob" gets "interested."

The coup de grace comes when Pietro, forced to deal with a notorious drug trafficker going by the name Er Murena (played by Neri Marcorè [IMDb] [FT.it]*), finds to his horror that Er Murena had "his story" too, and indeed considered Pietro to be a "kindred spirit."

And so ... how does a film like this end?  Guess ;-)

Still, I have to say that this is a very fun, yet intelligent story that does a number of things very very well: (1) It presents WITH A SMILE a real problem, that there are all kinds of bright, well educated people out there who are not able to use their educations in a useful / dignified way, (2) it also shows, AGAIN WITH A SMILE, the "danger of falling into cynicism/despair" ... It shows very clearly that even drug dealers and high-priced prostitutes could justify their choices with "good hard luck stories" ... Yet, no matter how "bad" things are, that still doesn't justify "turning to the Dark Side."

Anyway, this film was a blast ... and yet I do think that nobody who sees the film all the way through would say "this is the way to go."  Good job!


ADDENDA (how to find / play this film in the U.S.A.):

This film albeit in European PAL format is available with English subtitles for a reasonable price through Amazon.com.

Further, DVD players capable of playing DVDs from various regions (North America, Europe, etc) are no longer particularly expensive (costing perhaps $10 more than a one region DVD player).

Finally, a simple program called DVDFab Passkey Lite (downloadable FOR FREE from Softpedia.com) allows one to play DVDs from all regions on one's computer's DVD-Rom drive. 


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

The Referee (orig. L'Arbitro) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)  FilmTv.it (3 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmTV.it listing*

 L'Espresso.it (R. Escobar) review*
 Storiadeifilm.it (A. Pascale) review*

The Referee (orig. L'Arbitro) [2013] [IMDb] [FT.it]* (directed and cowritten by Paolo Zucca [IMDb] [FT.it]* along with Barbara Alberti [IMDb] [FT.it]*) is a comedy about the only sport, indeed "for many," the only thing that really matters in Italy -- calcio (soccer ;-).  The film played recently as part of the 1st Chicago Italian Film Festival organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and held at the Music Box Theater here on the North Side.

As the film is about "the only thing that really matters" in Italy, though thoroughly contemporary, made only a year ago, the film was made in solemn / crisp "black and white" -- the "colors of truth" ;-).

The film actually tells two stories:

The first of a young, fit, indeed "cut like a God" Italian "Premier League" Referee (L'Arbitro) named Cruciani (played with magnificent bordering on beatific sublimity by Stafano Accursi  [IMDb] [FT.it]*).  When we meet him in the opening sequence of the film, pregame, in the locker room ROSARY IN HAND, gracefully tying his shoelaces and then along with the other refs, solemnly combing every last hair on his head into perfect place, before trotting out, together, with dispassionate yet determined focus onto the field before AN ARENA FILLED WITH _SUPREMELY_ PASSIONATE FANS, one immediately knows THAT HE KNOWS that the Destinies of teams, the destinies of cities and, DARE ONE DREAM ... the destinies of ENTIRE NATIONS NATIONS, HANG IN THE BALANCE of HIS AND HIS COLLEAGUES' EVERY CALL ;-)

THE OTHER STORY is, then, about the small town of Parabile somewhere in the hinterlands of SARDINIA ... with a horrible curse: IT has a TERRIBLE soccer team.  It's been TERRIBLE for years, bringing shame and ridicule upon its residents, especially at the hands of the arrogant a-holes from the town of Montecrastu up the road.

'Course it doesn't help that the coach (played magnificently in his hopelessness by Benito Urgu [IMDb] [FT.it]*) IS BLIND.  But he's been Coach for years, and besides, ... HE'S BLIND ... So how can one POSSIBLY BE SO CRUEL AS TO TAKE THAT ROLE AWAY FROM HIM? ;-).  So the town feels CONDEMNED BY CRUEL, CRUEL FATE to suffer the indignity of having the worst team in the region (mind you, the worst team in the Sardinian "THIRD" League), perhaps the worst team on the Island ... UNTIL ...

...One morning a YOUNG, LONG FRIZZY HAIRED, STYLISHLY BEARDED (in a "confident" even mildly "Bad Boy" sort of way) MAN, perhaps 25 or so years in age ... walks into town.  Yes, the film does feel like a Western at times ;-) ...

Who is he?  Nicknamed Matzutzi (played by Jacopo Cullin [IMDb] [FT.it]*) apparently a former "son of this (God-forsaken) town," his family, dirt poor, had emigrated to Argentina fifteen years earlier in hopes of finding a better life.

Why was he back?  To look for "his girl" who he left in Parabile as a ten year old (!) ;-).  Does he find her?  Yes!  She's Miranda, the still single, somewhat frustrated, Miranda (played by Geppi Cucciari [IMDb] [FT.it]*) DAUGHTER OF THE BLIND COACH, working as a cashier of the grocery store that her parents own (and since her father's blind, she probably runs...).  Does she recognize him or even remember him?  Of course not!  He tries to jog her memory.  He tells her his family's story, how they were dirt poor when they left Sardinia, that they emigrated to Argentina and how he had vowed to his 10 year old ragazina (little girl friend) that he'd come back for her.  (How can she NOT remember? ;-)

"Well did you make it?  Did you come back with a "sacco di soldi" (lit. a sack full of money)?" she asks, kinda hoping.  Of course not ... ;-)  BUT ... as the news spreads of his return to this small town, and the various townspeople scratch their heads trying to remember his family, and what precise word among something like 10-15 specific regional words for "loser" that they used to call his dad ... ONE THING BECOMES CLEAR: Matzutzi may have left Sardinia dirt poor and may have come back to Sardinia ... still dirt poor... BUT ... he was one damned good soccer player ;-) ;-)

And so Parabile's Atletico's fortunes begin to improve:  In a series of matches against various other tiny and ancient towns in the area, played on pitches that honestly COULD HAVE BEEN "fields of battle" WAY WAY "BACK IN THE DAY" ... during Neolithic / Bronze Age times ;-) ... Parabile bests one team after another to the point that arch-rival, a-holes up the road, Montecrustu becomes worried.  Much, much ensues ...

... Among that which ensues, of course, is the tying-in of the two stories.  After all, they seem SOOO FAR APART.  And yet, L'ARTITRO Cruciani, introduced to us as "A little less than a God" has to somehow make an Icarus-like plunge to fall-back the level of Sardinian campagna.  And ... of course, he does.  How exactly?  I'm not gonna tell you ;-)  But it's very, very current ...

... especially since I have Mexican parishioners here at my parish in Chicago who are still angry (and mostly sad) over how at this year's World Cup, Mexico WAS AHEAD OF The Netherlands 1:0 in a crucial elimination game, when time had unofficially run-out.  Then during the extra 3-4 minutes that ONLY THE REFEREES KEEP TRACK OF, the Netherlands SCORED A GOAL and 15 SECONDS LATER a VERY QUESTIONABLE "PENALTY" was called _against Mexico_ giving the Netherlands A PENALTY KICK that they used to SCORE AGAIN TO "WIN" THE GAME 2:1. 

Now poor Cruciani didn't necessarily do something _that_ stupid / flagrant ... After all, he's introduced to us as a decent and serious guy.  BUT ... does it necessarily matter? ;-)

A great film!  About, again, "the only thing that (often) really matters" in Italy ;-)



ADDENDA (how to find / play this film in the U.S.A.):

This film albeit in European PAL format is available with English subtitles for a reasonable price through Amazon.com. 

Further, DVD players capable of playing DVDs from various regions (North America, Europe, etc) are no longer particularly expensive (costing perhaps $10 more than a one region DVD player).

Finally, a simple program called DVDFab Passkey Lite (downloadable FOR FREE from Softpedia.com) allows one to play DVDs from all regions on one's computer's DVD-Rom drive. 



* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Penguins of Madagascar [2014]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-I)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (G. Cheshire) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review  

Penguins of Madagascar [2014] (directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith, screenplay by John Aboud, Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer, characters by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath) gives the scene stealing penguins of the DreamWorks Animations' Madagascar franchise a goofy, dare one say "Looney" feature film of their own, And ... well, if you grew-up loving Warner Bros' old Looney Tunes cartoons (Bugs Bunny / Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Cayote / Roadrunner, etc) in this film, IMHO you'll have something to share with your little ones (kids, grandkids or beyond).

The film offers basically the "origin story" for the Madagascar franchise's penguins, who we come to discover are both (hopefully a bit) "smarter than the average penguin" and at least as "cursed" by their "cuteness" as they are blessed. 

The story begins out in Antarctica where a human film crew is shown enthusiastically filming a seemingly endless -- horizon-to-horizon -- procession of unbelievably cute, single-file arrayed, waddling penguins (documentary film-maker Werner Herzog providing the solemn March of the Penguins [2005]-like human voice-over) waddling to ... where exactly?  Not even the penguins know.

And that BOTHERS at least a group of three penguins -- Skipper (voiced by Tom McGrath), Rico (voiced by Conrad Vernon) and Kowalski (voiced by Chris Miller) -- who'd prefer to think of themselves as being "far cooler" (and somewhat "smarter") than the others.

So when they see a penguin egg rolling down a slope past them (and none of the other penguins seem to be particularly concerned about the probable impending death of a baby penguin, because they were all "busy" waddling to ... "Somewhere" ...), the three use the rolling egg down the hill as an excuse to "break ranks" and set themselves free from this tyranny of mindless if perhaps impossibly cute conformity.

They find and save the egg, it hatches, and Private (voiced by Christopher Knights), the "D'Artagnan" of this "Three-Musketeer-ing" group (of Penguins...) is born.   Fancying themselves as a "Band of Brothers [2001]-ish" / "Trio-plus-One" of "ninja super spies" much then ensues.

And much of what ensues is GLEEFULLY "looney" ... In an early exploit, the four break into Fort Knox, NOT to steal gold (what would gold be to a Penguin?) but instead to gain access to a "rare vending machine" that still sells really unhealthy (but to a Penguin, apparently irresistible, gold colored) "cheese puffs" ;-)

But the story really begins when the four come across villainous shape-shifting Octopus, his zoo-name being "Dave" (voiced by John Malkovich), who had a real grudge against Penguins.  Why?  At zoo after zoo, aquarium after aquarium Penguins' simple, even stupid "cuteness" ALWAYS trumped the INTELLIGENCE and ACROBATICS of "his kind" (honestly Octopi are very intelligent creatures, and actually often quite cute as well ... just NOT as cute as Penguins ;-).   Well, "Dave" a very intelligent Octupus with a "chip on his shoulder" (do octopi have have shoulders?) comes up with a plan to spray all the Penguins that he can get his tentacles on with a serum that would render them into ugly mutant-like "zombie penguins"... And it's up to these three-plus-one "super-spy" / "ninja" penguins to stop him!

And it would actually go easier, if not for the not-exactly asked-for intervention of an "elite squad" of "far smarter / stronger" animals (than the "cute but not particularly bright" Penguins) getting in the way.  The squad, calling itself "The North Wind" is led by a solemn British-accented Wolf (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) who's sooo undercover that he goes by the name "Classified" ;-) and it includes a Baby Seal (if not a NAVY SEAL) nicknamed "Short Fuse" (voiced by Ken Jeong), a Russian accented White Owl called Eva (voiced by Annet Mahendru) and a brawnish Polar Bear nicknamed Corporal (voiced by Peter Stormare).  They, of course, dismiss the Penguins as "amateurs" (which they are ... ;-).   But who will "save the day" ...?

Guess ;-)

Folks, this is a very goofy movie.  But if you liked the antics of the Looney Tunes Characters of old (Elmer Fudd's "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit...") then honestly you'll probably love this.  Just about every one of the characters in this story is funny, and just about everyone of them could have a story built around them.  And that, of course, bodes very, very well for a "franchise" ;-)


<< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>