Tag Archive: Cannes


LA GRANDE BELLEZZA : THE BITTER SWEET LIFE

Filed under: Italy, Movies, Music — 1 Comment
May 22, 2013

LA GRANDE BELLEZZA directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy, 2013)

Just as Marcello Mastroianni became synonymous with the films of Federico Fellini, Toni Servillo is a perfect match for Paolo Sorrentino.

Following from Le Consequenze dell’amore (2004) and Il Divo (2008) this is the third movie the gifted Neapolitan director has made with this brilliant actor.

The Fellini connections are also obvious both in the richly visual style of filmmaking and, here, with the setting. Yet, although this movie is rooted in similar themes of hedonistic excess, the Rome of La Grande Bellezza is a very different one from La Dolce Vita of 1960.

Servillo plays Jep Gambardella, a 65 year-old journalist who wrote one acclaimed novel in his twenties but nothing of note since. He seems largely content to amble around the city as a wry observer of the high and low cultural scene. Continue reading →

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BACKTRACKING # 16 – HEAVEN 17

Filed under: Movies, Music, Politics — Leave a comment
May 20, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

Heaven 17 – (We don’t need this) Fascist Groove Thang b/w The Decline of the West (Virgin Records, 1981) 

“Have you heard it on the news about this fascist groove thang – evil men with racist views spreading all across this land”

Heaven 17 - we mean it maaaaaan!

History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. Apologists for fascism and genocide may be asserting the right to free speech but their comments need to be vilified in the strongest possible terms.

Danish film director Lars  (“I am a Nazi”) Von Trier claims he was only joking during the press conference at Cannes Film Festival when he said that he sympathises with Adolf Hitler.

He admits that Hitler “did some wrong things” and was “not a good guy”; banalities that must go down as the sickest and most misguided understatements of the year.

What Von Trier was really doing was to seek some cheap publicity to grab the headlines; he has achieved this but probably not in the way he envisaged. Who knows what was going through his head to make such crass remarks.

Some folks have come to his defence and argue that Jews should lighten up, but these were not comments against one race but against the human race.

I therefore dedicate today’s ‘Backtrack’ to Von Trier and would draw his attention to the lines “Hitler proves that funky stuff is not for you and me girl”. Continue reading →

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