Beauty and the Boy

MALENA

Giuseppe Tornatore, 2000

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

- Lord Byron, She Walks in Beauty


Filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore explores the theme of beauty and heartbreak in Malena. Set in Sicily during World War II, the film is a coming-of-age story about unrequited love and the curse of being beautiful.

Played by Italian goddess Monica Bellucci, Maddalena Scordia a.k.a. Malena is the main attraction of Castelcuto.* She is the wife of a soldier who is presumed dead. Men lust after her. Women envy her. The world becomes a lonely place for Malena. Because of loneliness, Malena's beauty becomes her tragedy. Little does she know she has a stalker/secret admirer, an adolescent boy named Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro). Through the eyes of Renato, we see and experience the tragic world of Malena. With Renato as a careful observer, Tornatore humanizes the objectified Malena.

Malena serves as a catalyst to Renato's transition from puberty to adolescence. He fantasizes about her, imagining movie scenes with him as the main actor, and Malena as his leading lady. Most people confuse strong sexual desires with love. So, was it love? Yes. He loved every inch of her... from a distance.

Cinematography: Suspiria

SUSPIRIA (1977)
Director: Dario Argento
Cinematographer: Luciano Tovoli

Lately I've been an avid viewer of Pretty Little Liars. The show got me hooked since I watched its fifth season. What attracted me to the show is its giallo effect. Pretty Little Liars ("PLL" to its fans) is very reminiscent of those giallo movies, also known as Italian horror movies that incorporate "psychological themes of madness, alienation, sexuality and paranoia." Giallo movies — especially those directed by Dario Argento (aka Asia's dad) — also employ "candy-colored" cinematography, eerie music, and exaggerated performances. In short, campy.

Without further PLL-ing, and since I've mentioned Argento, here are some of the best frames from Suspiria — Argento's well-known film, and probably the most popular of all the giallo movies. (The word "suspiria" is Latin for "sighs.")

Suspiria is a 1977 gialli about Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), a ballerina who goes to a ballet school in Italy. After experiencing macabre occurrences in the school, Suzy finds out that the campus is actually a coven of witches. Therefore, Suzy has to do everything she can to get out of there; otherwise she'll be kaput.

Favorite Movie Moments: The Conformist

Unlike men, women can do a lot of things together without being labeled "gay." We can hold hands, walk arm in arm, dance together, kiss each other on the cheek, sleep on one bed, etc. If I mention all of the things we can do together without society branding us "dykes," you might drown in its bounty.

 

Dominique Sanda and Stefania Sandrelli in Bertolucci's The Conformist.

 (Image source here.)

A Fusillade of Passion

THE DAMNED
Luchino Visconti, 1969

Fellini. Antonioni. Bertolucci. De Sica. Pasolini. Rossellini. And Visconti. Italian cinema would practically be nothing hadn't those names existed.

Among those filmmakers, Luchino Visconti is the one whose works I find very exciting. Most of his films are fearless; yet underneath that audaciousness lies a certain touch of overwhelming tenderness.

Death in Venice is Visconti's most popular work. (That film is a tearjerker.) While The Damned is, in my opinion, his best and sadly underrated opus.

A Dance Into Madness

(Photo belongs to its owner/s. I don't own or claim to own this photo.)

THE NIGHT PORTER
Liliana Cavani, 1974

Rainy Vienna as a backdrop. Isn't that interesting? In The Night Porter, Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani tackles sadomasochism and the Stockholm syndrome. Thanks to Charlotte Rampling's iconic costume, The Night Porter became Cavani's best remembered film.

Fave Movie Quotes: Last Tango in Paris

It's better not knowing anything.

- Jeanne