K. Il bandito

Martin Donovan directs his first Italian language film with mix but mostly positive results. He creates a world, geographically is Venice, filled with a powerful energy, a contagious compassion for his characters and a ravishing dark beauty. The title character played with zest and conviction by newcomer Pier Luigi Coppola, drifts along the 70's without ever going anywhere. In an out of jail, wanting, dreaming, hoping but incapable to grasp his own destiny. Marked by the apparent detachment of his mother, a Neapolitan prostitute, played by the exquisite Lina Sastri, he creates around himself a circle of loyalty. His childhood friends will always be that and it is perhaps that element that makes the film so different from others of its ilk. His friends exist as a reflection of him, that's their life. The conflict comes when Clara, played by Martina Stella, appears in his life. Love and marriage. But Clara brings a light of her own and she fights to save her love. Her disintegration is told in beautiful snippets with a Martina Stella that reminded me of some of the great actresses of yesteryear. Other major pluses: characters with extraordinarily beautiful, expressive faces, a haunting score, and a sight of Venice I had never seen before. "K. The Bandit" is one of the most refreshing and rewarding films I've seen in a long time. 9/10

What a stunning surprise! In the midst of a lackluster Los Angeles/Italia Film Fest, a genuine gem of a film. The story of Karlo the Venetian bandit is told in broad chronological strokes but with a passionate eye for the intimate, human details. The film is dominated by a strong visual landscape, a powerful score and extraordinary faces. Pierluigi Coppola a new name in the film world that I'm sure is here to stay plays the "K" of the title with an overwhelming sense of self. Coppola was present at the showing and I could never have guesses he was the same person I saw on the screen. He was dressed in punkish fashion with heavy dark eyeshadow. On the screen he is mesmerizing as is the rest of the cast. Lina Sastri, as the tragic mother is, quite simply, superb. She captures every moment she's in with an unsentimental earth shattering emotion and Martina Stella as the long suffering wife is a tragic waifish portrait of a woman in love with a man who's bound to drag her down with him. The film, announced for a 9:45 pm showing started at 11 pm but the theater was packed. The film received a richly deserved long heartfelt applause. Bravo!

Totally unexpected. A film I never heard of by a director I love. Saw it in HD in a large plasma screen and I was immediately taken away by the melancholic and fairy taleish atmosphere of the film. A group of Italian actors, all of them new to me, underline in the most exuberant lyrical tones a life of tragedy seen so many times in Italian movies. This time we seem to be peeping into something private and in the process we miss the links that keep the characters together but I wasn't looking for links, in fact, I didn't know what I was looking for, but whatever it was, I got it. Tears streaming down my face were the unrequested proof of the effect this loving portrait had on me. Martin Donovan is known for getting into his actors/characters faces and get to some shattering truth. Pierluigi Coppola, the "K" of the title, is an actor to watch. Beautiful. Strong and delicate at the same time. I can't wait to see "K. Il Bandito" again but, where can I find it?

I saw K IL BANDITO at the Hollywod Italian Festival and, I must say, Martin Donovan has outdone himself. His views of Venice are stunning, his actors, especially Pierluigi Coppola, are terrific, and his eye on life in Italian prisons is on the money.

He starts his life of K (Kappa) when he's just a kid, robbing and stealing with his three buddies. One hopes Kappa will change as he matures because he's bright, smart and charming. But as he and his pals grow from kids into men, Donovan shows that they don't change, their lives are wasted. But look from where Kappa comes: his father abandons him when he is a child, and Kappa's mother is a whore.

She is played superbly by Lina Sastri. Donovan gets an Academy Award performance out of her -- when she's on screen there is no one else -- she puts the entire tragic life of Kappa's mother in her eyes and I, for one, could't take my own eyes from hers. WOW, what an actress!

Kappa's girl, waiting for him as he passes in and out of prison with his pals descends into a life of destitution, drugs and prostitution.

Kappa's life is a tragedy; watching a smart guy like him fall deeper and deeper into a life of crime, one sees that Kappa, in the words of Brando, could have been a contender, he could have been someone, instead of a bum, which he is, let's face it. Pierluigi Coppola, Donovan's Kappa; turns in a fantastic performance. I think he's going to be a huge star.

I would see this film again and have given it a #10.

As a huge fan of "Apartment Zero" I went to "K.Il Bandito" with a certain amount of trepidation. Martin Donovan, the director, hasn't directed a film in a decade. It took the opening image to drag me into this passionate tale of "K" a fictional venetian bandit that, in a way, represents them all. The strange romantic view of an outlaw told in strong emotional terms. The hypnotic nature of this film remains vividly in my mind. I saw it 48 hours ago and I'm still in it with those fabulous faces that populate the film travelling around my brain. Pierluigi Coppola, plays Karlo with a "K" and he's not just impossibly beautiful but soulful and as far away from the bandits we're used to see that in a way his creation is kind of unique. His wife is played by Martina Stella with shattering honesty. She is truly exceptional. Her slow collapse into depression and drug addiction is told in riveting passages, so beautiful! The great Neapolitan singer, Lina Sastri, is a powerful standout as "K"'s mother. She doesn't shy away from her guilt. She's so aware and her pain is visceral and cinematic. The time transitions have a poetic flair very present in Martin Donovan's "Mad At The Moon" although Donovan visits here a very different universe. The score by Savio Riccardi and the photography by the great Ennio Guarnieri ("The Garden Of The Finzi Contini") are the icing on the cake of this emotional work of art.