Open My Heart

I just saw this at the New Italian Cinema festival at NY's Lincoln center. While the digitally shot film was not without interest, it really comes across as re-tread of Chabrol, particularly in the last third. However the young director/writer/star's work is impressive when you consider she made this film for about $5,000 US.

Considering the overt slickness of recent Italian fare such as Last Kiss and Casomai, I guess I should be overjoyed by this. Quick synopsis: Older sister's a hooker, younger sister's 17, never been kissed (well, almost), not let out of the house except to go to dance class, hooker sister helps younger one with Dante, Kepler and the poetry of John Donne. Good start huh? Well, things just get more fun from there, and I won't spoil the noirish, lynchian paths this DV enterprise takes. The sex scenes are more squirmy than erotic, and the director's idea to flash occasionally at Renaissance-period biblical depictions immediately after some sordid event seems an un-subtle moralizing (I'll take my perversions straight, so to speak, and make up my own mind about the moral call later). However, this is Italy, so maybe it was just real nice wallpaper in a corner of the room we didn't see normally.

Not entirely a success, but an interesting first try from the director.

Could supplant Donnie Darko as a midnight movie attraction in a few college towns, but I don't see it making too many best-of lists.

I think I said it all in my review title but - starting with the positive - I thought the lead performances by Giada Colagrande as Caterina and Natalie Cristiani as her older sister Maria were really quite good. Caterina's almost total subservience to Maria in the beginning and the arc by which she gradually establishes herself in the relationship is well written and well portrayed by both actresses. Unfortunately the movie is dragged down by the low production values and the seeming lack of attention given to any part of the story falling outside of the interactions between Caterina and Maria. The dialogue between the two leads, for example, is tight, measured and very effective in advancing the gradual transformation of the relationship between them. Dialogue involving the supporting cast members, by contrast, often seems stilted and on-the nose. The clear budget limitations under which this movie was made impacted other areas such as the camera work and uninspiring location choices (did that really look like a ballet school that Caterina was attending? It seemed more like the girls were walking in and out of someone's French windows), but these are more forgivable than the aforementioned dialogue issues. Overall, though, anytime someone puts time and effort into creative production there should be some kudos sent their way along with hope that any lessons learnt result in future productions of increasingly high quality, so I do that now - good effort, guys, particularly to Giada and Natalie on your performances - well done!

'Aprimi il cuore' (Open My Heart) is a unique film, one that tells a story of incest, prostitution, and murder in a singularly obtuse family. The genius of this piece is the writer, director and actress Giada Colagrande who has at a young age (she is not yet thirty as of this writing) found a voice in Italian cinema that demands attention. She is a major talent! Colagrande's 2003 film is a triumph.

Two sisters live alone in an apartment: Maria (Natalie Cristiani) is the older and has earned their support as a prostitute since their mother's death 15 years ago, and Caterina (Giada Colagrande) is 17 years old, a virgin confined to the apartment by her older sister with the sole exception of dancing lessons few times a week. Caterina is home taught, reads Dante, John Donne, and the major scientists, all under the guidance of Maria. While Maria brings her clients to the apartment during the day (Caterina must listen to the squeaking bedsprings in the bedroom she shares with Maria at night) and at night Maria hits the streets while Caterina practices her dancing and studies at home. The odd factor is the fact the Maria and Caterina have a strong sexual relationship and when Maria finishes a day's work, Caterina bathes her and they share bed and body in a lesbian relationship.

At Maria's dancing school there is a kind, older janitor Giovanni (Claudio Botosso) who pays attention to the plain Caterina and awakens her sexual feelings. Giovanni 'visits' Maria at their apartment and upon his departure Caterina dresses in a negligee and dances as though before Herod! Giovanni responds and at a later time Maria notices Caterina's inquisitiveness and invites her into the bedroom where she supervises Caterina's loss of virginity with Giovanni.

The floodgate has opened and Caterina soon is hosting Giovanni in a passionate sexual relationship. When Maria discovers the 'intruder' into their private life, she begins a series of deeds that defy sharing in a review. But it should be said that Maria's resolutions result in a return of the sister's relationship, a state that Caterina finalizes in ways learned from her tutor sister.

The acting is superb with special kudos to Colagrande's dancing as well as acting. This is a minimalist script, the camera revealing more about the silences than words ever could. The sexual scenes are graphic but provide the needed impact for the story's conclusion. This may not be a film for the casual viewer, but for those who love the edgy, tough, raw films from the Indies, this is bound to become a classic. Grady Harp

This film is worth nothing really. Poor acting, amatorial direction, silly and obvious script. Of course it is a success being made by a woman and diplaying nudity... well that tells it all. Beside it has nothing to do with "noir" and the movie "Donnie Darko" that is a much better film. And it has nothing to do with italian film, please!