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Ferzan Özpetek, the director of Diamonds (Diamanti):”There are certain costume designers I was thinking of, Milena Canonero, yes. Piero Tosi who was a good friend …”

Ferzan Özpetek’s sparkling Diamonds almost entirely takes place in a Roman film and theater costume atelier in the 1970s, owned by Alberta Canova (Luisa Ranieri) and her sister Gabriella (Jasmine Trinca), who after a personal loss seems more and more out of sorts to handle all the detailed requirements requested by demanding costume designers, movie directors, and stars.

Ferzan Özpetek with Anne-Katrin Titze about his encounter with Monica Vitti: ”She turned around and came back to me and said, you are going to make a lot of beautiful films!”

The fabulous ensemble cast sheds light on the various concerns of women in the garment business and their personal relationships through humorous and sometimes almost tragic vignettes.

The...

Alain Delon, the legendary French actor, was a central figure in the French golden age of cinema during the 1960s and 70s. Known for his suave, tough-guy persona and striking good looks, Leon appeared in more than 100 movies in his five-decade career. What made Delon so memorable was the unpredictable nature of his performances. From the ruthless assassin he played in Le Samouraï, to the charismatic criminal in Borsalino, Delon especially shone when he showed his seductive side in L'Eclisse and La Piscine. Hiss filmography even includes iconic literary characters, such as Zorro and Tom Ripley.

Delon passed away on August 18th, 2024, at the age of 88. Since then, film scholars, journalists, and fans have reflected on his remarkable body of work and the legacy his powerful performances have left in cinema history. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors of his generation and the rare international star to achieve global acclaim.

Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated drama “Io Capitano,” about the odyssey of two young African men who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe, and Paola Cortellesi’s feminist dramedy “There’s Still Tomorrow” were both the big winners at Italy’s 69th David di Donatello Awards.

“Io Capitano” won Davids for best picture, director, producers, editor, and cinematographer, among other prizes, while “Still Tomorrow,” which is about the plight of an abused housewife in post-war Rome and had 19 nominations scored six statuettes, including best directorial debut, actress, non supporting actress, screenplay, and audience award.

“Still Tomorrow,” which marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi, who also stars, is shot in black-and-white and riffs on Italy’s neorealist past, albeit with a contemporary female empowerment angle.

“I made this debut at the brink of menopause,” Cortellesi, who is 50, said while accepting the statuette for best debuting director. “I hope...

"I don't think I belong here." The Film Forum in NYC has revealed an official 4K restoration trailer for the iconic, surrealist masterpiece The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, one of the great Luis Buñuel's final films. It originally premiered in 1972, which means it's celebrating its 50th anniversary this year in 2022. It's highly regarded as a cerebral classic dealing with time travel and the bourgeoisie and their never-ending appetite. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie follows a group of dinner guests attempting to dine together, despite continual interruptions involving dreams and repeating scenes. The film is described as Bunuel's "most frivolously witty movie, directed (at the age of 72) with exhilarating ease." The French film stars Fernando Rey, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Julien Bertheau, and Milena Vukotic. It's one of the most confusing films you'll ever see, but that's also part of the "discreet charm" of figuring it out,...

Hey everyone! Before we wrap up the month of January, we have one more week of horror and sci-fi home media releases, and there is a lot to look forward to this Tuesday. Kier-La Janisse’s stunning documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is getting its own release and is also included in Severin’s amazing Folk Horror compendium that includes a ton of great films beyond Janisse’s doc.

There are a ton of other great titles coming home on Tuesday, too, including Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor, Arrebato, the cult classic Creature, Detention, Eyes of Fire, Trauma, a limited edition release of Sleep, and a 4K edition of Blood for Dracula.

Other home media titles arriving on January 25th include Delirium: Special Edition, Ebola Syndrome 4K, New York Ninja, The Deeper You Dig, Doctor Carver and Stage Fright (1950).

All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror (15-Disc...

As part of Severin's mid-year sale, they're offering a number of new titles, including Paul Morrissey's Blood for Dracula, starring Udo Kier! The movie is getting an impressive 4K Uhd upgrade and we have all the details:

At Midnight Eastern on June 25th (Thursday transitioning into Friday), Severin Films is launching their Mid-Year Sale, and as part of it they’re offering up the 4K Uhd debut of Paul Morrissey’s cult classic Blood For Dracula (aka Andy Warhol’S Dracula) in a 3-disc set. The first disc is a Uhd with the film in 4K with Hdr. The second disc is a blu-ray with a 1080P presentation of the film, along with bonus features. The third disc is a newly mastered, extended version of the CD soundtrack

Immediately after completing Flesh For Frankenstein, writer/director Paul Morrissey and star Udo Kier created what remains sumptuously depraved Euroshocker, cunning...

Director Alberto Lattuada’s keenly observed erotic comedy Come Have Coffee with Us is most definitely a product of its time (and patriarchal culture). Produced in Italy in 1970, this vibrantly shot film walks a fine line between sexism and the burgeoning feminist movement of the ‘60’s. Paronzini (played with much charm by La Cage aux Folles’ Ugo Tognazzi), a middle-aged tax inspector in a small Italian city, decides it’s time to leave his comfortable bachelor existence for a wealthy wife. He sets his sights on three single middle-aged sisters whose father (a wealthy taxidermist) recently passed away. The three women live a happy yet modest and cloistered life on an expansive estate. Fortunata (Angela Goodwin), the oldest sister, is the most prudish of the trio. Tarsilla (Francesca Romana Coluzzi) is the more adventurous middle child. Camilla (Milena Vukotic), the youngest, is naïve and childlike.

After seeking Paronzini’s advice on some tax matters,...

Read the winning entries from 2010

Overall Winner

Film, 14-18s

Alice in Wonderland by Rebecca Grant, 15

Tim Burton has snatched the beautifully eccentric odyssey that we once lovingly knew as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, wrung it dry of anything resembling the endearingly capricious originality of the children's classic, and slung the disgusting dregs into a pretentious, Disneyfied quest movie replete with, frankly, un-special effects.

Burton's insistence that his film was not a re-imagining or sequel to other "Alice movies" made me wonder whether he had actually read the book at all. Nineteen-year-old Alice, played by the apparently tranquilised Mia Wasikowska, spends a disproportionate amount of time at the beginning of the movie prancing around in a tediously twee caricature of Victorian high society. When the dopey antagonist finally wiggles her way into Wonderland, we are ambushed by the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, the Dodo, Tweedledum and Tweedledee all at once,...

Chicago – This 21-image slideshow contains the official press images for “Letters to Juliet” starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal and Franco Nero from director Gary Winick. The film opens on May 14th, 2010.

Synopsis: “When a young American (Amanda Seyfried) travels to the city of Verona, home of the star-crossed lover Juliet Capulet of Romeo and Juliet fame, she joins a group of volunteers who respond to letters to Juliet seeking advice about love. After answering one letter dated 1957, she inspires its author (Vanessa Redgrave) to travel to Italy in search of her long-lost love, and sets off a chain of events that will bring a love into both their lives unlike anything they ever imagined.”

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. Photos credited to John P. Johnson.

Letters_To_Juliet...

Chicago – In our latest romance edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “Letters to Juliet” with Amanda Seyfried of “Mamma Mia!” fame!

The film also features Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Egan, Marcia DeBonis, Gael García Bernal, Giordano Formenti, Paolo Arvedi, Dario Conti, Daniel Baldock, Ivana Lotito, Luisa Ranieri, Marina Massironi, Lidia Biondi, Milena Vukotic and Luisa De Santis from director Gary Winick (“Bride Wars”) and writers Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan. “Letters to Juliet” opens nationwide on May 14, 2010.

To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “Letters to Juliet” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This screening is on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “Letters to Juliet” with Amanda Seyfried.

TORONTO -- The bon mots fly fast and furious in A Good Woman, which transplants Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan to a new place and time.

But while screenwriter Howard Himelstein and director Mike Barker have done a workable job of drawing the Wilde social satire out of the drawing room, the film never quite manages to travel at the same buoyant velocity as the acerbic wit.

The tone trouble and problematic casting (more about that later) prevent the adaptation from being considered truly Oscar-worthy -- that's referring both to the statuette and Mr. Wilde -- though the delicious dialogue and opulent backdrops still make for a reasonably pleasant viewing experience.

Reverting to Wilde's original title for his play, A Good Woman has been moved up to the 1930s and relocated to the decidedly airier Amalfi coast in Italy.

Several of the characters, meanwhile, now have become Americans.

That would include Robert (Mark Umbers) and Meg (Scarlett Johansson) Windermere, a young newlywed couple in good standing who have left New York's sticky summer behind for some sensible vacationing on the Italian Riviera.

Having the same idea is Mrs. Stella Erlynne (Helen Hunt), a woman of a certain age with a certain reputation to match, who has seemingly exhausted her supply of the wealthy, married New York men who served as her meal ticket.

It doesn't take long before the penniless vamp appears to have landed Robert as her latest conquest, and their frequent sightings together have set the tongues of the sunbathing aristocracy a-flapping.

Meg's discovery that Robert has been issuing a number of checks to Mrs. Erlynne would seem to confirm those rampant rumors, and she receives little solace in the enamored attention paid to her by eligible Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore).

Of course, things, as it turns out, aren't quite as they appear.

Director Barker (1999's Best Laid Plans), along with cinematographer Ben Seresin, production designer Ben Scott and costume designer John Bloomfield, get the look and feel of the picture up to Merchant Ivory snuff, but there's a prevailing wistfulness hanging over the entire enterprise that has the effect of signaling that weightier third-act twist earlier than necessary.

As for the cast, while Johansson seems to have a natural affinity for period dress, Hunt fares less successfully in the role of the calculating seductress.

She effectively conveys Mrs. Erlynne's vulnerability and pain later on, but Hunt never seems entirely comfortable in her character's skin when she's required to play the shameless vamp with a knack for insinuating herself into the beds and checkbook registers of men who should know better.

As her quite willing next victim, the very wealthy but lonely Tuppy (Tom Wilkinson) nails the required tragicomic pitch with a great deal of self-effacing charm.

A Good Woman

Beyond Films

Credits:

Director: Mike Barker

Screenwriter: Howard Himelstein

Based on the play Lady Windermere's Fan by: Oscar Wilde

Producers: Alan Greenspan, Jonathan English, Steven Siebert, Howard Himelstein

Executive producers: John Evangelides, Mikael Borglund, Hilary Davis, Jimmy De Brabant, Michael Dounaev, Liam Badger, Duncan Hopper, Rupert Preston

Director of photography: Ben Seresin

Production designer: Ben Scott

Editor: Neil Farrell

Costume designer: John Bloomfield

Music: Richard G. Mitchell

Cast:

Mrs. Erlynne: Helen Hunt

Meg Windermere: Scarlett Johansson

Tuppy: Tom Wilkinson

Lord Darlington: Stephen Campbell Moore

Robert Windermere: Mark Umbers

Contessa Lucchino: Milena Vukotic

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 93 minutes...