Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
palmiro
If you liked "Ricordati di me" and "La meglio gioventu'" you will probably also like "La bestia nel cuore". If, on the other hand, you found it painful to watch those films, both because they are so bad "in assoluto" but also because you can only feel distraught at how far they have fallen from the masterpieces of Italian cinema, then "La bestia nel cuore" is not for you. "La bestia nel cuore" has the same melodramatic dialogue and plot, the same soap-operatic style of acting (Alessio Boni, who is in this one and also in "La meglio gioventu'" is the worst offender), the same mawkish musical score (strings abound), the same uninspired direction (according to the standard TV play-book), the same cast of bourgeois and petty bourgeois characters (each and every one self-absorbed and "antipatico"). The present cohort of young Italian actors and directors was the first generation to be raised and steeped in television, particularly in the very bad TV series imported from the US in the 70s and 80s—and it shows. But the explanation goes deeper. Italian cinema from the late 40s through the mid-80s was, at its best,a cinema that chronicled and portrayed the post-war crisis in Italian society, economy, politics, and mores. Its characters were at once fully fleshed out in psychological terms but also representative of and immersed in this crisis of Italian life. In a sense, their individual egos were the backdrop to that crisis, and the films had an edge and urgency to them (however light and comedic at times), because they spoke directly to the crisis. The current spate of bad Italian cinema has reversed that relationship: Italian society is a mere backdrop to the crisis in individual psyches. And since the psychology here is strictly pop and 3rd rate, the resultant cinema is little more than pap and drivel. (Incidentally, Bertolucci's work is itself illustrative of this trajectory—and even Moretti's recent work, "Il caimano", a film nominally about Berlusconi, lapses into this kind of navel- gazing.)One point of critical trivia that I cannot resist: Why should Daniele's child, born and raised in Charlottesville Virginia by an Italian father and an American mother speak with a British accent?
gradyharp
'La Bestia nel cuore' ('The Beast in the Heart' released in the USA as 'Don't Tell') is an intense Italian film written and directed by Cristina Comencini that tackles subject matter so visceral that the telling of it requires complete concentration from the audience in order to feel the power of the impact at the end. It is a tough film to watch because of the story, but it is a superb film to watch because of the excellent cast and production crew.Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is introduced to us in a cemetery where she is arranging for the interment of her dead parents: the mood for the story is subtly set. Sabina is a dubbing actress for translating films into Italian, a 'sell-out' acting job compared to the life of her live-in boyfriend Franco (Alessio Boni) who is a stage actor being tempted to accept a role in a TV series which pays more money than the stage. Sabina confesses she wants to get pregnant, she does, and with her pregnancy she begins to have nightmares of shadowy childhood memories. She is afraid to discuss these with Franco, or with her best friend Emilia (Stefania Rocca) who is blind and has been in love with Sabina since childhood. It seems the only person with whom she can confide her secret fears is her brother Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio) who has moved from Italy to Charlottesville, VA where he is a professor at the University and has a happy family life with wife Anna (Lucy Akhurst) and two children. Sabina flies to the US to be with her brother and in the course of their reunion the two siblings uncover the beasts in their hearts: sexual abuse from their father now departed. How this discovery alters their lives is the dénouement of the film.There are many subplots - infidelity on the part of Franco while Sabina is away, a lesbian relationship that develops between Emilia and another of Sabina's friends Maria (Angela Finocchiaro) - and Comencini draws subtle parallels between these twists along side the main story of incest discovery. Yet without concentration, these subplots can become distracting.The acting is on the highest level and the changing locations are shot by cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti with sensitive respect of the nuances of suggestion encased in each place. The uncredited musical score is an admixture from Robert Schumann's piano sonata to contemporary works and serves to heighten the actions and mood. In Italian with subtitles. A film well worth watching.
eapplebaum
This film was an amateur job at best. I would have expected more than a melo-dramatic soap opera to tell the story of such a sensitive subject. I've seen more talented first time directors and writers do a whole hell of a lot better then these seasoned soap workers. A pity certain scenes were interesting and somewhat well done had no leg to stand on, hence they seemed comical in their brief moments and then certain scenes in their flailing over stated tragedy were completely worthy of only a snicker and a wave of embarrassment for the filmmakers to write and direct such a cliché and stereotypical portrayal of...well...Everything AND Everyone! SHAME on the Oscar committee for nominating THIS film for Best Foreign Film...what kind of Judges does that committee have??? Ex Soap stars? We need to maintain SOME kind of level of excellence to recognize great ability to truly create work worthy of Oscar nominations next to the likes of our greatest filmmakers and entertainment talent of intelligence, skill and creativity, not amateur soap "workers". Please. Movie of the week maybe....but an Oscar Nomination? Because it was made in Italy. WAKE UP!! HELLO!!
Luis Levy
OK, let me talk some sense about this movie:1. This is Italian Drama at its worst 2. There are three different movies crammed into one 3. The narrative cues are typical of soap operasThere, I said it. And I know what I'm talking about since I'm from Brazil and we know all about soap operas. This is not a great film, period. Put that in your head, Foreign Film judges.It might have been a good episode (if heavily edited) of prime time TV, but it will NEVER be Oscar material.First, let me digress about the script. As many of you will see, it's a mess from start to finish. The main topic (abuse / incest) has to share time with a struggling TV director and a some thoughts on lesbianism AND blindness at the same time. Can you guys see the SCOPE of all that? How are we supposed to follow all these very intense plot lines and still care for the main theme?Well, the answer is simple. We can't. Soon the audience gets divided over plot lines and the main one never recovers. Since this is a scripting problem - mainly from the adaptation from a book, I'm sure - this would already be a major con for a serious drama.Then we go to acting. The husband gives us the "theater speech" but all we see on screen is an impersonation of a caring husband. He never goes above TV level - just like what they are supposedly mocking. As for the main actress, she is good but her character soon loses steam and she has to rely on pre-fabricated "moments" to emote on. After a while, it gets plain boring.We never get a feel for the lesbian/blind girl either. She is no more than a mental construct, a "moral in a person" that manages to shine in a couple moments and nothing more. A wasted character, I might say.The older woman. She appears from nowhere, turns lesbian, says she's straight then proceeds to kiss the blind girl and disappears again.I have to mention the music. All the cues come straight from a horror picture, making the horrific abuse almost funny. Less strings would be nice. Actually, less music in general would help the movie a lot.Finally, the directing works really well sometimes. The movie has moments of greatness, of true emotion. It's unfortunate that it is so irregular - whole sequences are destroyed by badly selected shots and artificial mis-en-scene. Again, it gets funny when it shouldn't and many important plot points fall flat. This seems to be the work of a novice director, someone still getting to know the tools of the trade.It could be so much better. 30 minutes less, it would be a competent drama. This is watchable for the most part - 70 minutes or so, I'd say - but gets irritating and over-extended close to the third act. As always, great intentions don't make a movie great.I'll end this review saying that I'm stupefied over the Oscar nomination. I still can't put my mind around it and will have nightmares tonight, I bet.
