Malena – 4/5
Malena - 4/5
Malena is a beautiful picture without an overabundance of dialogue. It stars Monica Bellucci as the eponymous character, and her magnetic beauty dominates the movie – as it was intended to. Malena works on multiple levels – coming of age, budding sexuality, obsession, human cruelty – but it is primarily director Giuseppe Tornatore’s ode to his beloved Italy.
There’s a lot to like here. Beautifully shot, the easy symbology, the score, multiple points of interest thematically, humor, love … oh, and Monica Bellucci is nekkid. A lot. Full frontal nekkid, even (import version only). There’s something for everyone! Unless you’re into cock, in which case I think there’s half a ball at one point and the rest is up to your imagination. Me? I’ve got Monica. Hubba hubba.
You know, Bellucci probably deserves more credit as an actress than she typically receives. She takes some difficult, uncomfortable roles sometimes (see, e.g. Irreversible), and even here where her primary purpose is to be an unobtainable beauty there are a few excruciating moments. Bellucci and Jennifer Connelly are cut from the same cloth in that way. I’m not comparing their acting chops because, frankly, I can’t tell if Bellucci can act. It’s a language thing; gimme a couple movies, but I’m leaning toward “yes.” Then again, I haven’t seen Tears of the Sun. At any rate, Bellucci’s fearless and she does well at the uncomfortable situations. One of the better models-turned-actresses around. How’s that for damning with faint praise?
As mentioned previously, the symbology in Malena is shallow. Which is good for guys like me, because then we feel all smart but don’t have to actually strain ourselves. W00t! See, Malena is Italy and Italy is Malena. From jaw-dropping beauty to desperate, used, and reviled outcast to acceptance once the beauty has been pummelled – this is Italy from 1939 onward.
Of note: don’t pick up the New Line American release – it’s a far lesser version. They cut 15 minutes of the movie, mostly for the teen sexuality (not only the nekkidness, but a (non explicit) handjob in a theatre, some of the fantasy interludes, and other such imageries that pose a danger to the republic). Fuck them puritanical bitches and get ahold of the uncut import version. Tornatore fans, movie buffs, and onanistic pervs will thank me… not that those are mutually exclusive categories. As of today, there is no uncut American version to buy, so the import it is. As a humorous side note – on the import version, if you are watching with Korean subtitles… there naughty (pubic) bits are censored out with this big black dot. Hahahah!
Malena. A good, solid 4 of a movie. If you like the story, you’ll probably also like Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso. Make sure you pronounce it “cheen-ee-mah” at the art house, or your beatnik cred will be revoked.