Malena

First of all, Monica Belluci (UNCANNY resemblance to Rachel Weiz... of course Monica I think is a teeny bit more beautiful. but to each his/her own) is. amaZING. Now for the rest. I urge the rest of the world to see this movie, not because its the greatest flick in the world. I think I liked "Life is Beautiful" a tiny bit better. There were obvious flaws in the consistency of emotional depth throughout "Malena." It started out as an almost farcical type of comedy... a story of a 12 year old boy, discovering his first fantasy in flesh... in the form of the beautiful Malena, both loved and hated for her incredible beauty... and also in his pants. Lets not get too deep into that. There were moments where I was rolling my eyes or chuckling sheepishly... silly moments of a Dad beating his son for discovering him with stolen underwear over head... some fantasy scenes that were clever, but quite silly. Then, all of a sudden, things get so serious.... a bit alarming. quite sad. and then things are uplifting, soaring again. It's a bit unnerving, I don't think the audience has any time to really relish or settle into the different transitions. BUT while those transitions seem a bit abrupt or speedy, it DOES succeed in making you notice the difference in tone... to make serious things seem very serious in contrast to the funny, that now seem a bit more funnier than before. The hominess and coziness of a small Italian town filled with their usual amounts of gossip and smalltalk can turn very ugly and destructive, and all over the fear of losing one's sense of security to a beautiful woman. and it's always fun dealing with the crush of one's life. You see Malena from the point of Ronalto, the main character, who clearly is smitten and the director DOES NOT hesitate in showing us just how smitten anyone can get. I ended up wanting to root for Ronalto...for one of his fantasies to come true... and when he doesn't have the courage to approach her, let alone write her a letter of affection... your heart aches, just like he does. The crush doesn't seem like a dirty, erotica like some can... it seems innocent, funny, and cute... and as the movie depicts the fall of Malena from a beautiful wife waiting for her soldier husband to come home during WWII to a prostitue forced to work in order to eat... well, I don't wnat to give it away but there is one scene where you feel your heart rip. Not only because you see the cruelty of what's being done to her, but because by this time, the audience is now also smitten with Malena as well. I DO wish that there was a bit more... about the inside life of Malena...a bit more onto her view of hte world... but I suppose this is Ronalto's story afterall...about how her life taught him about courage and love... and maybe htat's the point afterall... that we, as the audience, are supposed to want to know more, and to yearn for more. SO, I suggest you go and rent it... if anything, you'll hear the original tune from where Josh Groban got his song "you're still you." except it sounds even better here. oh and random fact: Monica Bellucci played Mary Magdelene in the Passion of the Christ. She was also in Matrix Reloaded. Talk about diverse mang.