list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Italian on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/The_Italian/262256/default.aspx Title: The Italian
Year: 2007
Director: Andrei Kravchuk
Plot: An abandoned Russian child forsakes a life of luxury in the name of finding his true mother in director Andrei Kravchuk's affecting drama. Vanya is a six-year-old boy who is about to be adopted by a loving Italian couple, but this is a crucial moment in his life, and there are choices to be made. Will Vanya be content to simply spend his days basking in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, or will his desire to know his true mother slowly eat away at him from the inside for the rest of his life? Though he eventually decides that in order to move on with his life he must first seek out his birth mother, Vanya must learn to read the file containing the information he will need to locate her. As Vanya sets out on the ultimate journey of self-discovery, he is about to find out that the world of children is a universe unto itself, a universe where the longings of the heart often overpower the ability to reason. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 10
Number of Lists: 4
Number of blog posts: 3
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:08:10 GMTThe Italian2007Andrei KravchukAn abandoned Russian child forsakes a life of luxury in the name of finding his true mother in director Andrei Kravchuk's affecting drama. Vanya is a six-year-old boy who is about to be adopted by a loving Italian couple, but this is a crucial moment in his life, and there are choices to be made. Will Vanya be content to simply spend his days basking in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, or will his desire to know his true mother slowly eat away at him from the inside for the rest of his life? Though he eventually decides that in order to move on with his life he must first seek out his birth mother, Vanya must learn to read the file containing the information he will need to locate her. As Vanya sets out on the ultimate journey of self-discovery, he is about to find out that the world of children is a universe unto itself, a universe where the longings of the heart often overpower the ability to reason. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide10Taggedy Taggged (6-10)4313http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s262256.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Italian/262256/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/jimbell/archive/2008/7/4/32105.aspx Post By: JimBell
Post To: JimBell Blog
Post Date: 7/4/2008 12:50:39 AM
Body: These are the top ten films I’ve seen at the mid-point of the year. I think it is a good idea to post a semi-annual list because instead of complaining about mundane theatre offerings the list confirms that there are enough excellent films out there to watch. In no particular order: Mother of Mine (2005; Finland/Sweden)—A young Finish boy is torn from his family by WWII and later in life comes to terms with both of his mothers and how they treated him. Gone Baby Gone (2007)-- Dennis Lehane, the author of the novel on which the movie is based, says that we as a society have not figured out how to protect our children. The search for a missing little girl dramatizes his concern. 51 Birch Street (2005; documentary)—Doug thought that in his parents’ marriage, his mother was the loving and approachable one and his father was remote and cold, but when Doug’s mother died and his father quickly married his former secretary, everything Doug thought he know about his family started to change. The Italian (2005; Russia) follows a young, plucky Russian boy’s attempt to escape adoption to Italy and instead find his birth mother. Starting Out in the Evening (2007) develops two complex relationships among New York’s intelligentsia. The course of any kind of love never did run smooth. Sharkwater (2006; documentary) examines sharks’ behaviour, their importance to the planet, and our complex rush to exterminate them. Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) is a high-spirited look at how US politics works, and our tour leader is the extremely complex and always interesting Senator Wilson. Longford (2006) portrays the public struggle and the personal growth of Lord Longford as he visits in prison a woman involved in the murder of several children. Get Smart (2008) may be the funniest movie in theatres this year, and it improves on the original series by creating more well-rounded characters and more serious action. Elizabeth I (2005) transports you to London in the late 1500s and embroils you in Queen Elizabeth’s loves and politics.
]]>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:50:39 GMTJimBellJimBell Blog7/4/2008 12:50:39 AMThese are the top ten films I’ve seen at the mid-point of the year. I think it is a good idea to post a semi-annual list because instead of complaining about mundane theatre offerings the list confirms that there are enough excellent films out there to watch. In no particular order: Mother of Mine (2005; Finland/Sweden)—A young Finish boy is torn from his family by WWII and later in life comes to terms with both of his mothers and how they treated him. Gone Baby Gone (2007)-- Dennis Lehane, the author of the novel on which the movie is based, says that we as a society have not figured out how to protect our children. The search for a missing little girl dramatizes his concern. 51 Birch Street (2005; documentary)—Doug thought that in his parents’ marriage, his mother was the loving and approachable one and his father was remote and cold, but when Doug’s mother died and his father quickly married his former secretary, everything Doug thought he know about his family started to change. The Italian (2005; Russia) follows a young, plucky Russian boy’s attempt to escape adoption to Italy and instead find his birth mother. Starting Out in the Evening (2007) develops two complex relationships among New York’s intelligentsia. The course of any kind of love never did run smooth. Sharkwater (2006; documentary) examines sharks’ behaviour, their importance to the planet, and our complex rush to exterminate them. Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) is a high-spirited look at how US politics works, and our tour leader is the extremely complex and always interesting Senator Wilson. Longford (2006) portrays the public struggle and the personal growth of Lord Longford as he visits in prison a woman involved in the murder of several children. Get Smart (2008) may be the funniest movie in theatres this year, and it improves on the original series by creating more well-rounded characters and more serious action. Elizabeth I (2005) transports you to London in the late 1500s and embroils you in Queen Elizabeth’s loves and politics. http://www.spout.com/blogs/jimbell/archive/2008/2/8/24853.aspx Post By: JimBell
Post To: JimBell Blog
Post Date: 2/8/2008 2:52:02 AM
Body: The Italian (2005) is a 6-year old Russian orphan who is being adopted by an Italian couple. When a desperate woman shows up at the orphanage looking for her son who has just left with adopted parents, our little man (Kolya Spiridonov) starts thinking he’d like to learn to read, sneak a peek at his personal file in the safe, and try to track down his birth mother. Hanging over the adventure is the worry that if he finds his birth mother, she may be an incredible disappointment and/or may turn him away. The entire subtitled story is told at a leisurely pace, too slow for those who crave jump-cut action flicks, but I only once thought things were dragging. I stuck with the story because I liked the little guy. I did not particularly sympathize with this quest—a nice life in northern Italy sounds good to me. But I admired his pluck. When he set about learning to read from one of the teenage girls at the orphanage, he was tenacious. At first he withheld money from the big boys running the orphanage’s protection racket, and he took his beating. And this brings up another thing I liked about the movie—many of the people had a good side. So the truck driver’s whore (Olga Shuvalova) who said he had to pay for reading lessons apologized and said she’d teach him for free. Gratefully, the movie keeps the social criticism low key, and, thus, more effective. We really get only three glimpses of the racket of selling children. Early on, one of the little guys in the orphanage says that the director or headmaster must be getting good money because after the last adoption he was in liquor for a week. Near the end of the movie, the obnoxious woman brokering the adoptions threatens to hold the director responsible for the lost revenue if the adoption falls through—about 5,000 Euros. The third criticism is provided by the character of the obnoxious woman herself, one of the few people in the movie without a shred of decency. While The Italian could have been melodramatic, while it could have been presented as a fairy tale, it is most effective as realism, not harsh realism but more a quiet observation of the way things are in modern Russia. The cinematographer (Aleksandr Burov) keeps an appropriately muted palette so that when the boy runs “free,” his new red jacket stands out. The music is perfectly restrained, subtly supporting the mood of each scene, generally sparse and modern without grating. The spirit of the plucky kid rises above the environment.
]]>Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:52:02 GMTJimBellJimBell Blog2/8/2008 2:52:02 AMThe Italian (2005) is a 6-year old Russian orphan who is being adopted by an Italian couple. When a desperate woman shows up at the orphanage looking for her son who has just left with adopted parents, our little man (Kolya Spiridonov) starts thinking he’d like to learn to read, sneak a peek at his personal file in the safe, and try to track down his birth mother. Hanging over the adventure is the worry that if he finds his birth mother, she may be an incredible disappointment and/or may turn him away. The entire subtitled story is told at a leisurely pace, too slow for those who crave jump-cut action flicks, but I only once thought things were dragging. I stuck with the story because I liked the little guy. I did not particularly sympathize with this quest—a nice life in northern Italy sounds good to me. But I admired his pluck. When he set about learning to read from one of the teenage girls at the orphanage, he was tenacious. At first he withheld money from the big boys running the orphanage’s protection racket, and he took his beating. And this brings up another thing I liked about the movie—many of the people had a good side. So the truck driver’s whore (Olga Shuvalova) who said he had to pay for reading lessons apologized and said she’d teach him for free. Gratefully, the movie keeps the social criticism low key, and, thus, more effective. We really get only three glimpses of the racket of selling children. Early on, one of the little guys in the orphanage says that the director or headmaster must be getting good money because after the last adoption he was in liquor for a week. Near the end of the movie, the obnoxious woman brokering the adoptions threatens to hold the director responsible for the lost revenue if the adoption falls through—about 5,000 Euros. The third criticism is provided by the character of the obnoxious woman herself, one of the few people in the movie without a shred of decency. While The Italian could have been melodramatic, while it could have been presented as a fairy tale, it is most effective as realism, not harsh realism but more a quiet observation of the way things are in modern Russia. The cinematographer (Aleksandr Burov) keeps an appropriately muted palette so that when the boy runs “free,” his new red jacket stands out. The music is perfectly restrained, subtly supporting the mood of each scene, generally sparse and modern without grating. The spirit of the plucky kid rises above the environment. http://www.spout.com/blogs/wonga/archive/2007/4/22/7418.aspx Post By: wonga
Post To: wonga's filmblog
Post Date: 4/22/2007 6:18:33 PM
Body: this movie's storyline somewhat parallels the last movie i saw, The Italian, however this Disney story wasn't quite as bleak! it's about an orphan (a genius by the way) who can't seem to get adopted as he's a little "different." he's already 12, so things are not looking so great. he invents a machine that can access his memories relating to what his mother looks like, so he can find her and live happily ever after. the story isn't that important, although i liked the ending. i'm giving it 4 stars because i've never seen a 3D movie before and it was fascinating! there was also a cartoon and 2-3 trailers in 3D (U2 and The Nightmare Before Xmas). i am so there and i already have the glasses (unless they only work for Disney movies)!
]]>Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:18:33 GMTwongawonga's filmblog4/22/2007 6:18:33 PMthis movie's storyline somewhat parallels the last movie i saw, The Italian, however this Disney story wasn't quite as bleak! it's about an orphan (a genius by the way) who can't seem to get adopted as he's a little "different." he's already 12, so things are not looking so great. he invents a machine that can access his memories relating to what his mother looks like, so he can find her and live happily ever after. the story isn't that important, although i liked the ending. i'm giving it 4 stars because i've never seen a 3D movie before and it was fascinating! there was also a cartoon and 2-3 trailers in 3D (U2 and The Nightmare Before Xmas). i am so there and i already have the glasses (unless they only work for Disney movies)! http://www.spout.com/groups/Telluride_Film_Festival_2008/Films_I_saw_at_Telluride/144/2917/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: aaronBsmith
Post To: Telluride Film Festival 2008
Post Date: 9/11/2006 10:46:55 AM
Body: At Telluride, I saw:The Last King of ScotlandSeverenceJindabyneCatch a FireDirected by John FordThe ItalianVolverInfamousI would be interesting if anyone out there has seen the original version of Directed by John Ford. It came out in 1971. The version I saw at Telluride was more or less the same, but with more interviews from current filmmakers and actors as well as restored clips from many of John Ford's films.
]]>Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:46:55 GMTaaronBsmithTelluride Film Festival 20089/11/2006 10:46:55 AMAt Telluride, I saw:The Last King of ScotlandSeverenceJindabyneCatch a FireDirected by John FordThe ItalianVolverInfamousI would be interesting if anyone out there has seen the original version of Directed by John Ford. It came out in 1971. The version I saw at Telluride was more or less the same, but with more interviews from current filmmakers and actors as well as restored clips from many of John Ford's films. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/mother/MemberTagFilms.aspxmother
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