Celebrated journalist Jep Gambardella (played with mournful comic pall by Tony Servillo) wrote a great novel — 40 years ago. Since then, he's been living a life of social ascendance and moral decline, and now, in the wake of his 65th birthday blowout, he suddenly finds himself surrounded by dead …
Paolo Sorrentino, making like an Italian Oliver Stone, rifles through “the Spectacular Life of Giulio Andreotti” (in the words of the subtitle), seven-term Prime Minister rumored to have Mafia ties and blood on his hands, less a character than a caricature in the interpretation of Toni Servillo, jug ears, humpback, …
Cinema’s answer to a picture-postcard rack, the franchise operates solely on the premise that audiences will return so long as the cast is appealing, the location enticing, and the romantic subplots not too demanding. I liked it better when they called it The Love Boat. For once, the multiple plot …
For his first narrative feature since the unforgettable Il Divo, director Paolo Sorrentino once again turns out an epic account of a passive subject. This tack worked when used to illustrate the life of a nondescript, hunchbacked dwarf who quietly ran roughshod over Italian politics for almost 50 years. The …
Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) has made something of a crowd pleaser, a gorgeous consideration of the artistic impulse that yields up its fruits without too much of a struggle. (A little patience may be required while the weaver spins out his threads, but they all wind up woven, …