Casanova
Screened out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival
VENICE -- Movies with the name Casanova in the title have almost always been stinkers so it's bold of Lasse Hallstrom to call his film simply "Casanova" but it turns out to be a welcome exception to the rule as it's a smart and sophisticated comedy romp.
It has been a while since a sensible sex comedy of this entertaining sharpness has been around, but Hallstrom's film is a genuine crowd-pleaser that should have exhibitors everywhere smiling along with huge numbers of moviegoers.
The city of Venice has never looked so scintillating on screen and the glorious setting is the perfect background for a tale of love and lust and mistaken identity that never stoops to the ludicrous posturing and leering typical of most period farces.
Richard Lester's excellent Musketeer movies come to mind along with a little Monty Python but the screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi, from a story by Simi and Michael Cristofer, borrows cleverly from Shakespeare too in its pleasing symmetry.
The film delights in a time when even in so flourishing a city as Venice, individuals are known only by their names and not their faces. It's happily foreign to today's world where image is everything and it allows for deception at the highest level, which the film exploits to the full.
Many of the principal characters in "Casanova" pretend to be someone else for assorted reasons, mostly lust, and it's a source of great merriment that their undoing is an early version of one of the most ubiquitous institutions of modern times: advertising.
It is 1753 and Casanova (Heath Ledger) is so celebrated a lover that he is lampooned by players in St. Mark's Square and puppet shows all over Venice. The Inquisition has him on its most-wanted list for debauchery and when they raid a nunnery in pursuit of him, Casanova flees his complicit novitiate and every nun in the place blows him a kiss on his way out.
His protector, the Doge (Tim McInnerny) tells him that to be saved from the Inquisition, he must leave Venice forever or get married, and so Casanova and his manservant Lupo (Omid Djalili) go in search of the perfect bride.
Meanwhile, Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller) is awaiting the arrival of her fiance, Paprizzio, the lard mogul of Genoa, whom she has never met but must marry at the desperate wish of her mother (Lena Olin). Francesca's brother Giovanni (Charlie Cox) spends his time ogling the local virgin, Victoria (Natalie Dormer), but cannot bring himself to approach her.
When Casanova and Victoria meet, she blossoms with a lust so pulsating that she snaps thick wood with her fingers, and the two become engaged. Annoyed by this development, Giovanni challenges Casanova to a duel although not realizing he is the notorious seducer.
Knowing her brother is not a good with a sword, at least not one with a blade, Francesca takes his place and fights Casanova to a draw. Only when the duel ends is she revealed as a beautiful woman and Casanova is immediately smitten. When he discovers that she favors the writing of a philosopher whose books espouse a woman's point of view, he employs that philosophy to pursue her, little knowing that she is in fact the writer of those books using a nom-de-plume.
In the tradition of great farces, the story then tumbles delightfully along its eccentrically logical path with wonderful figures showing up including Paprizzio (Oliver Platt) and the chief inquisitor Pucci (Jeremy Irons), and there's many a twist before the tale is finally told.
Ledger provides a well-measured comic counterbalance to his grimly gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain", and Miller finally emerges from the publicity furor of her relationship with Jude Law to show that she is a beautiful and highly capable screen actress for whom stardom clearly beckons.
Irons is an Ice Pick of drollery and Pratt has great fun mimicking Orson Welles in his Mr. Creosote period, while the remainder of the cast -- including veteran Paddy Ward, with a couple of lovely Edward Everett Horton moments -- take advantage of a clever script and a director having the time of his life.
CASANOVA
Touchstone Pictures presents a Mark Gordon Company-Hallstrom/Halleran production.
Credits: Director: Lasse Hallstrom; Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi; Story: Kimberly Simi and Michael Cristofer; Producers: Mark Gordon, Betsy Beers, Leslie Holleran; Executive producers: Su Armstrong, Adam Merims, Gary Levinsohn; Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton; Production designer: David Gropman; Editor: Andrew Mondshein; Music: Alexandre Desplat. Cast: Casanova: Heath Ledger; Francesca Bruni: Sienna Miller; Andrew: Lena Olin; Victoria: Natalie Dormer; Giovanni Bruni: Charlie Cox; Pucci: Jeremy Irons; Paprizzio: Oliver Platt; Guardi: Phil Davies; Donato: Stephen Greif; Lupo: Omid Djalili; Vittorio: Paddy Ward; Dalfonso: Ken Stott; Doge: Tim McInnerny; Casanova's mother: Helen McCrory; Mother's lover/Tito: Leigh Lawson.
No MPAA rating. Running time: 108 min.
VENICE -- Movies with the name Casanova in the title have almost always been stinkers so it's bold of Lasse Hallstrom to call his film simply "Casanova" but it turns out to be a welcome exception to the rule as it's a smart and sophisticated comedy romp.
It has been a while since a sensible sex comedy of this entertaining sharpness has been around, but Hallstrom's film is a genuine crowd-pleaser that should have exhibitors everywhere smiling along with huge numbers of moviegoers.
The city of Venice has never looked so scintillating on screen and the glorious setting is the perfect background for a tale of love and lust and mistaken identity that never stoops to the ludicrous posturing and leering typical of most period farces.
Richard Lester's excellent Musketeer movies come to mind along with a little Monty Python but the screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi, from a story by Simi and Michael Cristofer, borrows cleverly from Shakespeare too in its pleasing symmetry.
The film delights in a time when even in so flourishing a city as Venice, individuals are known only by their names and not their faces. It's happily foreign to today's world where image is everything and it allows for deception at the highest level, which the film exploits to the full.
Many of the principal characters in "Casanova" pretend to be someone else for assorted reasons, mostly lust, and it's a source of great merriment that their undoing is an early version of one of the most ubiquitous institutions of modern times: advertising.
It is 1753 and Casanova (Heath Ledger) is so celebrated a lover that he is lampooned by players in St. Mark's Square and puppet shows all over Venice. The Inquisition has him on its most-wanted list for debauchery and when they raid a nunnery in pursuit of him, Casanova flees his complicit novitiate and every nun in the place blows him a kiss on his way out.
His protector, the Doge (Tim McInnerny) tells him that to be saved from the Inquisition, he must leave Venice forever or get married, and so Casanova and his manservant Lupo (Omid Djalili) go in search of the perfect bride.
Meanwhile, Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller) is awaiting the arrival of her fiance, Paprizzio, the lard mogul of Genoa, whom she has never met but must marry at the desperate wish of her mother (Lena Olin). Francesca's brother Giovanni (Charlie Cox) spends his time ogling the local virgin, Victoria (Natalie Dormer), but cannot bring himself to approach her.
When Casanova and Victoria meet, she blossoms with a lust so pulsating that she snaps thick wood with her fingers, and the two become engaged. Annoyed by this development, Giovanni challenges Casanova to a duel although not realizing he is the notorious seducer.
Knowing her brother is not a good with a sword, at least not one with a blade, Francesca takes his place and fights Casanova to a draw. Only when the duel ends is she revealed as a beautiful woman and Casanova is immediately smitten. When he discovers that she favors the writing of a philosopher whose books espouse a woman's point of view, he employs that philosophy to pursue her, little knowing that she is in fact the writer of those books using a nom-de-plume.
In the tradition of great farces, the story then tumbles delightfully along its eccentrically logical path with wonderful figures showing up including Paprizzio (Oliver Platt) and the chief inquisitor Pucci (Jeremy Irons), and there's many a twist before the tale is finally told.
Ledger provides a well-measured comic counterbalance to his grimly gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain", and Miller finally emerges from the publicity furor of her relationship with Jude Law to show that she is a beautiful and highly capable screen actress for whom stardom clearly beckons.
Irons is an Ice Pick of drollery and Pratt has great fun mimicking Orson Welles in his Mr. Creosote period, while the remainder of the cast -- including veteran Paddy Ward, with a couple of lovely Edward Everett Horton moments -- take advantage of a clever script and a director having the time of his life.
CASANOVA
Touchstone Pictures presents a Mark Gordon Company-Hallstrom/Halleran production.
Credits: Director: Lasse Hallstrom; Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi; Story: Kimberly Simi and Michael Cristofer; Producers: Mark Gordon, Betsy Beers, Leslie Holleran; Executive producers: Su Armstrong, Adam Merims, Gary Levinsohn; Director of photography: Oliver Stapleton; Production designer: David Gropman; Editor: Andrew Mondshein; Music: Alexandre Desplat. Cast: Casanova: Heath Ledger; Francesca Bruni: Sienna Miller; Andrew: Lena Olin; Victoria: Natalie Dormer; Giovanni Bruni: Charlie Cox; Pucci: Jeremy Irons; Paprizzio: Oliver Platt; Guardi: Phil Davies; Donato: Stephen Greif; Lupo: Omid Djalili; Vittorio: Paddy Ward; Dalfonso: Ken Stott; Doge: Tim McInnerny; Casanova's mother: Helen McCrory; Mother's lover/Tito: Leigh Lawson.
No MPAA rating. Running time: 108 min.
- 9/3/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Waking Ned Devine'
As millions know all too well, it takes a miracle to win the lottery. But the luck of the Irish is famous in such matters and the delightful "Waking Ned Devine" -- about a whole village involved in a £6 million ruse -- is an underdog to be reckoned with.
While it's doubtful that distributor Fox Searchlight has another worldwide hit to rival last year's "The Full Monty", first-time writer-director Kirk Jones' gentle fable has broad appeal and should pick up many satisfied fans.
A warm tale of a lifelong friendship, as well as a comic fable of fortunes won and lost, "Waking Ned Devine" has no stars to speak of, but the performances couldn't be finer. Anchoring the film are Ian Bannen ("Braveheart") and David Kelly ("Run of the Country") as two veteran lotto players who one day discover the body of their late friend Ned Devine. Clutching his winning ticket, Devine died from shock while watching the numbers selected on television.
In fact, the film gets off to a less macabre start, with Jackie (Bannen) and Michael (Kelly) searching among the living for the unknown winner among the drab, slow-moving but altogether decent locals. Alas, it's only after treating the likes of Pig Finn (James Nesbitt) to many pints of beer at the pub and splurging on an elaborate dinner party for the village's known lottery players that the pair realize Devine is missing and go snooping around his house.
With more than a few impish winks and sneaky ideas, Jackie talks the reluctant Michael into assuming Devine's identity and turning in the ticket. But both men are respectful of the deceased and plan to share the winnings, that is before they learn the sum is somewhere north of their wildest dreams.
Knowing the risky scheme will crumble if only one of the 50-plus villagers is not cooperative, the leads vow to split up the fortune evenly among the whole group. The one opposer to the plan is very unlucky after giving them all a fright, while the real Ned Devine is buried with a full house, and Jackie unabashedly honors Michael in a tender, if premature, eulogy.
As Jackie's co-conspirator wife, Fionnula Flanagan is a pleasure, and Susan Lynch ("The Secret of Roan Inish") injects earthy sex appeal as a wild lass paired off with the smelly Finn. For all its superior entertainment value and positive outlook on the human condition, "Waking" is lighter than a feather but well-paced and visually first-rate.
WAKING NED DEVINE
Fox Searchlight Pictures
A Tomboy Films production
Writer-director: Kirk Jones
Producers: Glynis Murray, Richard Holmes
Executive producer: Alexandre Heylen
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: John Ebden
Editor: Alan Strachan
Costume designer: Rosie Hackett
Music: Shaun Davey
Casting: Ros Hubbard, John Hubbard
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jackie O'Shea: Ian Bannen
Michael O'Sullivan: David Kelly
Annie O'Shea: Fionnula Flanagan
Maggie: Susan Lynch
Pig Finn: James Nesbitt
Mrs. Kennedy: Maura O'Malley
Maurice: Robert Hickey
Brendy: Paddy Ward
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
While it's doubtful that distributor Fox Searchlight has another worldwide hit to rival last year's "The Full Monty", first-time writer-director Kirk Jones' gentle fable has broad appeal and should pick up many satisfied fans.
A warm tale of a lifelong friendship, as well as a comic fable of fortunes won and lost, "Waking Ned Devine" has no stars to speak of, but the performances couldn't be finer. Anchoring the film are Ian Bannen ("Braveheart") and David Kelly ("Run of the Country") as two veteran lotto players who one day discover the body of their late friend Ned Devine. Clutching his winning ticket, Devine died from shock while watching the numbers selected on television.
In fact, the film gets off to a less macabre start, with Jackie (Bannen) and Michael (Kelly) searching among the living for the unknown winner among the drab, slow-moving but altogether decent locals. Alas, it's only after treating the likes of Pig Finn (James Nesbitt) to many pints of beer at the pub and splurging on an elaborate dinner party for the village's known lottery players that the pair realize Devine is missing and go snooping around his house.
With more than a few impish winks and sneaky ideas, Jackie talks the reluctant Michael into assuming Devine's identity and turning in the ticket. But both men are respectful of the deceased and plan to share the winnings, that is before they learn the sum is somewhere north of their wildest dreams.
Knowing the risky scheme will crumble if only one of the 50-plus villagers is not cooperative, the leads vow to split up the fortune evenly among the whole group. The one opposer to the plan is very unlucky after giving them all a fright, while the real Ned Devine is buried with a full house, and Jackie unabashedly honors Michael in a tender, if premature, eulogy.
As Jackie's co-conspirator wife, Fionnula Flanagan is a pleasure, and Susan Lynch ("The Secret of Roan Inish") injects earthy sex appeal as a wild lass paired off with the smelly Finn. For all its superior entertainment value and positive outlook on the human condition, "Waking" is lighter than a feather but well-paced and visually first-rate.
WAKING NED DEVINE
Fox Searchlight Pictures
A Tomboy Films production
Writer-director: Kirk Jones
Producers: Glynis Murray, Richard Holmes
Executive producer: Alexandre Heylen
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: John Ebden
Editor: Alan Strachan
Costume designer: Rosie Hackett
Music: Shaun Davey
Casting: Ros Hubbard, John Hubbard
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jackie O'Shea: Ian Bannen
Michael O'Sullivan: David Kelly
Annie O'Shea: Fionnula Flanagan
Maggie: Susan Lynch
Pig Finn: James Nesbitt
Mrs. Kennedy: Maura O'Malley
Maurice: Robert Hickey
Brendy: Paddy Ward
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 11/4/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.