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"The world as we know it is no longer working." Mubi has revealed their teaser trailer for the series now titled Mussolini: Son of the Century in English, originally listed as M. Son of the Century (aka M: Il figlio del secolo in Italian) when it first premiered. We've been tracking this since it popped up at the 2024 Venice Film Festival last year as one of their series premieres. Mubi will be debuting the series streaming in the US later in 2025. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Antonio Scurati, winner of the Premio Strega. Featuring a techno soundtrack by Tom Rowlands, part of The Chemical Brothers. "You can play with the aesthetics and the form of the piece... And the aesthetics are a kind of mashup between '90s rave culture and Man with a Movie Camera [1929 seminal avant-garde doc], a great Ukrainian film. It's Man with a Movie...

The biographical drama series based on one of history's most infamous figures finally has its first trailer and release window. The first trailer for M. Son of the Century has been released by Sky, which also announced that the series will premiere in 2025, but it did not give a specific date. The trailer stars famed Italian actor Luca Marinelli as the dictator Benito Mussolini, and also Francesco Russo as Cesare Rossi, Barbarie Chichiarelli as Margherita Sarfatti, and Gaetano Bruno as Giacomo Matteotti. It's possible you know Marinella from his role as Nicky in The Old Guard, the Netflix action-adventure movie starring Charlize Theron that recently received a promising update on a potential sequel.

"We are the new. Every era has one." Sky TV has revealed the first teaser trailer for the new series titled M. Son of the Century, a chilling look at the rise of fascism in Italy. This series is set to premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival later this month. Chronicling the rise of power of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in a history of a country that surrendered to dictatorship. It's clearly an examination of how democracy leads to fascism, as is hinted at with this footage in the teaser. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Antonio Scurati, winner of the Premio Strega. Featuring a techno soundtrack by Tom Rowlands, part of The Chemical Brothers (awesome!!). "You can play with the aesthetics and the form of the piece. The score is going to be this kind of techno score," Wright told Variety. "And the aesthetics are...

Warning: Spoilers for Fargo Season 5.

Fargo season 5 is filled with several twists and turns, standing toe to toe with the best seasons in the series. Lorraine finally accepts and respects Dot after learning about the abuse she endured. The ending is quite heartwarming and beautiful, paying off what was set up at the start of the season.

The season 5 finale of Fargo aired on Tuesday evening, and the inevitable showdown between those who follow the rules and those who don’t finally came to a head. Leading up to the events of the finale, a Minnesota woman named Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple) does her best to leave the past behind and focus on the loving, peaceful life she created with her husband and daughter. However, when she’s arrested for mistakenly tasing a police officer, her fingerprints wind up in the system. As a result, Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm...

Vulture Watch

Who will survive this story? Has the Fargo TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fifth season on FX? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Fargo, season five. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?  

What's This TV Show About?

Airing on the FX television channel, the fourth season of the Fargo TV show stars Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Salvatore Esposito, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, E'myri Crutchfield, Andrew Bird, Anji White, Gaetano Bruno, Sean Fortunato, Jeremie Harris, Corey Hendrix, Matthew Elam, James Vincent Meredith, Francesco Acquaroli, Karen Aldridge, Kelsey Asbille, Rodney Jones, Jameson Braccioforte, Tommaso Ragno, Glynn Turman, and Timothy Olyphant. In 1950 Kansas City, two criminal syndicates fighting for...

Can a truce be achieved in the fourth season of the Fargo TV show on FX? As we all know, the Nielsen ratings typically play a big role in determining whether a TV show like Fargo is cancelled or renewed for season five. Unfortunately, most of us do not live in Nielsen households. Because many viewers feel frustrated when their viewing habits and opinions aren't considered, we invite you to rate all of the fourth season episodes of Fargo here. *Status update below.

An FX anthology drama series, the fourth season of the Fargo TV show stars Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Salvatore Esposito, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, E'myri Crutchfield, Andrew Bird, Anji White, Gaetano Bruno, Sean Fortunato, Jeremie Harris, Corey Hendrix, Matthew Elam, James Vincent Meredith, Francesco Acquaroli, Karen Aldridge, Kelsey Asbille, Rodney Jones, Jameson Braccioforte, Tommaso Ragno, Glynn Turman, and Timothy...

House of Gucci Review — House of Gucci (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, Salma Hayek, Alexia Murray, Vincent Riotta, Gaetano Bruno, Camille Cottin, Youssef Kerkour, Reeve Carney, Florence Andrews, Mehdi Nebbou, Miloud Mourad Benamara, Andrea Piedimonte [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: House Of Gucci (2021): Ridley Scott’s Film Is Stylish and Well-Acted Though a Bit Overlong...

More than three years after its last installment, Season 4 of Noah Hawley’s anthology series Fargo bowed in September on FX and moved the action to 1950s Kansas City. That’s where we meet Chris Rock’s Loy Cannon and Jason Schwartzman’s Josto Fadda, a pair of gangland kingpins who square off across racial and family divides.

The season kicks off with the premiere episode “Welcome to the Alternate Economy,” written by Hawley, whose begins with a history lesson of American organized crime while setting up the key element of the 11-episode run: the two crime families are trading sons, a method intended to keep the peace.

That’s all in just the first few pages of Episode 401, the latest installment in Deadline’s It Starts On the Page, a series that highlights the scripts that are serving as the creative backbones of the TV awards season. The scripts...

There's been more than three years between the third and fourth seasons of Fargo on FX.  What kind of ratings with season four attract? Will a long absence and the ongoing pandemic have viewers craving Fargo's return or, have viewers forgotten the series? Will Fargo be cancelled or renewed for season five? Stay tuned.

The fourth season of the Fargo anthology drama series stars Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Salvatore Esposito, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, E'myri Crutchfield, Andrew Bird, Anji White, Gaetano Bruno, Sean Fortunato, Jeremie Harris, Corey Hendrix, Matthew Elam, James Vincent Meredith, Francesco Acquaroli, Karen Aldridge, Kelsey Asbille, Rodney Jones, Jameson Braccioforte, Tommaso Ragno, Glynn Turman, and Timothy Olyphant. In 1950 Kansas City, two criminal syndicates fighting for a piece of the American dream have struck an uneasy peace. Together, they control an alternate economy of exploitation, graft, and drugs.

Fargo creator Noah Hawley is one of the busiest men in Hollywood right now, which means the award-winning series was put on hitaus longer than fans anticipated. Thankfully, FX brought Hawley back for Fargo Season 4, brandishing the intriguing cast addition of Chris Rock, who will be the lead in this installment of the anthology series.

While Fargo Season 3 was another ratings winner for FX, some critics of the show believe that the premise has gone stale. Though we largely enjoyed the quieter, more personal third season, we have to admit that the routine runs the risk of getting tired. Fargo Season 4 certainly will be speculated on by fans and critics wondering what shape it will take when it returns.

Fargo Season 4 Trailer

A new trailer for Fargo‘s Covid-delayed fourth season has arrived. Ironically enough, amidst the clip’s montage of mirthful violence, the most frightening imagery here for a...

It may have taken a while after a Covid-caused production shutdown, but Fargo‘s intriguing, Chris Rock-fronted fourth season has finally procured a premiere, with FX having officially set a September release date.

Fargo Season 4 will premiere on FX on Sunday, September 27 at 10 p.m. Et/Pt, on which the first two episodes will air. Subsequent episodes will premiere on the same Sunday timeslot individually on a weekly basis. Streamers will be interested to know that each new episode will hit Hulu the day after their FX premieres.

The release date announcement occurs after the Chicago production of Fargo was one of several to be shut down back in March. Despite having only two episodes left to shoot, the shutdown resulted in a delay to the fourth season’s original April 19 release date; a move likely designed to avoid a situation similar to shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead...

Fargo's fourth season will see the light of day this fall, it has been announced. 

Months after being bumped from its April 19 premiere date due to the coronavirus pandemic, FX has confirmed when the series will return. 

Sunday, September 27 is the lucky day. 

Even more exciting, we're getting back-to-back episodes that day. The fun kicks off at 10/9c, and fans who watch on Hulu will be able to stream the next day. 

Hooray, right?

Fargo Season 4 picks up in 1950, at the end of two great American migrations - that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the US at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago - and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities - you saw a collision of outsiders, all fighting for a piece of the American dream.

The upcoming fourth installment of Noah Hawley’s FX anthology series Fargo, headlined by Chris Rock, will debut Sept. 27 with its first two episodes, directed by Hawley, airing back-to-back.

Originally slated to premiere April 19, Season 4 of Fargo was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down production on the show in mid-March. The series is now in pre-production in Chicago, with filming on the remaining few episodes of the 11-episode fourth installment slated to resume in late August.

Following the two-hour premiere, Fargo will air one new episode each week, which will be available the next day on FX on Hulu.

Fargo creator and executive producer Hawley and his production company, 26 Keys, lead the creative team of the new installment. Warren Littlefield and his production company, The Littlefield Company, also serves as executive producer along with Joel & Ethan Coen. Fargo is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions, with MGM...

Chris Rock’s “Fargo” year, commonly referred to as Season 4, finally has a new premiere date from FX. Let’s hope this one happens.

The fourth installment of “Fargo” will now debut on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 10 p.m. Et/Pt with back-to-back episodes directed by series creator Noah Hawley. Episodes hit FX on Hulu the following day. The next nine episodes of the 11-episode season will premiere each subsequent Sunday.

In addition to Hawley, Warren Littlefield and Joel & Ethan Coen are executives producers on the MGM Television and FX Productions anthology series.

“Fargo” Season 4 was initially set to begin airing on April 19, but the series was forced to shutter production due to the coronavirus pandemic. Production on “Fargo” Season 4 is expected to resume later this month.

Also Read: 'Fargo': Chris Rock Heads to 1950s Kansas City in First Trailer for Season 4 of FX Drama (Video)

Below is FX...

Are you ready for the new season of Fargo? FX just released a new teaser for the TV show's fourth season.

The new season of the anthology crime drama is set in Kansas City in 1950 as a pair of crime syndicates fight for control. In an attempt to restore some level of peace, the two mob bosses trade their youngest sons. The cast includes Chris Rock, Francesco Acquaroli, Andrew Bird, Gaetano Bruno, Jessie Buckley, Emyri Crutchfield, Salvatore Esposito, Jeremie Harris, Jack Huston, Amber Midthunder, Jason Schwartzman, Glynn Turman, Ben Whishaw, Uzo Aduba, Anji White, Corey Hendrix, Matthew Elam, Timothy Olyphant, and Karen Aldridge.

Read More…...

FX Networks just announced that it is positioning the premiere of the fourth installment of Fargo starring Chris Rock because of the suspension of production related to the coronavirus pandemic. Season 4 will no longer premiere on its previously scheduled date of April 19 and will no longer be eligible for the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards. A new premiere date will be determined once production resumes.

Fargo is the first in what is expected to be a wave of shows which have not yet premiered their upcoming seasons whose production has been halted or delayed because of Covid-19. The previously announced premiere dates for those series will be pushed, creating a void on networks’ and streamers’ schedules. in the next couple of months. It is a lot trickier for shows that have started airing their new seasons, and those seasons’ filming has now been put on hold.

More from DeadlineAmy Adams & Jennifer Garner...

Nearly three years will have passed by the time Season 4 of FX’s “Fargo” premieres in April, and audiences should prepare themselves for a version of the series never before seen.

Not only has “Fargo” left the wilds of Alberta to film stateside — in Chicago, specifically — but the season is set firmly in the past, lending the show some period piece bonafides it only flirted with in prior seasons. And it would be remiss to not mention the most significant adjustment to the DNA of the series: the diversification of a cast whose pallor too-often resembled the the snowy fields of winter in Minnesota.

Also, there are so many hats.

“This year, we’re really looking at the origins of the American capital crime, which is the exploitation of cheap labor,” Hawley explained of the upcoming season. “It took a long time for those people working to break into what we consider mainstream America.

FX released the first trailer for its long-awaited fourth season of “Fargo,” which features Chris Rock as the head of a 1950s-era crime syndicate in Kansas City.

Watch the video above.

In addition to Rock, the “Fargo” cast is led by Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Ben Whishaw, along with Jessie Buckley, Salvatore Esposito, Andrew Bird, Jeremie Harris, Gaetano Bruno, Anji White, Francesco Acquaroli, E’myri Crutchfield and Amber Midthunder.

FX announced earlier on Thursday that “Fargo” Season 4 would premiere on April 19. Noah Hawley told TheWrap earlier on Thursday how Season 4 could connect back to earlier seasons, namely with Bokeem Woodbine’s character Mike Milligan from Season 2.

Also Read: 'Fargo': Noah Hawley On How Season 4 Could Connect to Earlier Editions

FX provided the following summation of Season 4:

In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations — that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to...

“Justified” alum Timothy Olyphant is coming home to FX to join the Chris Rock-led fourth season of “Fargo.”

Olyphant will be a recurring guest star, playing a character named Dick “Deafy” Wickware, an FX spokesperson told TheWrap.

The fourth season of Noah Hawley’s “Fargo” will travel back to the 1950s. FX provided the following summation for the installment:

Also Read: 'Fargo' Season 4: Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw and Others Join Chris Rock in Cast

In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations — that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the Us at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago — and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities — you saw a collision of outsiders, all fighting for a piece of the American dream.

Exclusive: Justified star Timothy Olyphant is returning to FX with a key role in the upcoming fourth installment of the network’s anthology series Fargo, headlined by Chris Rock.

Created, written, directed and executive produced by Noah Hawley, who also serves as showrunner, Season 4 is set in 1950 in Kansas City, Mo. The locale serves as the crossroads and collisions of two migrations — Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow, both fighting for a piece of the American dream. In Kansas City, two criminal syndicates — one Italian, led by Donatello Fadda, one African American, led by Loy Cannon (Rock) — have struck an uneasy peace, which the heads of both families have cemented by trading their youngest sons.

Olyphant plays a character named Dick “Deafy” Wickware in a major recurring role.

In addition to Rock, Olyphant joins previously cast Jack Huston,...

Timothy Olyphant is headed back to FX.

The Justified star has joined Fargo's fourth season in a recurring role. He'll be part of a cast headed by Chris Rock, who plays the patriarch of a Kansas City crime family circa 1950. 

The cast also includes Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Salvatore Esposito, musician Andrew Bird, Jeremie Harris, Gaetano Bruno, Anji White, Francesco Acquaroli, Emyri Crutchfield and Amber Midthunder.

As with most of the other cast, FX isn't revealing any details about Olyphant's character beyond his name: Dick ...

“Orange Is the New Black” alum Uzo Aduba became the latest to join the upcoming fourth installment of FX’s anthology series “Fargo.”

She joins a cast that is headlined by Chris Rock, Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Ben Whishaw. The rest of the cast includes Jessie Buckley, Salvatore Esposito, Andrew Bird, Jeremie Harris, Gaetano Bruno, Anji White, Francesco Acquaroli, E’myri Crutchfield and Amber Midthunder.

The fourth season of “Fargo” will travel back to the 1950s. “Fargo” will begin production this fall in Chicago. It will air on FX in 2020. Joel and Ethan Coen, along with Warren Littlefield, serve as executive producers. “Fargo” is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions, with MGM Television serving as the lead studio and international distributor.

Also Read: 'Fargo' Season 4: Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw and Others Join Chris Rock in Cast

FX provided the following summation of Season...

Just when Uzo Aduba thought she was out of the fictional penal system, they pull her back in: The Orange Is the New Black star will play a prison escapee in Season 4 of FX’s Fargo, our sister site Deadline reports.

The anthology series’ upcoming season takes place in Kansas City, Mo., in 1950 (per the official logline) “at the end of two great American migrations — that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the U.S. at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York and Chicago, and African Americans who...

Exclusive: Emmy winner Uzo Aduba, currently filming the FX drama series Mrs. America opposite Cate Blanchett, is expanding her relationship with the Disney-owned network, signing on for a lead role in the upcoming fourth installment of its anthology series Fargo, headlined by Chris Rock.

Created, written, directed and executive produced by Noah Hawley, who also serves as showrunner, Season 4 is set in 1950 in Kansas City, Mo. The locale serves as the crossroads and collisions of two migrations — Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow, both fighting for a piece of the American dream. In Kansas City, two criminal syndicates — one Italian, led by Donatello Fadda, one African American, led by Loy Cannon (Rock) — have struck an uneasy peace, which the heads of both families have cemented by trading their youngest sons.

Aduba plays Zelmare Roulette. No...

It’s been awhile since we’ve had any news to share with you regarding Noah Hawley’s Fargo Season 4. It was initially announced that Chris Rock would star, but now we know who will be joining him in the series!

Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), and more have been cast in Season 4, the story of which is set in Kansas City in the 1950s. I’ve included additional details on the story as well, which you will find after the following casting details.

The cast includes Jack Huston as Odis Weff, Jason Schwartzman play Josto Fadda, Ben Whishaw as Rabbi Milligan, Jessie Buckley as Orietta Mayflower, Salvatore Esposito as Gaetano Fadda, Andrew Bird as Thurman Smutney, Jeremie Harris as Leon Bittle, Gaetano Bruno as Constant Calamita, Anji White as Dibrell Smutney, Francesco Acquaroli as Ebal Violante, E’myri Crutchfield as Ethelrida Pearl Smutney, and...

FX has set the extraordinary ensemble cast that will star with Chris Rock in the fourth installment of the Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award winning limited series Fargo, it was announced today by Gina Balian and Nick Grad, Presidents, Original Programming, FX Entertainment. Peabody, Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award winning Executive Producer Noah Hawley (creator/showrunner/writer/director) and his production company 26 Keys will lead the creative team for the latest all-new “true crime” story. Joel & Ethan Coen and Warren Littlefield also serve as Executive Producers. Fargo is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions, with MGM Television serving as the lead studio and international distributor. The next installment, set to begin production in Chicago this fall with Hawley directing the first episode, will air on FX in 2020 and feature: Jack Huston as “Odis Weff” Jason Schwartzman as “Josto Fadda” Ben Whishaw as “Rabbi Milligan” Jessie Buckley as ”Oraetta...

FX has revealed the Season 4 cast for Emmy-winning limited series Fargo, toplined by Chris Rock. Production begins this fall in Chicago for premiere on FX in 2020.

Joining Rock in the next installment are Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Jason Schwartzman (Funny People), Ben Whishaw (Paddington 1 & 2), Jessie Buckley (Beast), Salvatore Esposito (Gomorrah), Andrew Bird (Baskets), Jeremie Harris (Legion), Gaetano Bruno (La porta rossa), Anji White (The Chi), Francesco Acquaroli, E’myri Crutchfield (Roots) and Amber Midthunder (Hell or High Water).

Created, written, directed and executive produced by Noah Hawley, who also serves as showrunner, the fourth installment is set in 1950 in Kansas City, Missouri. The locale serves as the crossroads and collisions of two migrations — Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the Us at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago — and African...

When it comes to assembling an impressive cast, “Fargo” has upped the ante once again.

After announcing that Season 4 would be lead by Chris Rock, FX on Thursday unveiled a bold list of performers who’ll be joining him. Perennial TV/film favorites Ben Whishaw and Jessie Buckley lead the additions to the cast, alongside Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, and Andrew Bird.

The official synopsis accompanying these new details describes more of how all these actors fit into place for the new season: “In Kansas City, Missouri, two criminal syndicates have struck an uneasy peace. One Italian, one African-American. Together they control an alternate economy — that of exploitation, graft and drugs. This too is the history of America. To cement their peace, the heads of both families have traded their youngest sons.”

Rock plays the head of one of those families, struggling to keep the uneasy peace even as he...

“Fargo” Season 4 really rounded out its cast on Thursday, naming 12 new members of Noah Hawley’s players who will join previously-announced star, Chris Rock.

The cast is led by Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Ben Whishaw, along with Jessie Buckley, Salvatore Esposito, Andrew Bird, Jeremie Harris, Gaetano Bruno, Anji White, Francesco Acquaroli, E’myri Crutchfield and Amber Midthunder.

The fourth season of “Fargo” will travel back to the 1950s.

Also Read: Inside How 'Fargo' Creator Noah Hawley Signed Chris Rock for Season 4

FX provided the following summation of Season 4:

In 1950, at the end of two great American migrations — that of Southern Europeans from countries like Italy, who came to the Us at the turn of the last century and settled in northern cities like New York, Chicago — and African Americans who left the south in great numbers to escape Jim Crow and moved to those same cities — you saw a collision of outsiders,...

FX's Fargo has filled out the cast for its fourth season, with Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Ben Whishaw taking on leading roles alongside previously announced star Chris Rock.

The ensemble for season four also includes Jessie Buckley, Salvatore Esposito, musician Andrew Bird, Jeremie Harris, Gaetano Bruno, Anji White, Francesco Acquaroli and E'myri Crutchfield. Amber Midthunder, who has worked with Fargo creator Noah Hawley in Legion, will have a recurring role.

Season four takes place in Kansas City in 1950, at the end of two great migrations — that of southern Europeans to the United States and of African Americans moving away ...

Title: Indivisibili Director: Edoardo De Angelis Cast: Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana, Antonia Troppo, Massimiliano Rossi, Tony Laudadio, Marco Mario De Notaris, Gaetano Bruno, Gianfranco Gallo, Peppe Servillo. Italian filmmaker Edoardo De Angelis presents a disquieting modern tale about ancestral exploitation of a physical distortion. Daisy and Viola are siamese twin sisters living in the suburbs […]

The post Indivisibili Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Nick Harley Alec Bojalad Jan 10, 2020

Fargo Season 4 is coming soon to FX, brandishing an intriguing cast led by comedian Chris Rock!

Fargo creator Noah Hawley is one of the busiest men in Hollywood right now, which means the award-winning series was put on hitaus longer than fans anticipated. Thankfully FX has finally confirmed that Hawley is ready to begin production on Fargo season 4 and announced that Chris Rock will be the lead in the next installment of the anthology series.

While Fargo Season 3 was another ratings winner for FX, some critics of the show believe that the premise has gone stale. Though we largely enjoyed the quieter, more personal third season, we have to admit that the routine runs the risk of getting tired. Fargo Season 4 certainly will be speculated on by fans and critics wondering what shape it will take when it returns.

Here is everything we know about...

Dasy and Viola are teenage siblings who’re joined at the hip. And no, that’s not a metaphor. From Stuck on You all the way back to Todd Browning’s classic Freaks, conjoined twins have long proved fertile ground for cinema. Edoardo De Angelis’ Indivisible joins them, taking us on a subtly surreal tour of Italy’s grimy industrial south: a grimy land of burning trash and abandoned warehouses, populated by a gallery of grotesques eager to get their claws into Dasy and Viola (Angela and Marianna Fontana).

Blessed with both beauty and perfect harmony, the twins are breadwinners for their extended family – available to hire for children’s parties, weddings, baptisms and so on. Scumbag father Peppe (Massimiliano Rossi) is their Svengali, providing them with a songbook full of treacly pop songs, most of which are about the importance of unity and/or female submission.

Also on board...

It starts off so magically with conjoined twins Dasy (Angela Fontana) and Viola (Marianna Fontana) bringing hope and the word of God to the unfortunate souls languishing in poverty just north of Naples, Italy. They’re blissful when singing, eating up the attention and love from their parents Peppe (Massimiliano Rossi) and Titti (Antonia Truppo) despite our knowing that love is steeped in exploitation. This is the life these girls know. They have no computers or cellphones, their cut of the money goes to a bank account they should be able to use soon after turning eighteen. Removed from their naiveté and innocence is a carny lifestyle they’ve embraced to find purpose within a city that adores them. So what happens when they realize there’s more to be had?

This is the central question of Edoardo De Angelis‘ Indivisible. Co-written with Barbara Petronio and Nicola Guaglianone (the story...

Title: The Double Hour Director: Giuseppe Capotondi Starring: Filippo Timi, Ksenia Rappoport, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michele Di Mauro A sort of poison pill for arthouse enjoyers of square-jawed foreign film literalism, Italian import The Double Hour, which scored three top prizes at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, is a woozy and engaging romantic mystery loosely in the vein of Wicker Park, Swimming Pool or even Jacob’s Ladder. It’s not for all tastes, but the movie’s superlative lead performances give it an undeniable hold. The film starts out as a seemingly fairly straightforward drama of lonely hearts disengagment. At a speed-dating event, mousey, unhappy hotel maid Sonia (Ksenia Rappoport) meets the mysterious Guido (Filippo Timi), who turns...

Reviewed by Jay Antani

(April 2011)

Directed by: Giuseppe Capotondi

Written by: Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo

Starring: Ksenia Rappoport, Filippo Timi, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Alesi and Michele Di Mauro

When a movie goes by the tagline “Nothing Is What It Seems,” you know you’re in for a long guessing game. For much of director Giuseppe Capotondi’s 96-minute “The Double Hour,” the viewer is wondering whether what’s unfolding up on the screen should be believed or not. What’s more, reviewing the film is an inherently dodgy exercise since one can’t really discuss or critique the movie without giving away its central conceit. Suffice it to say that Capotondi tries for a romantic mystery/thriller in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s structurally snarled “Memento” and “Inception.”

The fundamental difference between “The Double Hour” and the Nolan movies, however, is that, in “Memento” and “Inception,...

Reviewed by Jay Antani

(April 2011)

Directed by: Giuseppe Capotondi

Written by: Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo

Starring: Ksenia Rappoport, Filippo Timi, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Alesi and Michele Di Mauro

When a movie goes by the tagline “Nothing Is What It Seems,” you know you’re in for a long guessing game. For much of director Giuseppe Capotondi’s 96-minute “The Double Hour,” the viewer is wondering whether what’s unfolding up on the screen should be believed or not. What’s more, reviewing the film is an inherently dodgy exercise since one can’t really discuss or critique the movie without giving away its central conceit. Suffice it to say that Capotondi tries for a romantic mystery/thriller in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s structurally snarled “Memento” and “Inception.”

The fundamental difference between “The Double Hour” and the Nolan movies, however, is that, in “Memento” and “Inception,...

The Double Hour Movie Trailer has premiered. Giuseppe Capotondi‘s The Double Hour / La Doppia Ora (2009) stars Filippo Timi, Ksenia Rappoport, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, and Fausto Russo Alesi. The Double Hour‘s plot synopsis: “Guido (Filippo Timi), a former cop, is a luckless veteran of the speed-dating scene in Turin. But, much to his surprise, he meets Slovenian immigrant Sonia (Ksenia Rappoport), a chambermaid at a high-end hotel. The two hit it off, and a passionate romance develops. After they leave the city for a romantic getaway in the country, things suddenly take a dark turn. As Sonia’s murky past resurfaces, her reality starts to crumble. Everything in her life begins to change – questions arise and answers only arrive through a continuous twist and turn of events keeping viewers on edge until the film’s final moments.” It seems to me that both the main characters have something to hide,...

Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- Andrea Porporati's "The Sweet and the Bitter" is a curiously hybrid story about a young man caught up in the organized crime of Sicily that combines ugly murders with robberies out of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

It presents an amoral view of Saro Scordia Luigi Lo Cascio), who enters the world of mobsters even though his hoodlum father is killed while in prison. The lead character is also the narrator as the film sees Saro grow from teenaged petty criminal to all-out thug.

Lo Cascio is good in the role but the film leaves a nasty taste as it appears to sympathize with the character's unregenerate self-pity when events inevitably conspire against him. Screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, boxoffice prospects do not appear great outside of Italy.

Saro is the kind of gullible delinquent who mistakes fear for respect, so that when the local mafia don Gaetano Butera (Tony Gambino) offers him work, he goes for it. Butera's son Mimmo (Gaetano Bruno) is his best friend and together they graduate from strong-arm stuff to actually killing someone, although Saro is better at it than the don's son.

Meanwhile, Saro has fallen in love with a good woman named Ada (Donatella Finocchiaro) who knows she shouldn't go out with a hoodlum but cannot resist. When she finally dumps him for another man named Massirenti (Fabrizio Gifuni), Saro beats him to a pulp. He respects him, however, because while Massirenti doesn't fight back, he doesn't back down.

There are the expected mafia-movie scenes of grizzled men in collarless shirts stirring pasta sauce and muttering about honor. At the ceremony in which Saro and Mimmo enter into the underworld society, however, the senior dons deliberately cause insult to Don Gaetano, and to Saro.

It doesn't bode well, as it turns out these people aren't to be trusted. They may, in fact, have had something to do with the death of Saro's father. Disillusioned by his Cosa Nostra experience, the young man decides to head north in search of Ada and some witness protection. He even gets help from Massirenti, who is now a judge, but as we know these things rarely end well.

THE SWEET AND THE BITTER

Medusa, Sciarlo

Director: Andrea Porporati

Writers: Andrea Porporati, Annio Gioacchino Stasi

Producer: Francesco Tornatore

Director of photography: Alessandro Pesci

Music: Ezio Bosso

Costume designer: Mary Montalto

Editor: Simona Paggi

Cast:

Saro Scordia: Luigi Lo Cascio

Ada: Donatella Finocchiaro

Gaetano Butera: Tony Gambino

Mimmo Butera: Gaetano Bruno

Saro at 14: Gioacchino Cappelli

Antonia: Ornella Giusto

Lady in wig: Emanuela Muni

Saro's father: Vincenzo Amato

Vicari: Renato Carpentieri

Stefano Massirenti: Fabrizio Gifuni

No MPAA rating, running time 98 minutes...