The Star Maker

Joe Morelli is a scam artist that loves to prey on innocent people in the poorer regions of Italy. As we meet him, he is trying to swindle whoever he can from the impoverished Sicilians that happen to live in those forgotten towns. The movie is set after WWII in a ruined Italy that hasn't come out of its defeat and most of the population is having a hard time eking a life, mainly from the land.

Morelli, pretending to be a scout for a big Rome studio is seen traveling the back ways of Sicily with his small van that opens up to a mini studio where the unsuspecting people of those towns flock for a screen test that no one will ever see. For the price of 1,500 lire they get a chance to act for the con man and his camera, hoping they will be the next discovery, once the film is seen by the big casting directors in Rome.

Giuseppe Tornatore has a love for the cinema, as he showed with "Nuovo cinema Paradiso", which chronicled, perhaps, his own childhood in a small town in Sicily. Mr. Tornatore is a director that hasn't forgotten his roots, as he demonstrates with this tale about innocent common people being duped because their love and the allure of the cinema, that dream making medium.

Sergio Castellitto, one of the best actors working today in the Italian cinema, does a wonderful job interpreting Morelli for the director. His Morelli is never mean, or nasty; in fact, one of his best qualities is the way how he bonds with his subjects. Mr. Castellitto does wonders as the man without scruples, who eventually is found by one person who he made a fool of. Also, Morelli finds in Beata, the sweet and innocent girl from a convent a love he never knew he was capable of having.

Beata, is played by Tiziana Lodato, a beautiful young actress who is the one that makes Morelli understand his guilt after he is beaten and young Beata is interned in an institution. Leopoldo Trieste is seen as the mysterious figure who comes to recite a Spanish text for his screen test. Franco Scaldatto has some good moments in the film.

This is a film that will not disappoint fans of Giuseppe Tornatore because of his vision about people love for the cinema.

The Star Maker tells such a simple story that I was puzzled as to why its emotional impact grew long after I had seen it. It relates a series of encounters of con man `Dottore' Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) with his marks. Like all con men, he sells dreams, in this case dreams of stardom, and some of the emotional power derives from the universal appeal of this con. In part the power lies in the cinematography of contrast and illusion. The contrast of the physical beauty of Sicily with its poverty alone is sufficient to grab your attention. But the most powerful contrast is seen in the faces of the Sicilians during their screen tests. Giuseppe Tornatore magically captures the hopes and the desperations of his would-be stars as they appear before the `Dottore's' camera. They have two minutes to sell themselves and to escape their destiny of poverty and capture their life's ambitions. Then there is the hero's moral dilemma. This is an `everyman' story; `il Dottore' is another poor guy who does what he can just to get by. He grabs our sympathy by demonstrating sympathy for his marks and by making some exceptional decisions along his way. While I was watching, it appeared to be no more that a series of loosely connected tales. Soon afterwards, the complexity and the moral strengths of the tale grew on me and continue to pleasantly persist.

Tornatore did to me with this movie what he failed to do with "Cinema Paradiso". I used to blame myself for being insensitive comparing to people's reactions after "Cinema Paradiso" but now after this movie I know that it's not me, but the "virgin" audience in good movies that overreacted.

The Starmaker is simply Perfect. The Mute's scene deserved an Oscar by itself. As a mater of fact every scene in the movie was so cinematographic that could have been easily a short movie by itself. As for the New York Times comments on the movie...... what do you expect by critiques who hailed "Shakespeare In Love". People have to understand that the old critiques of NYT that actually knew more than we do about movies are not around anymore! 11out of 10

Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a flimflam man who is driving around the rural villages of Sicily shortly after World War II selling potential stardom for fifteen hundred lira. He has a motion picture camera and loudspeaker on his truck. As he drives through the villages he broadcasts to the people that he is from the film industry of Roma and he is giving screen tests in order to discover natural talent.

He sets up his truck and tent typically in the town square. His technique is to tell everyone that they have a wonderful face, hidden talent, that they are naturals and diamonds in the rough. He hands out fliers with some dialogue from "Gone with the Wind" on them that they should practice reading before appearing before his camera. He has discovered that people will fall for his flattery and pay him for the fake screen tests.

As we watch the film we discover that people will put their hearts and souls into the experience of appearing before his camera. They don't just read the lines from Gone with the Wind. They tell their life stories in miniature. They bare their hearts and souls to the flimflam man in the hope that someone will hear and see their anguish, their pain, their experience. To Morelli, who has been to Hollywood and failed, this is just a way to make a lira. He has a gift for the hustle and is blind to the real emotion that he evokes.

A woman believes his teenaged daughter has the talent to make it in the movies. She begs Morelli to take her to Roma. She even has sex with him and promises to allow him to be her daughter's first lover. But Morelli moves on to the next town. He is stopped by the local police chief, but Morelli manages to flatter him into appearing before his camera and then applauds the chief's performance. Three highwaymen stop to rob Morelli. He is able to convince them that Roma longs for their raw talent. And so on, as he travels over the cobblestones and over the winding roads.

Finally he meets beautiful Beata (Tiziana Lodato) who is 15 or 18. She isn't sure. She works in the convent, bathing the sick and scrubbing the floors. She exposes herself to the local tax man to raise the 1500 lira needed for Morelli's screen test. She is strikingly beautiful from head to toe, and the tax man exclaims, "You are a statue!" when he sees her body. Morelli is reluctant to get involved with someone so young even though she throws herself at him.

What happens after this I will not say since it would spoil the film for those who have not seen it. But watch for the con man to get conned, among other things. Despite his villainy, there is a sense that Morelli is a man that we can identify with and understand. I think it is this quality that director Giuseppe Tornatore has developed in his character that carries the film, and Sergio Castellitto whom I saw recently in Non ti muovere (Don't Move) (2004) really becomes the part.

Tornatore, who made a splash with the critically acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1988) wrote the original material here and worked on the script in addition to directing. While I thought Cinema Paradiso was an excellent film, I liked this one even more. Both are original works of art, but I found L'uomo delle stelle more engaging. Particularly striking are the beautiful village scenes, the faces of the people, and the photography of the Sicilian countryside and ruins.

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This attractive Italian film featured an interesting story and some pretty women. It's a story about a man who dupes the natives (Sicilians, in this case) into thinking they could become movies stars after paying money to him to get a personal screen test. This turns out to be a pathetic comment about the unrealistic lure of fame and fortune.

This film really looks good on widescreen DVD. It is gorgeous, just beautifully filmed, and I'm not just referring to the figures on the women.

The dialog is a bit strange, at least to us over here in the States. I suppose this is considered a comedy but I saw it more as a drama. Yes, there are laughs, but it's pitiful how easily people are duped and what their values are.

I found this an entertaining movie all the way through. With the nudity, it's not for kids (hence, the "R" rating.)