Illuminata

Wonderful characters, glib and meaningful dialogue, a portrait of theater and its denizens so complete you believe the film is a biography.

There are no small actors here because there are no small parts. What might have been a cameo becomes a pivotal role.

It has been said that the film was missing direction. Not at all. What was happening there was style. This guys loves women and shape and color, and what he likes best is wit.

The entire cast....and that is everybody, was wonderful, so good you could smell the sweat. Camera and sets were so good you could hear floor boards creak. Music, well and tastefully done.

Recommendation: see it once for the discovery, twice for the appreciation, three times for the education. You will not be bored.

This film shines from the loving direction that Tuturro lavishes upon Brandon Cole's screenplay. The entire cast is delightful, with Katherine Borowitz's loving and tormented Rachel and Christopher Walken's sexually aggressive Bevalaqua truly standing out. It was great to see a film about the theatre done so passionately, after the dull and trite "Shakespeare in Love".

I was mesmerized by the performances. Tuturro, Borowitz and Sewell moved so seamlessly in and out of characters that you often felt that you were in "Illuminata".

This film reminded me with an equally remarkable film, Louis Malle's "Vanya on 42nd Street". I'm going to have fire up the laser disc player on that one tonight.

If you are a fan of the theatre or works on the theatre, then "Illuminata" is certainly going to work its magic on you.

Susan Sarandon! Her work as Celimene is a comic sight to behold. Whenever she's onscreen (which isn't enough) the material's full comedic potential kicks into overdrive. "Illuminata" the movie, leaves a lot to be desired--namely more Susan Sarandon at her most breathtakingly beautiful. At an age when most women give up any hope of ever being thought of as sexually appealing or sexually viable, to be exact, Susan owns her many charms and certainly knows how to make the most of them. Her seduction of Tuccio (played by John Turturro) is one of the most erotic in recent cinematic history. And, that it contains one of the funniest "gradification sequences" ever captured on celluloid just goes to show that no matter what age she may happen to be, the one and only Susan Sarandon is and always will be one of the sexiest women alive and the definitive "thinking man's sex symbol" as well as a truly gifted actress quite adept at comedy. By the way, what you just read was written by a 22 year old man--when it comes to beauty, both inside and out, age is nothing but a number. A virtue that Ms. Sarandon continues to redefine with each passing year. I know a magnificient talent when I see it. Score: The film gets 6 out of 10/B-, Susan Sarandon gets a 10/A+ as always.

Great bawdy fun! This has a lot to enjoy and we did. If you like delightful actors letting out all the stops as they clearly enjoy going over the top, or good, often excellent wit and writing, see this movie. They had lots of fun with humorous sexuality, very interesting sets, costumes and visual moments that stay in the mind.

If you've ever taken an acting class, wanted to be on stage or known an actor with a larger than life ego and personality whom you couldn't help but love (even when you wanted to throttle him/her), this movie is for you. "Illuminata" is a real treat that we had never heard of before borrowing it from our local library. I hope you enjoy it nearly as much as we did.

I don't know how this ended up with such a middling rating. It stands out as one of the wittiest, strangest and well-constructed films I've seen in years. Well photographed, with many characters wonderfully and unexpectedly acted. Appropriate for almost any mood, occasion or atmosphere.