Clive Riche Movies
- 2008
Two men separated by a hundred years share a similar and provocative point of view in this offbeat drama. Mondrian Killroy (John Hurt) is an iconoclastic college professor who has earned a remarkable reputation for his lectures in which he presents scathing re-evaluations of important and acclaimed works of art. Martha (Leonor Watling) is a former student of Killroy who is a passionate admirer of his work, and is involved in a project to recreate on of his most controversial talks -- "Lecture 21," in which Killroy defends in detail his opinion that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is an old-fashioned piece of claptrap that has not withstood the test of time. Meanwhile, in the 1800's, Hans Peters (Noah Taylor) is a respected musician who is led by fate to Hoffmeister (Clive Russell), a scholar who asks Peters to help him and his compatriots prove their similar contention that Beethoven's final symphony is not the masterwork it's often said to be. Moving back and forth between the 19th and 20th Centuries, Killroy and Hoffmeister offer their own theories about the strengths and weaknesses of one of the world's most celebrated composers, and a number of their friends and acquaintances, some knowledgeable and some wildly eccentric, present their thoughts about the artist and his art. Lezione 21 (aka Lecture 21) was the first directorial project from acclaimed novelist Alessandro Baricco. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Noah Taylor, Clive Russell, (more)
History's most renowned ladies' man finally meets his match in this historical romance laced with comedy and adventure. In Venice in 1753, Giacomo Casanova (Heath Ledger) is a notorious playboy whose way with women goes too far when he's caught leaving the bedroom of a novice nun, and one of the leading prosecutors of the Inquisition, Pucci (Jeremy Irons), puts him on trial. The Doge (Tim McInnerny), Venice's political point man, is a friend of Casanova's and pulls strings to get him off the hook and allow him to stay in the city, but under one condition -- he must take a wife and remain faithful to her. Casanova sets his sights on Victoria (Natalie Dormer), a lovely young maiden who is obviously taken with the handsome ladykiller, but he's not the only one who wants her hand. Giovanni Bruni (Charlie Cox) is a young man who is very much in love with Victoria, and in order to move him out of the picture, Casanova challenges him to a duel. However, when Casanova is bested in swords in the challenge, he discovers he's actually been parrying with Giovanni's sister, Francesca (Sienna Miller). As Casanova gets to know Francesca, he discovers she's a gifted writer and a bright and independent woman as well as a good hand with a sword, and he comes to the realization that she's the woman he wants to take to the altar. However, Francesca has already been promised to the vain and chubby Papprizzio (Oliver Platt), a man she's never met, and she doesn't seem at all interested in the notorious Casanova. Casanova also stars Lena Olin, and Omid Djalili. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, (more)
Achingly romantic and creepy-funny, this funereal fantasy from the director of La Chiesa (1989) is unlike any Italian film in memory. Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, a lonely cemetery caretaker who just wants to get out of his small town of Buffalora. His assistant and sole companion, Gnaghi (played by famed French musician Francois Hadji-Lazaro) is an overweight cretin who speaks only in grunts, and the dead people outside are rising from their graves as zombies and trying to have him for breakfast. This situation, coupled with all his other problems, gives Francesco a real complex. His troubles are compounded when he meets a series of mysterious women (all played by the beautiful Anna Falchi) whom he loves before they die tragically. Soavi's film is based on a graphic-novel, Dylan Dog by Tiziano Sclavi, but Soavi's more obvious influences range from Jean Rollin's La Rose de Fer (1973) to Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990). Barbara Cupisti (of Soavi's Deliria) has a small role, and the film also benefits from Manuel de Sica's memorable score and excellent pacing by editor Franco Fraticelli. This is a film to savor and it will go down as one of the most striking Italian genre efforts of the decade, despite some weak effects work by the normally reliable Sergio Stivaletti. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazaro, (more)
- 1994
With a nod to Sergio Leone, this film, bills itself the first "borscht Western," It was photographed in Russia with a cast of Russians, Italians, and Americans. The story follows the past and present life of Jonathan. When he was only six, Jonathan watched while thieves killed his parents. The orphan found a playful friend in a bear-cub. He was then found and adopted by an Indian chief who preferred Jonathon to his own son, Chatow. The rivalry between the boys continued into adulthood. The adult, Jonathan became a legend for his prowess with the bow and arrow and his gallant rescues. He still searches for his parent's killers. Fred Goodwin leads a gang of greedy oil-claim jumpers who terrorize a town. When Goodwin finds oil in the Indian burial ground where the chief lies buried, a vicious war begins. Jonathan comes to town trailing a captured Indian maiden and ends up being crucified by Goodwin. He is saved by a former member of the gang. Jonathan exacts his bloody revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Franco Nero, John Saxon, (more)
