Andrea Di Stefano Movies

From the creative team behind the Oscar-winning adaptation of Chicago comes a lavish feature take on the Tony award-winning musical inspired by Federico Fellini's whimsical classic 8 1/2. Directed by Rob Marshall, Nine details the effort made by world-class filmmaker Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) in realizing his latest cinematic vision while simultaneously balancing his relationships with the many passionate and influential women in his life, including his mistress, Carla (Penélope Cruz), and wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard). Original lyricist and composer Maury Yeston serves as co-executive producer for the filmed version of his own 1982 Broadway hit. Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Fergie, and Judi Dench co-star in the Weinstein Co. production. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Following up on his innovative work Timecode, which featured four stories being told in real time simultaneously, Mike Figgis returns to a modified form of his technique in this film about the tourists, the prostitutes, the tour guides, a killer, and a film crew who frequent the Hungarian Palace Hotel in Venice, Italy. A corrupt Eastern European politician and his moll are visiting the city to complete a shady business deal while Sophie is a high-priced call girl who makes an office in one of the hotel's suites. The film crew is attempting to shoot a Dogma 95-style adaptation of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi only to run into one problem after another. Magic is a professional assassin with a very odd kink -- he must have sex immediately after completing a job. Quintus, who abandoned his attempts to get fame and fortune as an actor, is a tour guide with an unusual secret. And then there is maid who not only has the skeleton key to the hotel, but also a habit of snooping. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

For his sophomore feature film effort, visual artist Julian Schnabel chronicles the life of one of Cuba's most charismatic literary voices, the late Reinaldo Arenas. Working with Arenas' friends and family, Schnabel recounts the author's impoverished rural upbringing and the intense love and support he receives from his mother (played by the director's wife, Olatz Lopez Garmendia). As a young man, Arenas (Javier Bardem) is singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer -- no easy task, considering the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Still, the author manages to smuggle his work out of the country through friends, who arrange for one of his novels to be published in France. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge; he escapes internment only to be captured and persecuted later for his contraband dispatches. In 1980, Arenas is finally allowed to leave Cuba for the United States, where he achieves freedom of expression but not prosperity. Schnabel's first film was another portrait of an artist, 1996's Basquiat; Bardem made his name in several of director Pedro Almodovar's Spanish-language productions. Before Night Falls premiered at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Best Actor and Grand Special Jury prizes, and made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Bardem would go on to receive a host of accolades, including an eventual Best Actor nomination at the 2001 Academy Awards. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

During the Thirty Years War between Germany and Sweden in the 1600s, a young prince must choose whether to continue to pursue his private fantasies of becoming a romantic hero or to face the public responsibilities and obligations of his position. The resulting tale is one part costume drama, one part adaptation of a classic verse play, two-parts psychological character study with a dash of love story thrown in for spice. It begins as the Prince of Homburg, who is in charge of Germany's calvary during the war, is caught sleepwalking in the midst of a disturbing dream. It is during the somnabulistic state that he first encounters the beautiful Natalia, the daughter of the powerful Grand Elector. He sees the girl again the next day before riding into battle against Swedish invaders. During the heat of the struggle, the impassioned prince disregards the Grand Elector's orders and leads a daring counterattack that results in victory. Though he saved the day, the Prince was wrong for disobeying his superior and the Grand Elector has no choice but to order his execution. Terrified of death, the Prince begs for his life. Touched, the Elector grants him clemency, but only on one condition: to stay alive, the Prince must publicly admit his wrongdoing. If he refuses, the death sentence will be carried out. Von Kleist's verse play was written in 1811 as a means of inspiring his countrymen to stand up against Napoleon and strongly advocates the notion that the most patriotic soldiers are those who blindly follow orders. Considering that Von Kleist's play was addressing German troops, that is a chilling notion indeed from a late 20th-century perspective. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi