Asia Argento Movies
One of Italy's most popular actresses, Asia Argento has been labeled on more than one occasion in her native country as "the face of the new generation." The daughter of legendary horror director Dario Argento and stage actress Daria Nicolodi, Argento was born in Rome on September 20, 1975. She broke into film at the tender age of nine and has gone on to enjoy an illustrious and acclaimed career. Although the actress' early prospects were undoubtedly aided by her father's famous name -- she has appeared in a number of his films -- she has become known as an actress in her own right, winning two David di Donatello awards (the Italian Oscar) and two Ciacks (the Italian Golden Globe), among other honors. Argento has acted for a number of non-Italian directors, most notably Patrice Chéreau in La Reine Margot (1994) and Michael Radford in B. Monkey (1998). The latter film, which starred Argento as a master thief alongside Rupert Everett and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, succeeded in giving her an initial introduction to American art house audiences. In addition to acting, Argento is also a screenwriter and director with a growing number of credits to her name. The handover to then new millennium found the now-established actress following in the footsteps of her father with the release of her directorial debut, Scarlet Diva (2000). A semi-autobiographical tale that journied into the frenzied mind of an actress fueled by excess, Scarlet Diva combined the garish visuals of her father's cinematic heyday with the sensory overload that defined cinema of the millennial crossover.With B. Monkey and Abel Ferrara's New Rose Hotel failing to gain Argento as much stateside exposure as may have been anticipated and Scarlett Diva still not having found suitable distribution in the U.S., the release of numerous articles and photo spreads in such magazines as Bizarre, Maxim and Entertainment Weekly began to generate a substantial buzz surrounding the release of what would be her biggest American film to date, XXX. As the mysterious love interest of Vin Diesel, Argento seemed poised for the elusive international success that, though she had no doubt gained a reputation as a desirable dark goddess on the glossy pages of men's magazines nationwide, had yet to cement itself in celluliod form. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2009
Gerard Depardieu, Oliver Marchal, and Asia Argento star in this thriller about a Paris police officer who puts his own career on the line to help his lifelong friend, a crooked narcotics cop who does some drug trafficking on the side. Mat works the night beat in the city, and his best friend Franck works in the drug squad. But after busting the local drug dealers, Franck turns a tidy profit by selling their product at cut-rate prices. When Franck gets in over his head, it's up to Mat to help and old friend by taking matters into his own hands. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Olivier Marchal, (more)
- 2008
A filmmaker going though a midlife crisis stumbles into a new way of examining life in this comedy-drama from France. Bertrand (Mathieu Amalric) is a movie director who has lost touch with his muse and is desperate to come up with an idea for his next picture. While visiting a funeral home as he tries to brainstorm, Bertrand becomes stuck in a coffin and ends up spending the night trapped in a box. Shaken but strangely invigorated by the adventure, Bertrand realizes he needs new experiences and finds a good source for them when a chance meeting leads him to an urban commune known as the Kingdom. Led by Uma (Asia Argento), the young people who make up the Kingdom often dress in animal costumes and engage in unusual consciousness-expanding rituals. Fascinated by what he's found, Bertrand becomes a frequent visitor at the Kingdom, and while his girlfriend Louise (Clotilde Hesme) tries to encourage him in his self-exploration, she's frequently bemused by his methods. De La Guerre (aka On War) was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight series at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Amalric, Asia Argento, (more)
- 2007
Indie stalwart Abel Ferrara helms this quirky comedy about the goings-on at a downtown cabaret. Willem Defoe stars as Ray Ruby, the proprietor of a joint where all of the dancing girls have big dreams of working their way up to bigger and better things. But trouble begins to brew when money suddenly comes between Ray and his two associates, played by Bob Hoskins and Matthew Modine. Asia Argento and Drea de Matteo also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, (more)
A futuristic nomad scouring for food in a sun-scorched landscape stumbles upon a book detailing the most notorious murders in American crime history in this Claymation take on the Manson murders featuring the voices of Billie Joe Armstrong and Asia Argento, and directed by filmmaker John Roecker. Left emotionally vulnerable following a bad L.S.D. trip, young hippie Hadie (Theo Kogan) soon falls prey to the charms of charismatic cult leader Charlie (Armstrong), whose paranoid clan of outcasts have moved to the desert in hopes of hatching a plan to take over the world. As the Hanson family prepares their nefarious takeover, glamorous film starlet Sharon Hate (Nelly Pozbourne) plunges into a decadent world of showbiz debauchery with a little help from her hairdresser friend Hay (Davey Havok). Soon after Sharon encounters members of the Hanson family digging for food in a nearby dumpster, cult leader Charlie begins receiving murderous messages disguised as harmless pop songs. After laying Sharon and her Hollywood friends to waste in a blood-soaked orgy of murder and mutilation, Charlie leads his followers on yet another murderous mission before stealthily disappearing into the night when local police show up on the scene. Though Charlie himself is eventually locked up behind bars as well, his word reaches more people than ever thanks to the tireless efforts of a sensationalistic media and an opportunistic prosecutor who transforms the lurid tale into a bestselling book. Now, in the year 3069, Charlie's word is about to become divine law, and a generation tenuously clinging to life on a barren planet is about to fall. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
An Italian woman intent on tracking down the Romany musician who impregnated her becomes lost in a world of Gypsies in director Tony Gatlif's meditative road drama. Convinced that her one-time lover Milan (Marco Castoldi) has been deported by French authorities and determined to let him know about his unborn child, Zingarina (Asia Argento), travels to Romania in the company of her motherly friend Marie (Amira Casar) in hopes of seeking out the elusive musician. Though Zingarina does eventually track Milan to a remote village festival, the rejection she is faced with soon drives the troubled mother-to-be to ditch her friend Marie during the trip back to France. Now wandering the Romanian countryside as her future grows ever more bleak, Zingarina enters into a tentative romance with itinerant trader Tchangalo (Birol Ünel), whose gruff exterior masks a sensual inner beauty. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Birol Ünel, (more)
Former French television star Antoine de Caunes turns his sights on the horror genre in his first feature in this goth comedy about trendy nightlife and new-millennium vogue. Antoine (Guillaume Canet is a layabout slacker who lives in a lounge at a health club where a friend lets him stay. After outsmarting a bouncer at an exclusive club in town, he gets a tip from another friend, Etienne (Gerard Lanvin), about a new party in the know. When Antoine attempts getting into the swanky soiree, he claims his friend "Jordan" has invited him. Though he cannot describe his fake friend's features, the staff agrees to let him in. He is then hauled away to meet the party's wealthy host Von Bulow (played by Jean-Marie Winling), who is extremely enticed by the prospect of meeting "Jordan" as he hears he only lives by night. Von Bulow offers Antoine one million francs, half on the spot, if he can be led to Jordan. Antoine must then buy information with his new money, leading him on all-night, violent odyssey that goes further into dark territory. The film also features Asia Argento, Vincent Perez, and Gilbert Melki. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillaume Canet, Gérard Lanvin, (more)
- 2000
Victor Hugo's classic story of one man's struggle to redeem himself -- and another man's efforts to bring him down -- is brought to the screen again (there have been at least 18 previous screen adaptations) in this epic-scale television production with a distinguished international cast. Jean Valjean (Gerard Depardieu) is a man forced by circumstance into a life of crime when he steals bread to ease his hunger, ending up behind bars for 19 years. Upon his release, the destitute Valjean attempts to rob the home of a bishop, but the bishop takes pity on him, and Valjean turns over a new leaf, becoming an honest and upright businessman and civic leader. But Javert (John Malkovich), a former guard at the prison where Valjean served time, is now the Chief of Police, and he's determined not to let Valjean live down his criminal past. Les Miserables also features Jeanne Moreau, Virginie Ledoyen, Christian Clavier, and Asia Argento; the miniseries was produced in two versions, a French-language version for European television that ran eight hours, and a four-hour English-language adaptation that was broadcast in a pair of two-hour installments on January 7 and 8, 2001, on the Fox Family Channel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, John Malkovich, (more)
- 1998
In this Italian road comedy, three pals (Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Valerio Mastandrea) all are attracted to miniskirted Viola (Asia Argento) and attempt to help her elude both the law and the gangsters out to nab her bag of rare coins. Asia Argento (B Monkey) is the daughter of horror director Dario Argento (Deep Red), and her mother, Daria Nicolodi, also has a role in this film. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Massimo Ceccherini, (more)
- 1997
- Add Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror to QueueAdd Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror to top of Queue
Italian filmmaker Dario Argento has gained a well-deserved reputation among horror film buffs as one of the most distinctive and original directors working in the genre, creating visually stylized and emotionally complex nightmares filled with blood and menace. Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror is a documentary on the filmmaker's career that looks at his work of the past (and his relationship with former girlfriend Daria Nicolodi and daughter Asia Argento, both of whom are actresses who have appeared in several of his films) as well as his future as he works on his 2001 release Non Ho Sonno. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dario Argento
This is a movie about walls, no not physical walls of wood and stone, but the psychological walls that protect and ultimately imprison certain souls, effectively isolating them from the most teeming crowds. 19-year-old Cora's are walls of anger that keep her militantly aloof from the world around her. The much-older Cosimo's walls are harder to define. Suffering from debilitating bouts of forgetfulness, he lives in a whimsical world, wandering whenever the urge strikes him. His wanderlust greatly worries his daughter Ada, herself trying to surmount the fences erected between her husband and herself as they try to deal with Cosimo. She hires Cora to surreptitiously watch Cosimo and to keep him from harm. At first Cora is content to quietly trail the oblivious Cosimo on his daily jaunts around the city, but as time passes she finds herself drawing inexorably nearer to the old man. One day Cosimo just gets on a train and randomly visits numerous towns with Cora forced to follow. Eventually they end up in the country where Cora shows that she is not as hard and cynical as she seems. She then informs Ada of her father's latest escapades, but eventually Cora comes to accept the professor as he is and in so doing finds new insight about herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
The English title of this complex Italian film is apt. Featuring 65 main characters and 130 speaking parts (famous faces abound and many of the actors appeared gratis), and ranging in tone from tartly humorous to darkly tragic, it presents 30 interwoven slices from the lives of modern day Romans during a single day. The lone, silent figure of a lone jogger provides a sort of continuity between the vignettes. Beginning at sunset of the previous day, the jogger is seen warming up on his apartment terrace, looking for all the world as if he would like to jump. The rest of the stories seem to be randomly presented. Stories include the robbery of a Chinese restaurant that causes a birthday celebrant to die of fright, two different newlyweds who find themselves attracted to each other, an opportunistic mechanic's plan to capitalize on the death of a rival, a sneaky, sadistic meter maid and others. One uniting feature of the stories is their underlying bitter assessment of modern humanity. People are seen as selfish and basically cruel, still the stories move quickly and the balance between humor and drama, affection and cynicism, and shallowness and complexity is carefully maintained. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The title affliction causes sufferers to react to paintings in extreme and bizarre ways. In the case of police detective Anna Manni, she swoons and feels herself entering hallucinatory versions of the artwork she sees. This Italian psychothriller contains dark elements of horror as Manni tries to capture a murderous serial rapist. The lady detective is first seen walking the art-filled hallways of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The great paintings have a terrible effect upon her and she ends up having one of her surreal visions after fainting in front of Brueghel's "The Flight of Icarus." She sees herself falling through the painting's deep ocean and is only saved by the hands of Alfredo, a stranger who saw her fall. She returns woozily to her hotel. Her memory has temporarily lapsed, and once in her room she finds herself similarly mesmerized by a painting on the wall, but eventually she remembers her assignment. Unfortunately, when she meets up with Alfredo again, he attacks and rapes her. He then forces her to watch while he rapes and murders another. She manages to escape and make it back to Rome where she begins seeing a psychiatrist. Her former lover Marco also makes sure she is guarded 24-hours a day. Unfortunately for Anna it is not enough, and Alfredo strikes again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A jaded TV host falls in love with a paraplegic in this Italian comedy. The romance begins after Gepy Fuxas, the host of a popular reality show, is attacked on the air by an irate audience member in a wheel chair. The attacker, Arianna, is upset that he so readily exploits the pain of others. Gepy, who tries to defend himself, draws scathing criticism from his fans. His show is immediately cancelled and he finds himself alone and friendless. His life no longer has meaning. Arianna, feeling guilty, meets with him to try and smooth things over. Thus begins their gradual friendship and eventual love affair. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Verdone, Asia Argento, (more)
- 1993
In this fantasy comedy/drama, Roberto (Sergio Rubini) is a divorce lawyer who is very conflicted about what he does for a living. In fact, he has a great deal of difficulty sleeping at night. Most people simply toss and turn; Roberto literally splits in two. One Roberto is a fanatic advocate of marriage and an opponent of divorce. He goes on a campaign advocating that couples seek counseling and get back together. Ironically, he becomes so jealous of his wife (Margherita Buy) that she leaves him. The other Roberto is an inveterate ladies' man, one hundred percent against romance and commitment. The women he has relationships with eventually want a little of each, and he, too is left alone. Their mutual desolation eventually pushes the two Robertos back together into one slightly wiser man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergio Rubini, Margherita Buy, (more)
- 1992
Without any uncomfortably explicit scenes, this film clearly shows the toll that a fifteen-year-old girl's incestuous relationship with her outwardly serene father takes on her. When Sabrina goes on a date with a boy, she becomes violently ill when the unwary lad tries to kiss her. Her father is such a mild-acting man that no one would imagine what he's been up to. She has dropped out of high school, and progressing away from her claustrophobic relationship with her father seems nearly impossible, until she takes a job at a clothing store and genuinely falls in love with one of her co-workers. This seems to offer her a way beyond her current circumstances, until her jealous father gets wind of it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Michele Placido, (more)
Originally intended as the third chapter in producer Dario Argento's Demons trilogy, La Chiesa stands alone as an effective horror film centering on a haunted cathedral with a violent past. The church's history begins in Medieval Italy, when the Knights Templar massacred an entire village of suspected Satanists and built the structure upon the site of the slain peasants' mass grave. Designed by an architect/alchemist (who was buried alive within his creation), the church is filled with elaborate machinery designed to seal off all entrances if ever the spirits of the entombed villagers were to rise again... which, of course, takes place in the present when the crypt's seal is removed. As demonic forces have their way with the church's occupants, it becomes the task of the parish priest (Hugh Quarshie) and a young girl (Asia Argento, daughter of Dario) to discover the builder's last line of defense before the evil is unleashed upon the outside world. Directed by Michele Soavi (who later gained critical acclaim with the inventive Dellamorte Dellamore), this is an imaginative Gothic horror film with startling imagery straight out of a Hieronymous Bosch painting and its own well-conceived mythology. Shots of the church's elaborate Medieval machines grinding to life are particularly memorable. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1989
This humorous and peculiarly Italian movie is unlikely to have been released outside that country, largely because of the intricacies of its political references. Writer/producer/director/lead actor Nanni Moretti has filmed a semi-autobiographical story which combines the action in a rousing water polo championship game (the film's name, Palombella Rossa, refers to a water polo move) with the efforts of the team's amnesiac star player (Moretti) to remember his past. In particular, he wants to remember why he is a communist. As the story unfolds, references to well over 20 years of Italian communist history and infighting emerge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nanni Moretti, Mariella Valentini, (more)
After beginning the witchy tale of the malevolent "Three Mothers" at a secretive ballet academy in Freiburg, Germany (Suspiria), and later tracking the supernatural goings-on to a doomed tenement building in New York City (Inferno), Italian horror icon Dario Argento draws his long-running trilogy to a close with this third and final installment, set in the Italian capital. Co-scripted by Toolbox Murders screenwriters Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson, Mother of Tears stars Asia Argento as an American art student who unknowingly unleashes a demonic plague of witches on Rome by breaking the seal of an ancient urn. Udo Kier, Adam James, Philippe Leroy, and Daria Nicolodi also appear in the eagerly anticipated tale of Mater Lachrymarum -- the third and most powerful witch in the terrifying trilogy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, (more)
From director Olivier Assayas comes this erotic thriller starring Asia Argento as Sandra, a former prostitute, and Michael Madsen as Miles, her onetime pimp-turned-high-powered businessman. Brought back together after a separation, Sandra and Miles are reunited when Sandra returns to Paris after an extended absence. Despite the fact that neither of the two former lovers are the same people they were back in the day, their kinky sexual relationship is nonetheless rekindled. It seems that some time long ago, financial promises were made before some misdeed drove the pair apart. Meanwhile, Sandra has made it her mission to open a Beijing nightclub, and Miles is about to sell off his business to Singapore interests. Miles couldn't care less about Sandra's dreams of owning a nightclub, but now that his divorce has been finalized he's eager to resume their steamy relationship. Tempted by Miles' money but financially comfortable thanks to her work with an import company run by shady couple Lester (Carl Ng) and Sue Wang (Kelly Lin), Sandra secretly pulls down some extra income by moving drugs through the married couple's highly profitable company. Before long, sexual intrigue and a botched drug deal combine to complicate matters for all involved. Boarding Gate screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, (more)
George A. Romero, who revolutionized the American horror film in 1968 with the instant classic Night of the Living Dead, returns to his dystopian zombie cycle with this horror thriller. In Land of the Dead, the zombies whose numbers had been slowly but steadily growing through Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead now dominate the streets of most American cities, while urban skyscrapers have been taken over by surviving humans, usually greed-addled opportunists who allow the living to stay in their fortified compounds for a price. Guarding the buildings are rough-and-tumble mercenaries who have learned to do battle with the zombies, making use of powerful weapons to gain advantage. But as the zombie civilization grows, the creatures have begun to slowly evolve, with their dormant thought processes beginning to awaken, and as unrest begins to ferment among the mercenaries and the entrepreneurs who pay them, the ghouls may have found a way to defeat the last stronghold of humanity. Land of the Dead stars Dennis Hopper as arch capitalist Kaufman, and Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Robert Joy, and Asia Argento as some of the mercenaries; Asia Argento's father, Dario Argento, served as a producer on one of the earlier films in the series, Dawn of the Dead. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, (more)
Filmmaker Gus Van Sant wrote and directed this meditation on stardom and its costs, inspired in part by the life and death of rock musician Kurt Cobain. Blake (Michael Pitt) is the leader of an influential alternative rock band who has unexpectedly won a large degree of fame and fortune. Depressed and unsure of what to do with himself or his success, Blake wanders about the run-down mansion he calls home and the visits the woods nearby. While a handful of friends live with Blake, he prefers to avoid them, as they often seem more interested in money or help with their music than in his friendship; meanwhile, Blake is also confronted by a handful of fans, his agent, and a gentleman who sells advertising space in a telephone directory and has no idea who Blake is. As Blake goes through the motions of his day, he tries to decide what he should do next, and what might finally free him from his ennui. Shot and edited in the same languid, low-key manner as his films Elephant and Gerry, Last Days also stars Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Ricky Jay, and Harmony Korine. Kim Gordon of the band Sonic Youth also appears in the film, while her husband and bandmate Thurston Moore was a consultant for the musical score; both were friends of Kurt Cobain and toured in tandem with Nirvana on several occasions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, (more)
Deep within the soundproofed confines of his secluded country home, an upstanding police officer harbors a dark secret in director Paul Lynch's tense tale of unjust imprisonment and unhinged madness. On the surface, Lieutenant Krebs (Dennis Hopper) is a respected law enforcement officer with close ties to his community. A glance into Krebs' crippled psyche, however, reveals another, much more malevolent persona. Drifting exotic dancer named Gina (Asia Argento) has been brutally attacked in a near-fatal assault. Offered a ride to the local bus station by the outwardly amiable Lieutenant Krebs after issuing a statement to the local police force, Gina awakens to discover that she is being held captive in an escape-proof basement jail cell with all the discomforts of the county detention center. In the days and weeks that follow, world weary dancer Gina will be forced to wage mental warfare against her increasingly unstable captor if she ever hopes to escape the oppressive lockdown of his basement dungeon and live to tell the tale. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, (more)
- 2004
- R
- Add The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things to QueueAdd The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things to top of Queue
Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento directed this faithful screen adaptation of the fictional J.T. Leroy's fictional memoir, which documents a boy's truly harrowing road to adulthood. Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) is the seven-year-old son of Sarah (Asia Argento), an unstable and unwed mother who abandoned her son and left him to be raised by foster parents. Jeremiah has come to love his guardians, and is devastated when Sarah arrives at their doorstep, demanding her child back. Threatening Jeremiah with torture if he tries to run away, Sarah introduces her young son to drugs and encourages her one-night-stand paramours to help "discipline" her son when she feels his behavior is inappropriate. Sarah marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner), but abandons him shortly afterward; Emerson responds by molesting Jeremiah, and soon the child is left in the care of his grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti), members of a fundamentalist Christian sect which emphasizes child discipline that's strict to the point of abuse. After three years, Sarah returns with a new husband, Kenny (Matt Schulze), and takes Jeremiah (now played by Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) with her; Kenny spends most of his time on the road as a trucker, and Sarah supports the family at home as a stripper and a prostitute. Sarah also begins dressing her son is girl's clothing, which excites the perverse appetites of Sarah's latest boyfriend, Jackson (Marilyn Manson); she soon leaves Jackson and pairs off with Chester (Jeremy Sisto), a biker with a dangerous way of making a living. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Directors Fortnight" series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, (more)
