Alessandro Baricco 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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Taylor, Clive Russell, (more)
Francois Girard's adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novel Silk stars Michael Pitt as a young Frenchman who travels to Japan at the request of a wealthy silkworm magnate who asks him to smuggle back some new worms. The mission succeeds, and this allows the man to live in great comfort with his wife (Keira Knightley). After a few years, they are unable to conceive a child, a situation that leads to the man taking on a lover during his subsequent visits to Japan. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, (more)
On the 1st of January in 1900, Danny Boodmann (Bill Nunn), the mechanic of the transatlantic liner Virginian bound for America, finds an abandoned baby on board and decides to keep him. Nicknamed Novecento (1900), the boy grows up on the ship hidden from everyone. His presence is revealed when Danny dies in an accident. The young '1900' manages to hide again despite threats from the captain. Discovering a passion for music, he teaches himself to play the piano without being able to read the notes, and he soon becomes a virtuoso whose reputation spreads beyond the confines of the ship. Even the famous jazz piano player, Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III), gets on board for a challenge because he has heard rumors about the greatest piano player in the world living on a ship. The story is told by Max Tooney, Novocento's old trumpeter friend, who reminisces about the incredible pianist who never set foot on land. After two films about cinema, Giuseppe Tornatore comes up with the story of a highly imaginative artist who lives only for and through his art. Tornatore was inspired by a theatre monologue written in 1994 by Alessandro Baricco, and the film was shot partly in Odessa, on a sixty-year-old Russian freighter, and partly in the Cinecitta studios in Rome. Tim Roth's performance as the talented but reserved Novocento is remarkable, and the music of Ennio Morricone plays a vital role in the film. La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano, which was retitled The Legend of 1900 for US distribution after forty-five minutes have been cut, was originally two hours and forty minutes when it was shown to great success in Italy in autumn of 1998. The US version had its world premiere at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, (more)
- 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
