A Magnificent Haunting (2012)
 "Magnifica presenza" (original title)  

Director: Ferzan Ozpetek 
Writer: Ferzan Ozpetek, Federica Pontremoli
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: Italy 
Language: Italian 
Duration: 105 min
Year: 2012

Site: Facebook

Stars: Elio Germano, Margherita Buy, Vittoria Puccini             

Although it is a gay film, it does not focus on gay issue (love, cruelty of life, paradox of choices, etc.) but focuses on the normal life and thought of a human, his name is Pietro.   Pietro wants to be an actor, and endeavours to do all that he can to become one, but he just fails. When he has his own apartment and the upcoming dinner with his love, bitter truth reveals to the viewers what they do not know until then about Pietro, about the way he is obsessed with love. However, and also marvelously handling, the film immediately draws our attention to the other and also the biggest event in the film. Pietro meets ghosts. Little by little, Pietro finds way to understand the existence of the ghosts.

Also, bit by bit does he learn from those "artist" ghosts who were actors and actresses at their time. Will luck smile on Pietro? Viewers will decide for themselves when Pietro continuously "loses" the expected and "gets" the unexpected during his encounters in life.   At the end of the film, truth reveals about the death of the actors and actress, the reason why they become ghosts.

Again, tenderly tackling, the film draws our attention to the emotions and actions of Pietro when viewers observe his eyes when he watches another man who is his neighbor and also with those eyes at the final stage do viewers understand now there are things more important than just falling in love and living for oneself. The happy life is a life which gives away happiness to others', and the meaningful life is the life which is not born with meaningful things but has to create meanings for itself.  

Intelligent comedy with meanings, up and down contexts with purposes, real drama with truthful emotions and feelings, the film combines and diverts things into a tasty soup. Viewers' role is to sip it slowly and tenderly…  

Review by feliht on Orvel.me

Loose Cannons (2010) Mine vaganti (original title)

Loose Cannons (2010)
Mine vaganti (original title)

Director: Ferzan Özpetek
Scenario: Ivan Cotroneo, Ferzan Ozpetek
Genre: Commedia
Country: Italia
Year: 2010
Duration: 110 min
Rating:

 

Actors: Riccardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Preziosi, Carolina Crescentini, Nicole Grimaudo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Daniele Pecci, Ennio Fantastichini, Lunetta Savino, Ilaria Occhini, Bianca Nappi, Dario Bandiera

 

 

Noćas sam se slatko ismijao gledajući ovaj film prepun tipičnog italijanskog humora, a opet nekako životan. Režiser Ferzan Özpetek nam kroz jednu priču dočarava kako se jedna tradicionalna provincijska porodica nosi sa činjenicom da im je sin homoseksualac! U ovom slučaju ne jedan nego dva sina! Uz nekoliko karakterističnih likova povjerenih izvrsnim glumcima dva sta će vam proteći vrlo brzo. 
Tomas, student i pisac koji živi u Rimu odluči da ode na Siciliju i svojoj porodici saopšti da je gay! Ponosan otac dva sina na čelu trpeze, pomalo dezorjentisana majka, pijana tetka, baka, dvije nezadovoljne sluškinje i naravno dva stasita sina, svi za stolom večeravaju i pričaju!I taman kada Tomas odluči da im saopšti što je naumio, stariji brat se javlja za riječ i kaže: Odlučio sam da vam otkrijem ono što krijem čitav život, Ja sam Gay!

Kada otac iznenada dobije infarkt ( naravno ne onaj koban) Tomas u trebu zaboravi šta je htio reći!

Možete li zamisliti sebe u sličnoj situaciji? Jedan prijatelj mi je ispričao kako se taman spremao da najboljoj prijateljici saopšti da je gay kad ga je ona prekinula i rekla : Ja sam lezbejka!

A ja sam jednoj curi sa kojom sam imao tu noć imao seks, nakon što je počela da mašta kako će mo do kraja života živjeti srećno da bi prekinuo tu njenu bajku rekao: Ja sam peder! Nakon kratkog šoka je rekla: Pa kakav je to peder koji je tako dobar u seksu sa ženama? Naravno ponosno sam odgovorio: Takav peder stoji pred tobom! Mislim da ni dan danas ne vjeruje u to što sam joj rekao i da je sve bila samo fora da bih je otkačio!

Ako slučajno čita ovaj blog znaće ko ga piše!:))

Inače Ferzan Ozpetek nam je već poznat po sjajnim filmovima Saturno Contro (2007), Hamam ( 1997) i Le Fate Ignoranti (2001)

 

Ferzan Ozpetek’s Loose Cannons is a pretty typical Italian tale of dynastic change. Tommaso (Riccardo Scamarchio) is an aspiring writer who returns from Rome to his provincial southern hometown, where his father is planning to hand the family pasta factory to him and brother Antonio (Alessandro Preziosi).

Tommaso plans a dramatic confession that he’s gay to escape such drudgery, but is beaten to the punch by his equally secretly gay brother. One paternal heart attack later, family ties are snapping.

Ozpetek takes these men and women as they are, revealing deep emotions in broad strokes. Everyone here is a disappointed misfit, not just the loose cannons in the clan.

But where a Fellini would also include hard barbs of human nature at its worst, Ozpetek’s deep belief in family and friends sees these bonds soften the conflict. He has the all-embracing, crowd-pleasing virtues of a daytime soap. But he has a bigger, truer heart.

Hamam (1997) - The Steam Bath -REPOST

Steam: The Turkish Bath (1997

Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
Writers: Ferzan Ozpetek (story), Ferzan Ozpetek
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, Turkey
Language: Turkish, Italian
Duration:94 min
Stars: Alessandro Gassman, Francesca d'Aloja, Carlo Cecchi



Napisano: 06.04.2008.god

Ovaj film sam gledao prije jedno 5-6 godina u jednom od Beogradskih bioskopa. Onako potrošis sat i po vremena, nakon kojih više i ne razmišljaš o filmu koji si gledao. Nije loše napravljen, ali nema onog osijećaja isčekivanja u filmu. Sve se unaprijed predpostavi.
Onima koji nisu nikad bili u neko Tursko kupatilo preporučujem da odu u Gelert – Budimpešta ili odu u Istambul gdje još uvijek rade brojni hamami iz vremena osmanlijskog carstva!

Bračni par Fracesco i Marta žive u Rimu, uhodanom klotečinom i više brinu o svom poslu nego jedno o drugom. Francescu iznenada stigne pismo da je dobio naslijedstvo u Istambulu ( kuća i tursko kupatilo), te odluči da ode da vidi šta je to i da proda cijelokupnu nasleđenu imovinu.
Međutim kada stigne u Istambul, upoznaje se sa Osmanom, njegovom ženom i njihovim prelijepim sinom Mehmetom, kao i sa ćerkom Fusin.
Mehmet mu pokazuje hamam koji je izgrađen u vrijeme Osmanlijskog carstva, priča istoriju kupatila, objašnjava običaje..
Malo pomalo njih se dvojica zbližavaju i postaju sve intimniji. Marta dolazi u Istambul….

Francesco (Gassman) and his wife Marta (D’Aloja) run a successful interior design firm in Rome. But their marriage is on the rocks, with Marta, feeling neglected, secretly carrying on an affair with their mutual business partner, Paulo. With Francesco’s home life in a rut he receives notification that a forgotten aunt has died and left him some property in Istanbul. He decides to go to Turkey to sell the buildings. But upon his arrival in Turkey, Francesco discovers that what he has inherited is a dilapidated Hamam, a traditional Turkish bath, operated by Osman, his wife and their beautiful son Mehmet and daughter Fusun. He stumbled into a different Hamam the day before and was enchanted with the ancient sensuality of the place. Against his lawyer’s advice, he decides to remain and restore the ruined hamam to its original splendor. Francesco’s face seems to clear of anxiety and he becomes friendlier as he fits into the rhythm of the ancient city. He is also awakened to his homosexuality as he discovers his attraction and love in the person of Mehmet (Mehmet Gunsur). When his wife arrives to admit her infidelity, she finds in Francesco a totally changed man. Lushly photographed, the film successfully creates an exotic atmosphere which nurtures freedom and release. A sensuously delicious film.