Sep 18 2008
Just another day in the life on an Italian politician, perhaps, but
it makes for compelling cinema, writes Gabriella Coslovich.
In Australia, government ministers caught drunk and dancing in their undies get dumped. In Italy, some prime ministers dance with murder, Mafia and corruption scandals, and walk away unscathed. In fact, they might even be rewarded with a life membership of the Italian parliament. Giulio Andreotti was. Continue Reading »
Sep 09 2008
Did he or didn’t he? TIFF premiere reopens a tale of Mafia power
Kissing and telling is bad form in any culture, but nowhere more so than in the Sicilian Mafia.
The kissing in Il Divo – which won the Jury Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and makes its North American premiere today at the Toronto International Film Festival – is of the manly, on-the-cheeks variety. It’s between Sicilian Mafia boss Salvatore (Totò, The Beast) Riina and seven-time Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti. Continue Reading »
Jul 07 2008
The mafia’s allure
ROME — This is the year of the mafia—at least at the box office.
Two films on organized crime in Italy, each fact-based melodramas, took top prizes at the Cannes Film Festival in May and are drawing packed audiences here. The Italian movie industry was giddy over the double win. Continue Reading »
Nov 16 2007
AMERICAN GANGSTER (18) ***
DIRECTED BY: RIDLEY SCOTT
STARRING: DENZEL WASHINGTON, RUSSELL CROWE, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, JOSH BROLIN
Denzel Washington gives a typically electrifying performance as Frank Lucas
ON THE DVD of Brian De Palma’s ultra-trashy Cuban gangster epic Scarface is a documentary acknowledging its odd status as “a hip-hop classic”. Over the years, and apparently without irony, America’s biggest rap stars have embraced the rise and fall of drug monster Tony Montana as a “how to” guide to making it big and living it large on the streets of America. It’s one of the film’s stranger legacies, but this fictional icon’s reign as the “ultimate ghetto superhero” may be about to come to an end if the seductive portrait of real-life New York crime lord Frank Lucas served up in American Gangster anything to go by. Continue Reading »
Sep 13 2007
TORONTO (AFP) — Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg came close to the bloody underworld he depicts in his latest movie “Eastern Promises,” about the deadly Russian mafia.
The crime thriller with ripped-from-the-headlines details of the Russian mafia premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this week. Continue Reading »
Jul 18 2007
Italian-German mobster Giorgio Basile killed 30 people before he was arrested
A German court will hear evidence Wednesday from infamous Italian-German Mafioso Giorgio Basile. For 10 years, his testimonies, in exchange for his freedom, have helped police crack down on organized crime. Continue Reading »
