Malena

Disconcertingly grubby and off-putting “coming of ager” is less about a boy becoming a man, and more about Tornatore’s fixation on Bellucci as first Madonna, and then whore in a series of gradually escalating scenes of verbal and physical violence, leading to just-short of a stoning in the public square, which is neither warranted or justified by the plotting leading up to it. With no effort made to develop any of the townspeople, or Bellucci herself beyond “hubba hubba”, it becomes increasingly difficult to watch and even dull, before the ugly brutality starts. A typically lyrical Morricone score is a highlight (even if it perhaps deliberately feels like off-cuts from LOLITA) – hard to come to grips with the fact that the same director made CINEMA PARADISO.