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03/22/02
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Maléna (2000)
45
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:13
Rotten:16
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: Malena ends up objectifying the character of the movie's title. Also, the young boy's emotional investment with Malena is never convincing, as she doesn't feel like a three-dimensional person.
Theatrical Release:Nov 22, 2000 Limited
Synopsis: With MALÉNA, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore spins a romantic coming-of-age yarn about love, loss, and courage. Set in 1941 in a tiny village in Sicily, the film focuses on a group of... [More]
Starring: Monica Bellucci, Daniele Arena, Giovanna Litrico, Gianluca Guarrera
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
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Reviews for Maléna
Top CriticClick to read the article
06/04/01
Top Critic[Tornatore] eludes sentimentality with a romantic vision wide enough to embrace the range of human experience.
02/07/01
Top CriticBereft of the more richly textured sentiments of Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso.
02/07/01
Top CriticDespite Bellucci's strong presence in a role with little dialogue, the central character never really comes alive in any way interesting enough to give her ordeal much genuine pathos.
02/07/01
Top CriticTransparently misogynist at its core.
02/02/01
Top CriticAn affecting coming-of-age story.
02/02/01
Top CriticThe result is like a bad novel in which the personalities and feelings of the characters are described to us rather than revealed through what they do.
02/02/01
Top Critic[Bellucci] has presence, maybe even talent, but you wish that Malena's inner life had been given as much accent as her outer charms.
02/02/01
Top CriticFunny as it is sobering.
02/02/01
Top CriticThe film lacks a focused, compelling narrative -- perhaps because Tornatore is trying to manufacture a hit by juggling story elements more forced and manipulative than felt.
02/02/01
Top CriticLike Malena herself, the movie ends up nothing more than a great-looking mess.
02/02/01
Top CriticRenato does not intervene to correct the false impressions of the townspeople, nor does he courageously stand for Malčna ... What happens instead is far more compelling, but no less merciful and moving.
02/02/01
Top CriticAny moral lesson the film pretends to hold is as muddled as it is misguided.
02/02/01
Top CriticA well-crafted, provocative film by one of Italy's consummate screen artists.
02/01/01
Top CriticMakes something wistful, enduring and even optimistic out of humanity's basest instincts.
02/01/01
Top CriticNot for decades has Italian film offered a presence so sexy and mythic as Bellucci.
12/26/00
Top CriticFlushed with emotion and a buoyant earthy humor, Malčna is a yarn that sticks with you.
12/25/00
Top CriticRelentlessly cleareyed instead of shamelessly manipulative, and it builds to an emotional crescendo that brings to mind the finales of the Neo-Realist classics.
12/25/00
Top CriticThere's something quirkily intriguing about an infatuation conducted mostly without words.
12/24/00
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