Its heart is in the right place.
Comment
02/02/01
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Maléna (2000)
55
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:75
Fresh:41
Rotten:34
Average Rating:5.6/10
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
Transparently 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
[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 CriticClunky.
02/02/01
The 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
As John Boorman did in Hope and Glory, Tornatore's Malena has great fun imagining wartime as it must appear to a child.
02/02/01
Should never have come over the water.
02/02/01
Renato 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 CriticCute but repetitive.
02/02/01
The cliches in this movie are as ripe and plump and tightly packed as olives in a jar. But the surface is handsome, moving and humorous, and people are going to like it.
02/02/01
Absolutely beautiful to behold.
02/02/01
An offputting blend of low comedy and high melodrama.
02/01/01
Even at her most tragic [Malena] remains a largely symbolic figure, emotionally accessible only through a character who is himself struggling with emotional maturity.
02/01/01
A 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
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