The Italian (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Denis Moiseenko, Kolya Spiridonov, Sasha Sirotkin, Andrei Yelizarov, Vladimir Shipov
DVD Info
Release:
May 22, 2007
DVD Features:
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.66
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - Russian
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Vividly characterised and convincingly acted (not least by Spiridonov), it makes for a fascinating portrait of a post-Communist society beset by crime and despair.
Vividly characterised and convincingly acted (not least by Spiridonov), it makes for a fascinating portrait of a post-Communist society beset by crime and despair.
A stunningly powerful indictment of the weakest in thrall to a corrupt system.
An unsentimental and vividly characterized film which successfully combines melodrama and social analysis and features an impressive central performance from Spiridonov.
Even when Kravchuck lets the story drift, the boy is a solid anchor.
Andrei Kravchuk’s film is sensitive to the hilt and pleasingly attuned to the guileless outlook of its hero.
Despite channeling Dickensian melodrama, first-time director Andrei Kravchuk skilfully avoids wallowing in sentimentality.
This 2005 story about a Russian boy whose mother has given him up may be derivative, but it's still engrossing, largely because of its appealing juvenile lead, Kolya Spiridonov.
It's a touching film about a little boy with the determination of a champ.
What really makes this potentially melodramatic story so powerful is the incredibly intense and focused presence of little Kolya Spiridonov, who makes you believe Vanya's determination and grit every step of the way.
Like Vittorio De Sica, one of the great Italian neo-realists, Kravchuk populates his film with people, not paradigms; his characters are capable of good and evil, sometimes in equal measure.
It is about love, family, and the power of kindness to overcome the cruelty in the world.
There are shocking and heartbreaking moments scattered throughout The Italian, but [director] Kravchuk approaches them with a nonjudgmental, observational style that avoids most of the pitfalls of melodrama.
A throwback to neo-realist filmmaking . . . snowballs in emotion until later scenes are stomach-knotting in their tension. The film largely avoids sentiment with its muted score and shadowed close-ups.
This film is about many things, but the magic key that unlocks the treasure chest is literacy.
At times, the difficulties that Vanya encounters strain credulity. The Italian doesn't bother to infuse its characters with complex motivations. They're either Bad or Good.
An odd, beguiling little movie -- about two parts Dickens (with some Dickensian Chaplin thrown in) to one part Italian neorealist cinema.
With a riveting performance by young Kolya Spiridonov as the six year old Vanya, The Italian is a bitter sweet drama that captures the heartbreaking squalor of Russian orphans while highlighting the power of the spirit.
Cinematographer Aleksandr Burov captures a land of frost-coated fields, cracked plaster walls and weed-choked railways with a photojournalist's eye for the telling detail.
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posted by RT Staff January 18, 2007
This week lighting up your local theaters, we have a little girl lost somewhere between reality and fantasy...


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