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DVD My House in Umbria
Falling neatly into the Enchanted April and Under the Tuscan Sun category, the made-for-HBO My House in Umbria boasts lovely Italian vistas and comforting Englishness. But it begins with a note of violence: on a train rolling through the sunny countryside, a terrorist bomb detonates, killing a handful of passengers. The strangers that survive recuperate at the villa of an eccentric but kindly romance novelist, also a survivor of the blast. She's played by Maggie Smith, who bustles through the role with a pleasing mix of gin and daffodils. Chris Cooper is an uptight American who comes to the villa to pick up his orphaned niece and bristles at the bohemian atmosphere. Director Richard Loncraine maintains the melancholy mood amidst the sun-dappled gardens of Umbria, but Smith really holds the film together with her authority and slightly tipsy humor. --Robert Horton
What can I say, Maggie Smith gives another outstanding performance. The supporting cast especially Chris Cooper are also excellent.
Timely topic
While this is a made-for-TV film, the cast--headed by English charmer Maggie Smith--is excellent. The subject, a group of survivors recovering (at an Italian villa) from a terrorist attack on a train, is relevant these days. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes mature films, foreign films, art films. Humor and drama, some surprises--like who is the terrorist?
Even Maggie Smith cannot save this truly dreadful, lightweight rubbish
Let's get the good bits over and done with. Yes, the Umbrian countryside looks wonderful. Maggie Smith is, as she almost always is, fabulous. She is given a role that has small potential as a character and an erratic and inconsistent script, yet she manages to make it seem almost plausible. Few others could have done the same with such poor material.
After a promising start the film spirals out of control after only a couple of scenes. Much of the plot is completely implausible: a modern Italian hospital discharges an orphaned girl to the care of complete strangers; a well-off, middle-class American Professor and his wife seriously discuss putting a child into care merely because she has suffered a bereavement (ever heard of CBT?); the young girl walks around modern Italy dressed as if she has just stepped out of the 1930s (not a pair of jeans in sight); and the twist at the end is just embarrasing.
Poor old Timothy Spall (usually excellent) struggles with an Irish accent and his relationship with the maid is not developed at all; it is a completely pointless element of the film. Ronnie Barker is surprisngly good, but only has a handful of bland lines to deliver.
Overall a wandering, nebulous, unconvincing and dull film. Avoid.
I'm a bit surprised to see the somewhat tepid 4-star reviews of this great film, one of my all-time favorite movies (others being Godfather I&II, Dr. Strangelove, Notting Hill, The Player, Pulp Fiction).
The acting, the plot, the direction, and the setting is marvelous. I don't even particularly like Lake Como (it's easily my least favorite destination in Italy) but I love this film!
In filming this semi-autobiographical account of life in Italy during the dawn of World War II, director Franco Zeffirelli imbues Tea with Mussolini with the mixed blessings of fond reminiscence. It's a warmly inviting film, as impeccable as any Merchant-Ivory production, but like a hazy memory it's uncertain in its narrative intentions. And yet with an exceptional cast to compensate, the film's as engaging as it is inconsequential.
Zeffirelli's alter ego is Luca (Charlie Lucas in youth; Baird Wallace as a teenager), who is raised in Florence by Mary (Joan Plowright), the middle-aged secretary of his absentee father. Luca lives among a loose band of British and American women, nicknamed "Il Scorpioni" for their stinging wit in the shadows of Mussolini's thuggish dictatorship.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cher - Judi Dench - Joan Plowright - Maggie Smith Director(s): Franco Zeffirelli DVD Release Date: Released the 15 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In this quaint Irish comedy about a remote town run by the large number of widows, who are led by the monarchical Mrs. Counihan (Joan Plowright), Natasha Richardson is a newly arrived English widow who brings sex appeal and the possibility of mischief when she starts courting Counihan's befuddled son (Adrian Dunbar). This sets in motion a mystery akin to an Agatha Christie tale, led by suspicious Mia Farrow. The setup is fine and the acting first-rate, but the final act forces its hand far too soon. What starts off as an accessible film turns into a prize only for those who liked Enchanted April and similar movies. --Doug ThomasMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Mia Farrow - Joan Plowright - Natasha Richardson Director(s): John Irvin DVD Release Date: Released the 19 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The prestigious filmmaking trio of producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had made other critically acclaimed films before A Room with a View was released in 1985, but it was this popular film that made them art-house superstars. Splendidly adapted from the novel by E.M. Forster, it's a comedy of the heart, a passionate romance and a study of repression within the British class system of manners and mores. It's that system of rigid behavior that prevents young Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) from accepting the loving advances of a free-spirited suitor (Julian Sands), who fears that she will follow through with her engagement to a priggish intellectual (Daniel Day-Lewis) whose capacity for passion is virtually nonexistent.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Helena Bonham Carter Director(s): James Ivory DVD Release Date: Released the 06 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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