Customer Reviews

The Star Maker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It didn't surprise me that few Americans appreciated this film. Unless you know something about Sicily or have traveled there, you might not appreciate the full scope of this film, which is understandable -- but still, it is a fantastic and highly original movie that stands easily on its own merits.

Set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, the story revolves around Morelli, a conman from Rome who steals a truck, camera, and discarded film from the movie company he works for and drives down to Sicily. Posing as "Dr. Morelli", the conman (played by Sergio Castellitto) convinces whole towns of ordinary Sicilians that he is really a talent agent scouting out new genius in the poverty-stricken island of he south. He could have stepped out of the dream world of the circus. Charging 1,500 lire for a chance to pose before his camera and take a stab at making it as an actor, Morelli offers these Sicilians a chance of fame and fortune in the glitzy world of Rome and America that also means an opportunity to escape the impoverishment of their homeland.

In incredible scene after incredible scene (made even better by a phenomenally good screenplay), Morelli gets these Sicilians to open up. Although they aren't actually being filmed (they don't realize that the film Morelli is using is junk), they think this may be their chance to break into acting, so they spill out their inner worries and life stories as though they were talking in front of a psychiatrist. What results is not only a panoramic and extremely original portrayal of the Sicilian people (including the mafia, bandits, an old Spanish Republican, a 112-year-old Garibaldino, a harassed homosexual, and a beautiful but naive teenage girl whom Morelli falls in love with). It is also a blisteringly sharp attack on the causes of backwardness in Sicily (which still exists today), as well as the sneering attitude of many northern Italians toward the South. While he initially took them to be just "idiotic rednecks" ripe to be ripped off, Morelli slowly discovers the Sicilians' humanity without this film being in any way a quaint or "cutesy" portrayal of how a man discovered the natives in "quaint, sun-baked Italian villages".

"The Star Maker" is full of humor as well as tragedy. As the great Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia wrote, humor is a staple of life in Sicily as in few other places -- it has to be in order for survival to go on. Moreover, unlike the stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of Sicily in "The Godfather" movies, "The Star Maker" has a very profound social message. As the girl, Beata, says at the end of the film, "I like movies with a happy ending, where lovers kiss in each other's arms". Unfortunately, in Sicily, a happy ending just would not tell the entire story.

I was flabbergasted and sobered by this film. I was even more flabbergasted by its lame critical reception in the United States and by reviewers at Amazon.com. If moviegoers in this country go on thinking that "Legally Blonde" is the supreme height of cinematic achievement, I really think we're going to go totally brain-dead. Five stars.

Set sometime in the early post-WWII era, a con-man travels the Italian countryside with a movie camera and prop truck, masqerading as a talent scout from Universal Studios in Rome. He promises people in local villages the opportunity to be discovered by "Italy's greatest directors and producers, and even those from America". A short screen test is all it takes, requiring an investment only of their "obvious" talents, their time and a "small bit" of money. The simple people are easily seduced by his promises of fame and fortune, and for the man's camera (it has no film!), they open their hearts, their dreams, their memories and, unfortunately, their wallets. The man is not all bad, however, and he meets several people who profoundly affect his opinion of himself. Finally, a beautiful young woman forces him to reconsider his life. The story is at once hilarious, sentimental, touching, sad, and thought-provoking. Shot entirely in quaint Italian villages and the beautiful Italian countryside, the scenery is spectacular. I whole-heartedly recommend this film, even to those who don't speak Italian. I don't speak Italian, and I hope you won't let the need to read subtitles cause you to miss this wonderful film.

I LOVE tornatore, I liked this film. i think anyone who loves seeing italy and italian culture should add a star too. that being said, i wonder, how much of this film did we see? the box does, as a reviewer pointed out, feature a ruby-lipped woman that just does not sell this movie for what it is. but what gets me, is there are three pictures on the back, and two of them arent in the film!
i know that every copy other than the italian original and the korean version of "Malena" (highly reccommended for tornatore fans) were shortened by 11 minutes by miramax.. perhaps there was too much sex in the film for american censure; perhaps now there's not emough character development in the movie to completely fall in love with it. the other reviewers hit the nail on the head about the sobering effect of witnessing people expose their lives for the chance at fame, but either way, before the cutting room floor or after, there's something missing from the main character of this film. if any of you know where it is please tell me.

This is one of the most beautiful films I have seen. I have seen his Cinema Paradiso 40 times, but this one takes your breath away in an even more powerful way. Destiny, love, hope, everything is mixed together in a film you just don't want to miss.

No, this is not a chic little euro-comedy like the picture on the front cover might suggest, or a charming new bent on "The Music Man" as implied by the plot outlined on the dvd box. In fact, it isn't funny or romantic at all.

That said, like "The Music Man," this is also the story of a con man. He travels from town to town, promising to make people stars, taking their money, auditioning them for star quality, advising them on how to make themselves more appealing, then going along his merry way. But in this case, he devirginizes your underage daughter, steals your wife's jewelry, then charges you for telling you that your nose is too big for the Hollywood screen. (Well, perhaps that all didn't happen, but it just as well could have with the inscrupulous nature of the film's antihero.)

The interesting and sad aspect of the story, and what should have been advertised about the film, is its demomstration of how people, desperately in need of hope in a time a great depression, will allow themselves to be fooled into believing anything to keep their hopes alive - even if it means buying the dreams spun by a corrupt "Star Maker."

It's a good film, but be warned, it is sobering, not lovely.

For those diehard Cinema Paradiso fans, you can not miss this film. While not as wonderful as CP, it still has the magic and delight. Excellent soundtrack. Fantastic acting. Tornatore is a maestro.

Ever since Miramax edited the dark last act out of Cinema Paradiso to make a more sentimental film, Giuseppe Tornatore has been written off by many as something of a lightweight. On the face of it, The Star Maker would seem to have the perfect setup for a whimsical comedy of love and redemption as it follows a conman winding his way through post-war Sicily charging the locals 1,500 lira for screen tests he never even bothers to develop. The locals unburden their souls and confess their desperation to him as his camera becomes a confessional, building up a vivid portrait of a desperate place in a desperate time, but it makes little impression on him. In fact, despite the beautiful photography and the `cute' setup as one simple local girl follows him in the hopes of stardom and escape, it's resolutely unsentimental - redemption is denied and he never really learns anything from the experience. Even in the final scenes, he never really gets it.

Unfortunately, this very misleadingly packaged DVD appears to be cut by some seven minutes from the Italian version (with one of the most gaping jumps in continuity I've seen in a film since Tom Horn), but there's more than enough surviving to mark this out as a winner, more bitter than sweet.

No extras (aside from some promos for other Miramax releases) but the good subtitled 2.35:1 widescreen transfer shows off the ambitious and accomplished camerawork well.

I first saw this film in my highschool Italian class and It is excellent. The story is touching and the characters' pain so real at times you can almost feel it. I would definately recommend this film. If you are a fan of good movies see it.

Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a flimflam man who is driving around the rural villages of Sicily shortly after World War II selling potential stardom for fifteen hundred lira. He has a motion picture camera and loudspeaker on his truck. As he drives through the villages he broadcasts to the people that he is from the film industry of Roma and he is giving screen tests in order to discover natural talent.

He sets up his truck and tent typically in the town square. His technique is to tell everyone that they have a wonderful face, hidden talent, that they are naturals and diamonds in the rough. He hands out fliers with some dialogue from "Gone with the Wind" on them that they should practice reading before appearing before his camera. He has discovered that people will fall for his flattery and pay him for the fake screen tests.

As we watch the film we discover that people will put their hearts and souls into the experience of appearing before his camera. They don't just read the lines from Gone with the Wind. They tell their life stories in miniature. They bare their hearts and souls to the flimflam man in the hope that someone will hear and see their anguish, their pain, their experience. To Morelli, who has been to Hollywood and failed, this is just a way to make a lira. He has a gift for the hustle and is blind to the real emotion that he evokes.

A woman believes her teenaged daughter has the talent to make it in the movies. She begs Morelli to take her to Roma. She even has sex with him and promises to allow him to be her daughter's first lover. But Morelli moves on to the next town. He is stopped by the local police chief, but Morelli manages to flatter him into appearing before his camera and then applauds the chief's performance. Three highwaymen stop to rob Morelli. He is able to convince them that Roma longs for their raw talent. And so on, as he travels over the cobblestones and over the winding roads.

Finally he meets beautiful Beata (Tiziana Lodato) who is 15 or 18. She isn't sure. She works in the convent, bathing the sick and scrubbing the floors. She exposes herself to the local tax man to raise the 1500 lira needed for Morelli's screen test. She is strikingly beautiful from head to toe, and the tax man exclaims, "You are a statue!" when he sees her body. Morelli is reluctant to get involved with someone so young even though she throws herself at him.

What happens after this I will not say since it would spoil the film for those who have not seen it. But watch for the con man to get conned, among other things. Despite his villainy, there is a sense that Morelli is a man that we can identify with and understand. I think it is this quality that director Giuseppe Tornatore has developed in his character that carries the film, and Sergio Castellitto whom I saw recently in Non ti muovere (Don't Move) (2004) really becomes the part.

Tornatore, who made a splash with the critically acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1988) wrote the original material here and worked on the script in addition to directing. While I thought Cinema Paradiso was an excellent film, I liked this one even more. Both are original works of art, but I found L'uomo delle stelle more engaging. Particularly striking are the beautiful village scenes, the faces of the people, and the photography of the Sicilian countryside and ruins.

Netflix describes this movie: "This Oscar-nominated film follows a self-described talent scout as he travels the back roads of Sicily. Armed with a camera, he sells screen tests to poor village folk, who are only too eager to fall for the promise of movie stardom. Men, women and children swarm to him, turning their tests into confessions that are tragic, comic, rhapsodic and revealing. But the gambit takes an unexpected turn when 18-year-old orphan Beata enters the picture..."

The premise is odd, but it's played out in a marvelously quirky fashion. The lead actor has a face that reacts subtly but completely to everyone around him, while the scenery and supporting cast are Sicily personified. The action and plot move gently as befits the time and place. Definitely worth watching.