Il dolce e l'amaro (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Andrea Porporati

Writer:

Andrea Porporati (writer)

Release Date:

5 September 2007 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Sicily | Mafia | Sicilian | Mafia Boss | Wedding

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Donatella Finocchiaro	...	Ada
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vincenzo Amato	...	Vito Scordia, Saro's father
Pietro Arciadiacono	...	Proprietario chiosco
Arianna Barbanera	...	Figlia Saro e Aldo
Roberto Bonura	...	Guardaspalle Zu Pietro
Gaetano Bruno	...	Mimmo
Marialorena Cacciatore	...	Turista tedesca
Andrea Cannistraro	...	Regazzo traghetto
Tommaso Caporrimo	...	Rapinatore
Gioacchino Cappelli
Renato Carpentieri	...	Vicari
Vittoria Cinquina	...	Turista tedesca
Giovanni Cintura	...	Zu Pietro
Ignazio Cusimano	...	Benzinaio Apprendista
Fulvio D'Angelo	...	Artificiere mafioso
Vincenzo D'Asta	...	Fratello Saro
Giuseppa Di Blasi	...	Madre Saro
Calogero Di Majo	...	Roccu u pazzu
Antonino Dolcemascolo	...	Rapinatore
Mario Fasano	...	Proprietario autosalone
Salvatore Forzisimo	...	Barzellettiere
Toni Gambino	...	Gaetano
Fabrizio Gifuni	...	Stefano
Alessandro Giugliano	...	Guardaspalle Ofanto
Ornella Giusto	...	Antonia
Giugiu Gramaglia	...	Caposcorta Massirenti
Santo Leonardi	...	Traduttore di Partinico
Erasmo Lo Bello	...	Gurdaspalle Zu Pietro
Luigi Lo Cascio	...	Saro Scordia
Giacomo Lo Nardo	...	Esentato servizio militare
Filippo Luna	...	Direttore carcere
Mariangela Consuelo Lupo	...	Cliente banca
Salvatore Maddalena	...	Rapinatore
Ana Paula Mancino Machado	...	Moglie Mimmo
Flora Massimo	...	Madre Sciacca
Linda Messerlinker	...	Chantal
Pier Luigi Misasi	...	Cosimo Albanese
Domenico Montesanto	...	Rapinatore
Emanuela Muni
Fabrizio Nuccio	...	Ragazzo pozzo
Enrico Pappalardo	...	Padre Massirenti
Leandro Parlavecchio	...	Padre esentato
Mario Patanè	...	Babbuzza
Domenico Pecoraro	...	Ninni Santamaria
Antonino Pensabene	...	Ragioniere
Alessio Piazza	...	Lillo
Marcello Prayer	...	Ofanto Agostino
Antonio Puccia	...	Maresciallo traghetto
Raffaele Sabato	...	Turi Sciacca
Maria Luisa Seravesi	...	Commessa
Annamaria Varello	...	Cassiera
Gian Maria Virzì	...	Ragazzo pozzo
Grazia Zappalà	...	Cliente autosalone
Giuseppa Zerbo	...	Madre Rocco
Giuseppe Zerbo	...	Rapinatore

Also Known As:

The Sweet and the Bitter (Europe: English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

Germany:98 min (European Film Market)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Company:

Sciarlò

A little respect for the modern Italian cinema, please.

I'll take the unpopular view on Italian cinema - I love it, and I loved "Il Dolce e L'Amaro". Having seen as many contemporary Italian films as I could get my hands on, there is one thing that I will never figure out, and that is why there is no respect for Italian movies made today. No respect from America certainly, but more importantly, little from Italians themselves. I've yet to meet an Italian that does not turn up his nose at the movies made in his country.

I don't get it, and I respectfully disagree with them. Luigi LoCascio is better than most of today's popular American actors. He is more subtle and yet more expressive. He doesn't require car crashes and explosions to make his movies exciting. He understands how a story is told even if many of us have lost the patience to listen to one without special effects. His last film, "Mare Nero" was truly boring but I've seen all of his other movies and liked them very much.

"Il Dolce e L'Amaro" is not neither the average Mafia story or a story just about the Mafia. It's a very well told story about a man's life, told without the usual clichés that American film makers like to throw into Mafia movies. It's a story about family and justice, and it's a great crime story.

This film kept my attention from beginning to end and is every bit as good if not better than the American movies that I've seen recently.