‘Gomorrah’ whacks ‘Il Divo’ at the Donatellos
At the David di Donatello Awards Friday evening, Matteo Garrone’s critically acclaimed mafia film Gomorrah took home seven golden Davids, including best film, director and screenplay. Though Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo also won seven of Italy’s top film prizes, including best actor Tony Servillo, best supporting actress Piera Degli Espositi and best director of photography, people who tally such things will note that Gomorrah’s prizes were bigger and were the result of fewer initial nominations (11 vs. 16).
Pointless score keeping and pissing contests aside, Il Divo’s look at the nature of power in Italian politics was a bracing jolt of energy that might not have been perfectly satisfying, but was still more fulfilling than the deglamorized crime message of the gritty and admittedly admirable but ultimately pointless Gomorrah. It is the considered opinion of the monkeys and I that crime is already decidedly unglamorous. We don’t look good in orange jumpsuits for one thing and we’re more interested in what draws people to crime than we are in how horrible it is when they get there.
Nevertheless, if you want to be up on two of the more talked about foreign films of this year, you’ll want to have a look at these. Gomorrah has likely come and gone (possible US DVD street in July), but Il Divo may still be kicking around theaters.
Via: ScreenDaily which has a complete list of winners
Filed under: Awards
Tags: Gomorrah, Il Divo, Matteo Garrone, Paolo Sorrentino
Well, I was not a fan of GOMORRAH, as I’ve stated on these threads before, but he certainly has its fans in the critical ranks, not to mention Jeff here at LIC.
A friend of mine I haven’t seen in a few months stopped by here last weekend, and asked me if I would be interested in seeing IL DIVO this coming Sunday night at Manhattan’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and I agreed. So I’ll be able to make my own judgement on all of this soon enough. But my friend is a fellow Italian-American who loved GOMORRAH, so we might have a duel to the death on the way home if we disagree again!
Or maybe you’ll both dislike it and harmony will be restored.
I struggled what to make of Il Divo…it was always stylish and entertaining with a great performance by the lead (who was also the best part of Gomorrah), but in the end I wasn’t sure what to take from it all.
I liked “Il Divo” better than “Gomorrah,” no question.
It almost seems unfair to compare them really, but damnit it was just more engaging.