Blood and Chocolate, 2004. This could have been a great movie. Paranormal romance books are so popular right now and this is based on a young adult novel, like Twilight. Loup Garou (werewolf) girl loses her family to humans at a young age and finishes growing up in Bucharest with part of her clan. She has a human life, working in a chocolatier, but is pursued by clan leader, Olivier Martinez, who picks a new mate every seven years. She meets a young graphic artist and the love triangle is on. This should have been good but the movie falls flat--I think the main actress was too tough acting for the part--she needed that heroine vulnerability. Also, the clan leader was too old and had too thick a French accent--when he is rousing fellow werewolves you have to strain to hear what he is saying.
Il Divo, Italian. This movie has a fantastic reputation and nearly won the Cannes Film Festival's highest award--the Palm D'Orr. That said, it is a puzzling film with a whole new look into the world and history of Italian politics. A satirical look at an actual Italian prime minister's decades long reign, which ended in his repeated trials for corruption and ties to the Mafia, it is full of suble humor. The character of Andreotti, the Prime Minister, is someone I barely recognized--the stooped, intellectual, and coldly-intelligent Italian politician--not a world I am familiar with. It's funny how the Italians seem to pick politicians who are the opposite of good-looking (unlike in the United States). They seem to go more for gravitas--age and experience. You never really find out if Andreotti was guilty or not--he gets off scotts free in the end and is elected senator for life. Andreotti had lots of peculilar quotes that are treasured by the Italian public, for instance, "Power tires only those who do not have it," and "You sin in thinking bad of people, but, often, you guess right."
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