The Two Movies

Well, decided to make a post dedicated to the two movies I've seen recently that have taken my mind away. Great stories, great actors. So, the first one was the White Oleander.

That drama was shot in 2002 directed by Peter Kosminsky. It was adapted to screenplay by Mary Agnes Donoghue from Janet Fitch's novel of the same name.

The cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, and Alison Lohman. One of the critics said the film is "superbly acted from top to bottom", and called Pfeiffer's acting "the most complex screen performance of her career".

Plot: Ingrid Magnussen is a free-spirited mother to 15 year-old Astrid. Ingrid falls in love with a man but he turns out to be a womanizer & she ends up with a broken heart. In a crime of passion, she kills the man with the deadly poison of the white oleander. She is sentenced to life in prison - and Astrid is sent from foster home to foster home. Through each foster home, Astrid has experiences both positive and negative. Astrid and Ingrid keep in touch through mail & while Astrid visits her mother in prison, trying to teach other important lessons about each other. With the lessons learned from her experiences in foster homes & the help of an orphan who befriends Astrid during her brief stay at an orphanage, Astrid eventually forges a life separate from her mother.

Cast:
Alison Lohman as Astrid Magnussen
Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid Magnussen
Robin Wright Penn as Starr Thomas
Renée Zellweger as Claire Richards
Amy Aquino as Ms. Martinez
Billy Connolly as Barry Kolker
Svetlana Efremova as Rena Gruschenka
Patrick Fugit as Paul Trout
Cole Hauser as Ray
Liz Stauber as Carolee
Noah Wyle as Mark Richards
Marc Donato as Davey Thomas

The quote I liked the most in this film was by Ingrid: Don't attach yourself to anyone who shows you the least bit of attention because you're lonely. Loneliness is the human condition. No one is ever going to fill that space. The best you can do is know yourself... know what you want.

“не надо привязываться к тому, кто проявил к тебе немного внимания, потому что ты одинока. Одиночество - нормальное человеческое состояние, и никто и никогда не сможет заполнить пустоту. Попробуй лишь разобраться в себе, понять, чего ты хочешь…чтобы никто не сумел тебя сломить “

More quotes are here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283139/quotes

Here is also the article about this film for my Russian readers http://www.kinocrit.ru/?p=7

The second movie, Modigliani, is a 2004 semi-biographical film of the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

Plot: Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo Picasso. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple has an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted father sends the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and needs money to rescue and raise his child. The answer arrives in the shape of Paris' annual art competition. Prize money and a guaranteed career await the winner. Neither Modigliani, nor his dearest friend and rival Picasso have ever entered the competition, believing that it is beneath true artists like themselves. But push comes to shove with the welfare of his child on the line, and Modigliani signs up for the competition in a drunken and drug-induced tirade. Picasso follows suit and all of Paris is aflutter with excitement at who will win. With the balance of his relationship with Jeanne on the line, Modigliani tackles this work with the hopes of creating a masterpiece, and knows that all the artists of Paris are doing the same. Once completed he calls his dearest friend to take the painting to the competition and to make sure no one touches it. While his friend is taking the painting, Modigliani is at City Hall waiting for him to get legally married with Jeanne. After being the last person to leave, he decides to celebrate with a one drink. Unfortunately his drinking habit made him drink a couple more than expected. The competition was going to start at eight o'clock, and when he realizes he is late he leaves without paying. Two guys thats work for the bar follow him and assault him, once they found no money they left him in floor have dead. He wasn't able to celebrate his victory, but when he arrived home Jeanne took care of him, but then his artist friends came and took him to the hospital. He dies later on and Jeanne commits suicide.
Cast:
Andy Garcia was chosen for the lead.
His chief love interest Jeanne Hébuterne is played by Elsa Zylberstein.
Modigliani's rival, Pablo Picasso, is portrayed by Omid Djalili.
Hippolyte Girardot ... Maurice Utrillo
Eva Herzigova ... Olga Khokhlova (Picasso's wife)
Udo Kier ... Max Jacob
Susie Amy ... Beatrice Hastings
Peter Capaldi ... Jean Cocteau
Louis Hilyer ... Leopold Zborowski
Stevan Rimkus ... Chaim Soutine
Dan Astileanu ... Diego Rivera
George Ivascu ... Moise Kisling
Michelle Newell ... Eudoxie Hébuterne
Frederico Ambrosino ... Little Dedo
Miriam Margolyes ... Gertrude Stein

I liked in this movie the beautiful picture and people. And the beautiful eyes of Elsa Zylberstein. She is unbelievable. My Russian readers can read more about Modigliani here http://www.cinema.vrn.ru/reviews/modigliani.shtml

Источник: Wikipedia