The Star Maker

Starring:Sergio Castellitto, Tiziana Lodato, Franco Scaldati, Leopoldo Trieste, Clelia Rondinella, Tano Cimarosa, Nicola Di Pinto, Costantino Carrozza, Jane Alexander (III), Tony Sperandeo, Leo Gullotta, Luigi Maria Burruano, Carmelo Di Mazzarelli, Antonella Attili, Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabana, Maria Rosa Parrelo, Rita Lia, Alessandro Guarrera, Spiro Scimone
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

This critically acclaimed motion picture from the creator of the Academy Award(R)-Winning favorite CINEMA PARADISO, was heralded as a masterpiece by critics from coast to coast. Joe Morelli is the "star maker" -- a con man who travels from one small town to the next, claiming to be a talent scout for a top movie studio. And wherever Joe goes, people turn out in droves for a chance at being seen and becoming the world's next big-screen sensation! A lively and entertaining story about the magic of movies and the extraordinary dreams of everyday people, THE STAR MAKER earned a 1995 Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign Language Film!

Customer Reviews:

Super!.......2007-06-25

One of my favorite films. It sweeps you into the drama of a fake moviemaker and a village girl in Italy. The end is surprinsingly correct.
A lesson to be learned.
Marcelo Lanat Júnior.

Star Maker.......2007-05-07

If you liked Cinema Paradiso, this is another one I would say you see.

I would recommend it.

Another one of Tornatore's dark fables.......2006-12-16

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.

did we even see the whole movie?.......2004-03-23

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.

WARNING: This is not a charming film........2004-03-02

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."

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Facing the Enemy

Matt Hayes - Record Breaking Fish - Episodes 13 To 15 : DVD

Mutant X: Season 1, Disc 3 [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Jane Street

Once Upon A Time In China III