Toni Servillo and friend, just hanging out in The Great Beauty
Sumptuous and kinetic, whimsical and melancholy – often all at the same time – director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty might just be the perfect cinematic getaway for a freezing cold Tuesday night.Â
Set in present-day Rome, the film follows the elegantly decadent meanderings of Jep Gambardella (played with world-weary grace by Toni Servillo), an aging, once-promising novelist whose daily life seems to be one long blur of partying and repartee until he is brought up short by various intrusions of mortality. The character of Jep is equal parts misanthrope, sentimentalist and libertine and the film deftly balances cynicism, eroticism and philosophical angst while serving up a constant feast of vibrant images and sly humor. Click here to watch the trailer.
The Great Beauty which has been nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, is the second selection in this year’s Springfield Art Association Film Series (Click here for the full schedule). It will screen tonight at AMC Parkway 8, 3025 Lindbergh Blvd. Showtime is 7 PM, tickets for adults are $8, tickets for students with ID are $4. Â
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This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2014.
