Ciao

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

jmmgallagher merci beaucoup !! Wow, may I have such elogance in words about my paintings as you do write here, showing that you are an Artiste[/color] too (and may I copy that and send it to friends More please... did you get their addresses so we can contact them and encourage themau revoir,
hugs!

Gosh, thanks, Artiste, but my written speech is too halting, partly due to aphasia, and partly--well, too much enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, the 'professional' reviewers (two below) didn't do so well. Sad.

I'm glad I was able to say directly to the director, Yen Tan, that I thought his movie was beautiful and I believe that he appreciated it. If I find a production office address, I'll post it.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/movies/05ciao.html?ref=movies

Movie Review
Ciao (2007)


Adam Neal Smith and Alessandro Calza in "Ciao," directed by Yen Tan.

Two Lives After Death

By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: December 5, 2008

Deeply sincere and exceedingly slow even at 87 minutes, “Ciao” involves two strangers — Adam Neal Smith as Jeff and Alessandro Calza as Andrea — who become acquaintances after the death of a mutual friend. Directed by Yen Tan, who wrote the screenplay with Mr. Calza, the story takes off (slowly) shortly after the mutual friend, Mark (Charles W. Blaum), dies in an accident. Jeff mourns, largely by staring off into space under the fixed gaze of Mr. Tan’s stationary camera. The movie picks up somewhat with the introduction of Andrea, an Italian who hoped to consummate his and Mark’s online flirtation with a visit to the States. Jeff suggests that Andrea stick to his travel plans. He does, and you can guess the rest.
 
Shot in muddy video, “Ciao” weds a story that sounds (and often plays) like a pornographic quickie with a torturously ambitious visual style. Though it’s a bit of a relief that someone in American independent cinema apparently knows how to use a tripod, Mr. Tan has only traded one contemporary visual cliché (dribbling camerawork) for another (the art-house long shot).

But holding a shot until the cows come home, are milked dry and put out to pasture once again does not an art movie make. The shot has to have dynamism, tension, graphic interest, beauty, purpose, passion. It has to vibrate like a living thing. It has to make the audience want to dig into the image and live in it (or at least visit it), not flee.

“Ciao” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Sexual themes.

CIAO

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed by Yen Tan; written by Mr. Tan and Alessandro Calza; director of photography, Michael Victor Roy; edited by David Patrick Lowery; music by Stephan Altman; production designer, Claire Floyd DeVries; produced by Jim McMahon, Adam Neal Smith, Mr. Calza, Charles W. Blaum, Ethel Lung, John S. Boles and Margaret Lake; released by Regent Releasing and Here! Films. At the Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema, 139-143 East Houston Street, East Village. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes. WITH: Charles W. Blaum (Mark), Adam Neal Smith (Jeff), John S. Boles (Larry), Margaret Lake (Margaret), Tiffany Vollmer (Doctor) and Alessandro Calza (Andrea).

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

This review in Variety is a bit better than the one in the New York Times.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117937589.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

NewFest
Ciao
By RONNIE SCHEIB

An Unauthorized production. Produced by Jim McMahon. Co-producers, James M. Johnston, David Patrick Lowery. Directed by Yen Tan. Screenplay, Tan, Alessandro Calza.
 
With: Adam Neal Smith, Alessandro Calza, Ethel Lung, Charles W. Blaum.

(English, Italian dialogue)

A contemplative grace note in NewFest's raucous chorus of self-affirmation, this muted two-hander traces a three-day mourning interlude linking a dead man's lifelong platonic pal to the deceased's Italian lover-in-waiting. Helmer Yen Tan ("Happy Birthday" ) relies on the contrasting thesping styles of the two leads and a cool, minimalist aesthetic (fixed camera placements within emptying frames) to flesh out his mood piece's slender plot. As full of sexual tension as it is devoid of sexual activity, "Ciao" qualifies as a quietly charged change of pace for the gay fest circuit.

After the sudden death of his best friend Mark, it falls to Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) to put his affairs in order. Discovering that Mark had been conducting an extended, intimate email relationship with a Web designer named Andrea (Alessandro Calza) who was about to come to Dallas, Texas, to meet Mark for the first time, Jeff writes to inform Andrea of Mark's demise and head him off at the pass. Upon reflection, however, he invites Andrea to come to Dallas anyway.

Linked by death, the two men explore previously unknown aspects of Mark previously and, gradually, the strength of their mutual attraction to Mark shifts gears, going beyond concern about the departed middleman to focus directly on their own revved-up (if funereally tinged) chemistry.

Helmer/co-scripter Tan conceives of his two characters as complementing each other within a minor key. Thus, Jeff, an investment banker, reads as a composed, almost emotionally shut-down chap, whether by nature or in reaction to Mark's death or by some combination of both never quite made clear. Indeed, Tan pairs Jeff with female confidante Lauren (Ethel Lung) in certain scenes so he can elucidate his otherwise unspoken feelings.

Andrea, being Italian, necessarily comes off as more expansive (it would be difficult to appear less), albeit in a gentle, comforting way that's at odds with his blatant sexiness: He infuses every situation with a serene acceptance that always seems poised to turn into something far more sensual. Thesping successfully conveys more through silences than through dialogue, though Calza, who co-scripted, phrases his English lines with seductive sensitivity.

Tech credits are above average. Clare Floyd DeVries' subdued production design matches Jeff's quasi-sterile orderliness, while leaving plenty of room for the sexual promise quivering in the air.

Camera (color, HD), Michael Victor Roy; editor, Lowery; music, Stephan Altman; music supervisor, Glen Walsh; production designer, Clare Floyd DeVries; sound designer, Samuel Casas. Reviewed at NewFest, New York, June 8, 2008. (Also in San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.) Running time: 87 MIN.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

And people we wish they hadn't bothered....

Ugh. Just stupid.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-03/film/ciao-offers-no-shots-of-dick-or-ass-crack/

Tracking Shots
Ciao, a Gay Amerindie Without Dick or Ass-Crack



By Ed Gonzalez
Tuesday, December 2nd 2008 at 1:30pm

Compared to the likes of Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild, the willfully contrarian Ciao is practically Syndromes and a Century. There are no shots of dick or ass-crack, no special appearances by Sally Kirkland or Lady Bunny, no references to Mommie Dearest, and the lead character goes to the doctor not to discover he's HIV-positive but merely that he has a skin tag under one of his pits—a benign one at that. Which is one way to diagnose this drama about a handsome Italian who travels to Dallas—not West Hollywood—to visit the best friend of a man he was wooing online but who recently died in a car accident. Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) and Andrea (Alessandro Calza) get to know each other across the span of a single weekend, bonding over their wants and misgivings and memories of the deceased Mark. The cross-cultural jibber-jabber that often frames their chats will strike a nerve of recognition for queers who prefer dinner parties to tweaking, but like the symmetrical shot of the alleyway outside Jeff's home, or the bowl of fruit that appears in the background of one of Jeff and Mark's heart-to-hearts, the film's calculatingly minimalist style is in many ways as affected as all the gay Amerindie films at which writer-director Yen Tan snottily thumbs his nose.

[Artiste]

Jmmgallagher, I love your composition with as you say it's        halting... and enthusiasm.          

You can do some of that for me any time... as you write so beautifully, which spirits me to read it and see the movie !!

Sure wish you wrote like that for my paintings I created !!

More of your praise for that movie... please.

Au revoir,
hugs! You merit many flowers as your Oscar !!

[Artiste]

Jmmgallagher, you agre with with what is said above:  Ciao...      the film's (is) calculatingly minimalist style          ?

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Thank kew John for the wonderful review. I am really looking forward to seeing this.

[Artiste]

More news about it ... please !


Your posts are wonderful !!


Au revoir,
hugs!

[Artiste]

I long to see this great movie !

And more of your ideas on it too !


Au revoir,
hugs!

[SFEnnisSF]

Might contain brief spoilers..


Well I saw Ciao today.  Had to go up to Berkeley to see it.  They are unfortunately only showing it for three days, Friday through Sunday.    In all my movie going years, I've never seen or heard of such a thing. 

Basically, they projected a DVD on the screen.    I guess this is the new way to deliver "low-fare" gay movies now a days, right before they go to pay per view on Here! networks.  The majority of theatres across the country would never book such a movie, and really, to reach the target audience, pay per view is really the way to go.  I am glad though, that I live near an area where I'm given the choice to go see it in a theatre, even if it's a DVD projected.

And well, as far as the movie goes, I echo everything jmmgallagher says about the movie.  I loved it.  For many different reasons.  Actually, reading that review above from the Village Voice about "a Gay Amerindie Without Dick or Ass-Crack", OMG, I really have to laugh.  They are like the people who saw Brokeback Mountain and "didn't get it".  They certainley did not understand this movie.  Actually, for everything they dismiss, I think is why I liked the movie!   It's not the same ol' washed up West Hollywood AIDS drama.  This is very different.  It deals with the human emotions of death and loss, and also heartbreak.  Oh man, the heartbreak is truly gut-wrenching.    Also, the men are very attractive to me too, but I can see them not being attractive to some Weho Twinkie, and for that reason, maybe that's why I connected with and understood the movie, and they didn't.  *Spoiler* We do see a video of the deceased, and wow, what a hottie.  I certainly see what the both of them saw in him.  A Weho twinkie would definitely not.    I also liked that the story was located in Dallas, and they shot it in Dallas.  Of all my travels of recent, Dallas and Fort Worth were my favorite cities I visited.  I feel at home there (and I can't explain why), and seeing the shots of the Dallas skyline were very enjoyable for me.  Also the scene with them in the bar was shot at the Gay Country Western bar there called The Round-Up Saloon.

Yes, the movie is very quiet and slow moving.  But the pace is perfect I think.  I actually do think it would be better on pay per view or DVD rental at home.  In the theatre today (about 25 people in the audience) you could hear all the rustling of jackets, popcorn bags, whispering, etc.  Although I liked seeing it on a big screen (on DVD!), I will also enjoy it at home when available, with no distractions.

Highly recommended from this Brokie. 4 Stars out of 4 Stars! 

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Might contain brief spoilers..

Well I saw Ciao today.  Had to go up to Berkeley to see it.  They are unfortunately only showing it for three days, Friday through Sunday.    In all my movie going years, I've never seen or heard of such a thing. 

Basically, they projected a DVD on the screen.    I guess this is the new way to deliver "low-fare" gay movies now a days, right before they go to pay per view on Here! networks.  The majority of theatres across the country would never book such a movie, and really, to reach the target audience, pay per view is really the way to go.  I am glad though, that I live near an area where I'm given the choice to go see it in a theatre, even if it's a DVD projected.

And well, as far as the movie goes, I echo everything jmmgallagher says about the movie.  I loved it.  For many different reasons.  Actually, reading that review above from the Village Voice about "a Gay Amerindie Without Dick or Ass-Crack", OMG, I really have to laugh.  They are like the people who saw Brokeback Mountain and "didn't get it".  They certainley did not understand this movie.  Actually, for everything they dismiss, I think is why I liked the movie!   It's not the same ol' washed up West Hollywood AIDS drama.  This is very different.  It deals with the human emotions of death and loss, and also heartbreak.  Oh man, the heartbreak is truly gut-wrenching.    Also, the men are very attractive to me too, but I can see them not being attractive to some Weho Twinkie, and for that reason, maybe that's why I connected with and understood the movie, and they didn't.  *Spoiler* We do see a video of the deceased, and wow, what a hottie.  I certainly see what the both of them saw in him.  A Weho twinkie would definitely not.    I also liked that the story was located in Dallas, and they shot it in Dallas.  Of all my travels of recent, Dallas and Fort Worth were my favorite cities I visited.  I feel at home there (and I can't explain why), and seeing the shots of the Dallas skyline were very enjoyable for me.  Also the scene with them in the bar was shot at the Gay Country Western bar there called The Round-Up Saloon.

Yes, the movie is very quiet and slow moving.  But the pace is perfect I think.  I actually do think it would be better on pay per view or DVD rental at home.  In the theatre today (about 25 people in the audience) you could hear all the rustling of jackets, popcorn bags, whispering, etc.  Although I liked seeing it on a big screen (on DVD!), I will also enjoy it at home when available, with no distractions.

Highly recommended from this Brokie. 4 Stars out of 4 Stars! 

Great review, Eric. Thank you.

I am also glad you mention the third character, Mark. (The third character of the triangle, anyway; Lauren is the fourth character. Mark's sad, nearly mute parents are shadows.)

I certainly don't think you have given anyone any spoilers in re: the video clip of Mark that Andrea shows Jeff towards the end of the film.

I will also say that Mark (Charles W. Blaum), who really is a hottie (the production stills do not give him justice) has a gorgeous Texas twang. And endearingly, he sings. In only a minute or two, the viewer gets the whole sense of a character, a person, whose life has been suddenly taken--tragically.

There is something else I wish I could say, though, about Mark, a series of quick, silent images at the very end of the film, and--but that gets too close to being a spoiler.

Sad, sad movie. And very beautiful. See it if you can.

John