Hide Article Text (OCR)
MOVIE REVIEWAren, Mastroianni TeamedAgain In 'A Special Day/By MARIA NORRIS Register SUff WriterHOLLYWOOD - As theaudience was filing out after the screening of “A Spe cial Day.” one man safd, “It’s definitely Sophia Loren’s picture; she’s sure to be nominated for an Academy AwardThe 43-year^)ld actressportrayal of a frazzled housewife and worn-outmother of six is laudable, though it hardly taxes her dramatic limits.More worthy of note, if only because of the sheer ludicrousness of it — or rather the idea of it — is the performance of her co-star,Marcello Mastroianni ThatLatin Lothario, that wooer and seducer of countless women — on and off the screen — is called upon to play a homosexual in thisthe duo's eighth film togetherAnd. believe it or not. though he doesn’t look the part nor affect effeminate mannerisms, he does it con-vincingly, managing to stand rigid and impassive (at least at first) in the face of Miss Loren's amorousadvancesProduced by her husband Carlo Ponti. and di-the lives of the Italianhomosexualrected by Ettore Scola. who also helped write thescreenplay. ‘‘A Special Day’’ is the multilevelstory of a special day in the lives of Antonietta (Miss Loren) and Gabriele (Mastroianni) and also inpeople.It is the late 1930s before Hitler’s mvasi— seeking an oasis of comfort and sympathy in one another’s arms But thePoland The Fuhrer is paying his first official visit to Rome and Mussolini ismaking sure his ally is di impressed Thousands tanks, guns and soldiers all the trappings of Italy’s military might — crowd the streets of the Imperial City Actual newsreel footage enhances the grimly realistic evocation of the era.road to bliss, as short-lived as it is paved with painful soul-searching. Conventions are questioned and through verbal sparingboth characters gain adeeper understanding ofthemselves.After donning their black uniforms like the good racists they are Antonietta s husband and children depart early for the parades and speeches, leaving her to face unmade beds and dirty dishes What follows is the inevit-The film is essentially a character study of the two principals with their cinematic portraits drawn in masterfully subtle strokes However, the viewer’s interest in the characters remains on an academable coming together of t pathetic human beings Antonietta and Gabriel*It is a strange melangeic level, empathy is somehow lacking And in the end he comes away with a feeling of “so what?“A Special Day. an Italian language film with English subtitles, opens today at the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills.County Master ChoraleOpens Season SaturdaySANTA ANA - The Orange County Master Chorale will begin its 22nd season with its opening con cert Saturday night.Director Dennis Houser said the concert would inelude the “Psalmus Hun garicus’’ by Kodaly and the rhythmic and demand ine Carmina Burana” byHotel in Anaheim for a benefit concert of the OrangeCounty Music Center, Inc Dragon will be on the podium and Houser also will conduct the chorale with Mechem’s “The Seven Jovs of Christmas .”The concert will be repeated in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Loson TViIC 117ill
Newspaper Details
Orange County Register
Orange, California, US
Wed, Nov 02, 1977
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 09 Jul 2020
Other Publications Near Orange, California
Orange County Register
Orange City News
