Don't Tell

Description

When Sabina's father dies, she is left haunted by a terrible dream that becomes a living nightmare. She seeks out her only sibling hoping to find an answer… while keeping her daunting journey a secret to those she loves most.

Customer Reviews:

Don't Bother.......2007-07-23

I always thought that while movies about incest were shocking in, say, 1975, that path had been well-worn. Not to say that I'm only looking for shock in movies, but I found this renouned drama to be rather flat and bloodless. Sure the acting is good, but the script is rather pedestrian, the characters uninteresting, and after the end we don't get a sense that much has changed. And it's all told so slowly, with lots of portentious flashbacks (it reminded me in that regard of Barbra Streisand's Nuts, another overpraised film) as though there's this great profundity when in fact there's nothing but banality. I was waiting for the twist, the surprising insight, but it never came. The video box is plastered with awards and nominations, but compared to the ground-breaking Italian cinema of Fellini and De Sica and other, lesser names, this is banal television. Can't say I'd recommend this, unless you're looking for something light. Yes, light. It seems odd to describe a movie about incest that way, but 2007 isn't 1975.

Superb film.......2007-04-28

This award winning Italian film tackles a difficult issue in a subdued but dignified manner with great acting along the way. The title, "Don't Tell," sums up the main question behind the film. When should you tell about deep secrets?

The film's answer appears to be always. Sabrina's problems come from covering up her childhood suffering caused by her fathers' sexual abuse of her as a child. Will she ruin her retationship with the famous actor who loves her so? Of course he did cheat on her when she was with her brother in the states but he does not think it important.

Relationships are very fragile in this drama which easity could have degenerated into a melodrama but the fine film avoids that danger and delivers a subtle but nevertheless real emotional impact.

It is that which we hide from others that most defines us........2007-01-24

Or something like that. It seems that this is perhaps the central theme of this beautifully directed Italian drama.

A woman is troubled by a dream of being molested by her father, and is afraid she has awakened a memory that she has repressed for years, so she goes to America to visit her estranged brother and his family and try to talk about the sensitive subject matter and address issues that might be troubling her.

Don't Tell covers the delicate ground of child molestation and how, as adults, the victims try to deal with the painful memories. It also covers other very emotional territory, like the cheating nature of men (every man in the film at some point cheats on his lover, leaves her, talks about having done so, etc.) I don't know if that part of the story is in the original novel, or if it was added because the film was directed by a woman. Either way, it feeds the relationship doubt that women already have.

Don't Tell is a very moving and superbly acted film. There is not a lot of action, but the intensity of the story carries the movie along, until the end when a strange montage on a train really detracts from the ultimate impact of the movie, and seems like it will leave most viewers, myself included, simply feeling confused.

It's definitely clear why this film was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2005 Academy Awards, and if you're in to troubling dramatic films, this is definitely one to check out.

great movie.......2006-11-24

The writing and directing were fantastic, and Ms. Comencini was able to get wonderful, moving performances from everyone in the film. Highly recommended.

The Damages of Suppression.......2006-08-20

'La Bestia nel cuore' ('The Beast in the Heart' released in the USA as 'Don't Tell') is an intense Italian film written and directed by Cristina Comencini that tackles subject matter so visceral that the telling of it requires complete concentration from the audience in order to feel the power of the impact at the end. It is a tough film to watch because of the story, but it is a superb film to watch because of the excellent cast and production crew.

Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is introduced to us in a cemetery where she is arranging for the interment of her dead parents: the mood for the story is subtly set. Sabina is a dubbing actress for translating films into Italian, a 'sell-out' acting job compared to the life of her live-in boyfriend Franco (Alessio Boni) who is a stage actor being tempted to accept a role in a TV series which pays more money than the stage. Sabina confesses she wants to get pregnant, she does, and with her pregnancy she begins to have nightmares of shadowy childhood memories. She is afraid to discuss these with Franco, or with her best friend Emilia (Stefania Rocca) who is blind and has been in love with Sabina since childhood. It seems the only person with whom she can confide her secret fears is her brother Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio) who has moved from Italy to Charlottesville, VA where he is a professor at the University and has a happy family life with wife Anna (Lucy Akhurst) and two children. Sabina flies to the US to be with her brother and in the course of their reunion the two siblings uncover the beasts in their hearts: sexual abuse from their father now departed. How this discovery alters their lives is the dénouement of the film.

There are many subplots - infidelity on the part of Franco while Sabina is away, a lesbian relationship that develops between Emilia and another of Sabina's friends Maria (Angela Finocchiaro) - and Comencini draws subtle parallels between these twists along side the main story of incest discovery. Yet without concentration, these subplots can become distracting.

The acting is on the highest level and the changing locations are shot by cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti with sensitive respect of the nuances of suggestion encased in each place. The uncredited musical score is an admixture from Robert Schumann's piano sonata to contemporary works and serves to heighten the actions and mood. In Italian with subtitles. A film well worth watching. Grady Harp, August 06

Average customer rating:

Saw a part of it on Spanish TV. It is okay.
Overlooked
GREAT MOVIE!
a early Scarlett Johansson role
No men allowed

Manny & Lo
Starring: Mary Kay Place , Scarlett Johansson , Aleksa Palladino , Dean Silvers , and Marlen Hecht
Director: Lisa Krueger
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000WN15O
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Description

A pregnant teen and her younger sister run away from foster homes and kidnap a woman whom they believe can help with the pregnancy. Mary Kay Place, Scarlett Johansson and Aleksa Palladino star in this breakthrough drama that received four Independent Spirit Award nominations.

Customer Reviews:

Saw a part of it on Spanish TV. It is okay. .......2005-02-26

I never had heard of Scarlett Johansson before, it was until i saw lost in translation that i wondered about seeing her other work(in films). I was fortunate enough to see Manny and Lo On Spanish TV(i only saw a bit of it, but i was not impressed). Scarlett Johansson is a great actress even as a Child she still was super but i don't think this movie has it at all. I thought it was super boring. I felt this movie as being really sad. I still recommend it to you if you love admire Scarlett Johansson. :-)

Movies i recommend to you on Scarlett Johansson.

They are the following:
(The funny movies)
Eight legged Freaks.
In Good company
Girl with A Pearl Earring
Lost in Translation
Home alone 3.
Perfect Score.

Overlooked.......2004-08-09

Scarlett Johannson and Aleksa Palladino play sisters "Amanda" and "Lauren", two foster kids, in this off-beat story. They kidnap a nurse-type (Mary Kay Place) to help them with Lauren's pregnancy. The movie is a bit quirky and the dialog is quite good. The movie did not have any Oscar-caliber aspects to it, but it was entertaining, however.

The DVD itself has a good image quality, but there were no features other than scene selection, and a trailer to 3 other movies. It was over-priced (at $22) for what you get, but at a lower price, or if you are a fan of any of the three lead actresses, it may be worth it to you.

GREAT MOVIE!.......2003-12-24

I saw Manny and Lo for the first time on the OXYGEN channel earlier this year and fell in love with it. The movie is very entertaining and funny at times, I'm so glad that it is finally coming out on Dvd! I'm going to be at the front of the line buying this one when it comes out in January.

a early Scarlett Johansson role.......2003-12-15

Two orphan girls kidnap an eccentric woman from a baby store. One of the sisters is pregnant and holding her hostage proves to be most handy. A young Scarlett Johansson plays the younger smarter one. The rebellious teenager and the woman take time to adjust to each other but a bond is eventually drawn between the three. Scarlett is amazing in this. Her performance is mature and far beyond her age. I'm hardly surprised by her recent success. She deserves it. She didn't just pop up overnight. The hot dish references made me roar. I can so relate.

No men allowed.......2000-07-13

This is the sweetest film. It's definitely a "chick thing" with Manny and Lo and Elaine bonding around an infant to be (Lo's). No men are allowed in this paradise. One appears and he gets bopped over the head, gagged and hog-tied. This is a fem-family made on the run. Lo (Aleska Palladino) in her high teens runs away from a foster home with her younger sister, Manny (Scarlett Johansson). It's a Thelma and Louise crime spree made as a movie for children. Well, not quite. Turns out Lo's pregnant. She has been hiding this from 11-year-old Manny, who has the eye of Sherlock Holmes and is the brains of this team. They find a rather nice, used only during the ski season, cabin in the woods and hole up to await the stork. They spot Elaine (Mary Kay Place), a lonely spinster working in a baby clothes shop and kidnap her to help deliver the baby. Everybody, despite gruff exteriors, has a heart of gold, and togetherness and loving concern prevail. And what's wrong with that?

Nothing really. But I was thinking: this is the obverse of male war movies where none or few women appear, men doing their manly thing killing one another, women irrelevant. I think that's the key word here for director Lisa Krueger: in the reproductive game that is war by other means, men are irrelevant. Or almost so. In war it doesn't matter how many men are killed. As long as there are some left the population will quickly spring back. Kill the women, though, and you have a serious population problem. Manny and Lo and Elaine prove that you really don't need the male: his sperm will do, and that way you don't have to put up with his loutish behavior.

I think I got this right. Anyway, it's a cute movie.

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