Word: italian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...pretty wow-y: Cruz's writhing sensuality in "A Call from the Vatican," the surprising sass and vocal authority that Judi Dench brings to "Folies Bergere" and a nicely gaudy turn by the pop star Fergie as a zaftig whore who urges the perpetually pre-adolescent Guido to "Be Italian." A few numbers are duds, like Hudson's attempt (in a new number, "Cinema Italiano") to channel Madonna in her "Vogue" period. But each one is there to explain a situation, not advance the plot; they're ornamental, not organic. After a while, Nine plays like some Hollywood charity revue...
...play Guido. When he dropped out, the role went to Day-Lewis, an actor nearly the opposite of Bardem. He's coiled, wary, and has a spirit that's not even slightly Mediterranean. In 8-1/2, Mastroianni was such a natural charmer - so, we have to say, Italian - that he made indolence attractive; in that film, a perpetual sexual adolescence was not a flaw but a goal (especially because women kept throwing themselves at him, and what woman wouldn't?). Day-Lewis has wit, looks and a furious dedication to every role, but he's so tense and intense...
...movies, not plumb the pools of their own artistry. Hollywood looks back, not inward. Nine, directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and scripted by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) and Michael Tolkin (The Player), wants to do both: engage in a little navel-gazing while summoning the glories of Italian cinema in the Cinecitta era of the 1960s. Find a role for Sophia Loren! Cast Kidman as an amalgam of Claudia Cardinale and Anita Ekberg! And, just as anachronistic, have people sing their troubles, on a single bare stage. (See a photographic tribute to Sophia Loren...
...wine market has grown from virtually zero 10 years ago to $253 million last year, and it is expected to more than double to $630 million by 2013. "There's a complete turnaround," says Gianander Dua, an importer based in New Delhi. He represents not just French and Italian wines but also those from Argentina and Austria, which are much smaller wine-exporting countries. They all see the Indian consumer as a safe harbor in a global recession, Dua says. "The buying capacity in India is there." (Read "Recession? Not in New Delhi's Luxury Stores...
...case that engrossed observers on both sides of the Atlantic, American student Amanda Knox, 22, and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, were convicted on Dec. 4 of murdering Meredith Kercher--Knox's British roommate--in Perugia, Italy, on Nov. 1, 2007. Knox was ordered to serve 26 years in prison; Sollecito received 25. The prosecution contended that Knox persuaded Sollecito and Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native who was convicted of the murder in a separate trial, into attempting to sexually assault Kercher before Knox stabbed her in the neck with a kitchen knife. In some ways, the verdict...