Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) memo: don't forget about refugees !

It's coming usual, opening Netflix and finding interesting movies, produced by Indie companies that the famous streaming platform is willing to launch. The latest is called Red Sea Diving Resort (2019), production company the Bron Studios, directed by Gideon Raff and starring Chris Evans, Micheal K. Williams and Haley Bennett.

The film, which refers to the 1984-85 so called Operation Moses and Operation Joshua, when the Israelian government evaqueted towsands of Ethiopians Jews, who suffered about prosecutions in the North-est of Africa. 

The movie follows the actions of Kabede Bimro, an Ethiopian Jew and the Israelian Mossad (the secret services) agent Ari Levison (Evans), whilst they plan an huge evacuation plan to help the Ethiopians Jews entering Israel through the Sudanese coasts. To do so, the Mossad decided to redeem the Red Sea Diving hotel, which is situated on a beautiful coastal area and was abandoned by the Italian staff. Levison and his team of agents decide to use the hotel as the core of the logistical operations. The structure, which also welcomed some real tourists, in the night transformed into the "bus terminal" of the needy population, which secretly transferred the jews to the nearest refugees-camps and then, after the improvement of the "working method", directly to the Sudanese coast, where some ships wait for the refugees to jump in. 

The thing that I have liked about this movie is the balance between the action-full of risk scenes of the evacuations, and the normal life enjoyable times of the team in the hotel. 
But, of course, the state of war cannot be so without a powerful nemesis. In this case, the Mossad team had to face the outrages of the Sudanese army, followed by a line of violence and fear. Although a  fundamental role is played by the CIA officer Walter Bowen, who helped to complete the operation, the movie is intended to be a full recognition of the Israelis merit of saving human lives. 

The message of Red Sea Diving is invoked repeatedly by Kabede, saying "there are much more". And cannot be so current, considering the red light for emergencies in the Mediterranean area. 


Ciak movie review: 4/5 stars.


(pictures credits)



Micol Sartori 

Ted Bundy (Netflix): review of movie and docu- series

Zac Efron said he heard about the possibility to play the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy years ago. After being wordy recognized for "teenager" roles, such the one in High School Musical, which brought Zac to the spotlight, the 31 years old, has decided to grow up in recitation. After a series of roles in a variety of productions - The Disaster Artist, The Greatest Showman, Neighbors, Efron appeared for another "macho role" in Baywatch (2017) aside The Rock. But know, Ted Bundy is something of a revolution.

Ted Bundy, other face, besides being handsome and fascinating, was that of being a complete disturbed human being, who, without any sign of mercy and with horrendous violence, murder more than 30 women (the actual number has not being confirmed)  in 7 different Us countries. Ted was active form approximately 1974 and 1978, and his trial went on until he was executed of death penalty in the state of Florida, after confessing, in 1989. Ted's wake of violence put in crisis the entire Us police departments and intelligence, because young women started to disappear, in silence and without witnesses, and then their rests were found here and there, in natural landscapes, especially in paradisiac areas near the rocking hills. Ted was an individual who suffered of a series of mental illnesses, including manic-depression, but was persuaded to be not only sane, but brilliant instead. He coved his terrible dark side with a great savoir faire as he was willing to become either a politician or a lawyer - he took a degree in psychology, and was studying law. Interesting is also the role of the girlfriend (played by Lily Collins), with whom Bundy had a dependence and idealized relationship. But the women, was the first one to realize his controversial aspects (!)

The thing that I enjoyed in this movie ( "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" directed by Joe Berlinger) , was the fact that Zac Efron was able to play Ted's dualisms, letting the spectator (as we were the people who lived in Ted's years) with a great, indescribable sense of doubt. Could a fascinating, intellectual young man really be such an evil monster?
Ted Bundy had the ability - and the willingness, I have to say to be "remembered" in a way- and I ensure you, that a sense of magnetism pervade his personality and sticks with you after watching.
Why are we so attested by crime stories? Because every human being as an evil part. This is why, as Ted said in the documentary series powered by Netflix ("Conversations with Ted Bundy" which I recommend), that the "monster" is not recognizable as an ugly Frankestein, but can live within any (apparently) respectable person.


Ciak Movie rating: 5/5.

Micol Sartori

Series review: ELITE

Hi guys! Sorry for the absence... I have moved to Milan early this month because of university and since I have moved from one flat to another in a few days (crazy stuff, I swear), it  has been a little bit shaking. I have been without wi-fi for quite a lot, so, you, know, I haven't watched huge movies like "A Star is Born" or "Bad times at El Royale", yet. In the next days, though, you will find my #CiakMovies review of both of them. In the meantime, I leave you with some series review. I love series, I must say, and, after falling in love with awarded series such as Got, Oitnb, Breaking Bad, Narcos, House of Cards etc.  I went trough two shorts Netflix productions that I highly recommend to you. The first one is...

ELITE (2018) is a spanish teen-crime drama created and written by Carlos Montero and Dario Ladrona, directed by Ramon Salazar for Netflix. The series stars are Danna Paola, Maria Pedraza, Jaime Lorente and Miguel Herràn. Due to the huge success of the tv series, Netflix has renew it for a 2 season.

ODD FACT !!  If you look at Elite's poster, you may recognize some faces. Yes ! We have already seen Maria Pedraza, Jaime Lorente and Miguel Herran in "Money Heist" better known as "La casa de Papel". The decision to reclute almost all the cast of a previous successful Netflix series in order to produce a new one (completely different in the topic) was questionable. But, in my opinion, it worked to establish the true acting skills of these young chavales, that are young and may have a long career ahead.

THEME: The set is a Spanish private high school where rich youngsters go in order to become the "tomorrow elite". At the beginning, 3 new scholars arrive: Christian, Nadia and Samuel. These three, you aren't rich, have "won" a scholarship because their original school has been destroyed because of an earthquake (you will discover that Guzman and Marina's father is one of the responsible of the disaster, but, don't worry, this is not a spoiler.) Lately, some drama and romance arises. But I won't go into details.

SPOILER ALERT

                                   !! READ ONLY IF YOU HAVE ALREADY WATCH IT !!


POSITIVES ASPECTS:

• Elite is an entertaining series: nice to watch, for distract yourself from the stress of the day and to have some fun. Anthropologically, the distinction between the elite's members and the new ones is interesting to watch, in its development, because we know it is quite realistic. Why is so difficult to accept new members in an already-formed group? 
• I enjoyed the romance scenes between Samuel and Marina, but, at the end, I found Samuel's character a little bit too fictional and, most of all naive, whereas Marina, out of the blue, becomes the prototype of the rebel. 
• The rainbow relationship between Ander and Nadia's brother Omar is cute and in line with our times. 
• The sex affair between Christian e Marina was very hot. And Christian was the one who turns up the music of the show. 

NEGATIVE ASPECTS:

• Marina's illness, the way it is presented and how the girl deals with it. For me,  is the worst thing of the series.
• Nadia's family is the stereotype of the close-minded muslim family. The strong figure of the father, who is willing to control all the moves of Nadia and Omar, in reality doesn't know anything about his sons. I find this difficult to deal with, as a spectator. And I am against pre-judgements.
• Samuel's brother Nano is James Dean bad copy. Wherever it goes, he leaves behind him pain and broken hearts. Too much of a cliché for me.
• Guzman relationship with Nadia. How come that he is in love with Lu and then, after a joke, he falls for Nadia? I don't like the evolution of this character: from the rich-snob-smart young man, to the "subdued", frigile love-bird ? Let me be a little be sarcastic. 
• Polo or better known as Marina's toy-boy. And, some words let me wander how was their relationship before Christian arrived.  It would be an interesting topic to develop in season 2. 

⭐️CIAK MOVIE REVIEW ⭐️: 2.5/5

Micol Sartori

Sulla mia pelle (On my Skin): the complete review

Sulla mia pelle (On my Skin), directed by Alessio Cremonini and starring Alessandro Borghi is an Italian bio-drama. The movie has premiered in the Horizon section in the 75th Venice Film Festival and was strongly debated, because was released simultaneously worldwide via Netflix and in the theaters through the Lucky Red distribution's company.

THE PLOT: The movie is set in Rome's suburbs, where the 31 years old Stefano Cucchi is an ex drugs addict and dealer. One day, after having dinner with his parents at the family house, Stefano decided to pass the night out. While chatting with a friend in the car, Stefano lighted up a cigarette. Some Carabinieri (a section of the Italian police), noticed the car and ordered the two men to declare all their possessions. Unfortunately, the officers found some grams of hashish on Stefano and they bring the two guys at the police station in order to interrogate them. The friend is released, whilst Stefano is charged with both possession and drug dealing. Stefano appears in the courts room and the judge recalls the court hearing within a month. Stefano starts a downfall through the unknown injustice of the Italian law system.

THE DIRECTOR: Alessio Cremonini's masterpiece is more than a drama, because brings in it the essentiality of a biopic. Stefano is the one and only main character, and the little motions of the camera, the limited variety of sets, bring the spectator closer to Stefano's condition. Cremonini creates a strong empathy so we identify ourselves with Stefano, forgetting he is the "bad" guy of the situation. As drugs dealers are often considered without further examine the single situation.

THE ACTOR: Alessandro Borghi delivers a straight representation of Stefano Cucchi's character. He speaks the roman's accent, he moves like a "coatto" and is capable of portraying all the aspects of Cucchi's pain. The body motion is fantastic and the sensitivity of Borghi's acting is emotional: the actor has studied all the steps that had lead to Stefano's death and he brights to light even some aspect that Ilaria, Stefano's sister, said that she "wish she had known".

IMPORTANCE OF THE MOVIE: After Stefano's death in prison, after only a week on detention in "unknown" circumstances, his sister Ilaria and the Cucchi's family started their battle in defense of the basic human rights of the inmates.

THE DEBATE: The movie was one of the protagonist at the latest Venice Film Festival because of the topic and because of the channels of the distribution. Sulla mia pelle, produced in collaboration with Netflix, was one of the first movies to win a prize in an official film festival and distributed in streaming. On my skin marks the beginning of a new era?

VOTE : 5/5 ! The movie is strongly recommended. 💫Ciak Movie approved 💫

Micol Sartori

 

                          

                     THE ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’S DISCOVERY.

 

Who hasn’t heard about Oitnb? This may appear as a rhetorical question, as the Netflix series, which first came out in July the 13^th 2013, is one of the most famous and followed series in the free world.

Something you’ve (probably) know already is that the 5 season length series was written by Jenji Kohan and inspired by based on Piper Kerman's memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010). Kohan name sounds familiar to you? Well, hopefully you’ve heard about her, since she has written another comedy-drama series, Weed and, more recently, the first season of Glow (avaidable on Netflix too). But Piper Kerman, who is she? Nothing less than the real Piper Chapman, played in Oitnb by our sweetheart Taylor Schilling.

Random ideas that Orange Is The New Black Suggests: ORANGE, both the colour and the fruit; PRISONS&CRIMES: as Orange is also the colour of the LITCHFIELD PRISON’s jumpsuits. WOMEN: different people who committed different crimes, who have different social extractions and life, but still, women. LESBIANS: as in the first scenes of season 1, the spectator is “overwhelmed” by hot lgbt scens. Than, of course, the main charactes: PIPER, ALEX, RED, NICHOLS, MORELLO, DAYA, CRAZY EYES, GLORIA, TASTYEE etc.  

The plot: for the ones who don’t know nothing about this topic, but are too lazy to wiki-search Oitnb- and are wondering “what is she talking about?” here is a brief plot.

The blonde Piper Chapman is a “normal” woman in her 30, conducting an ordinary (translate, boring) life with her boyfriend (he hoped fiancée), in the Big Apple (Nyc). One day, her life is shaken because she is sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary because of a crime she had committed with her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause. Alex was a drug dealer and had involved Piper in an international bag – full off pills carriage. So Piper enters (the) Litchfield Prison, where (hear, hear) she meets again Alex.

Basically, Season 1 goes around Piper interactions with the other inmates and her fiancée Larry and his parents and brother in the outside world.  Red the Russian chief of the prison, Morello the Italian crazy- in love stolker, Nichols the king of the lgbt community with Boo, Gloria, the chief of the Latinos quartier and Alex, the ex-girlfriend, a sarcastic badass.

What about Larry? Ahahah, man… let’s skip to another question.

Something you may not know (you’ve been expecting this part, don’t you?): the beautiful Laura Prepon has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Prepon has directed several episodes in season 5, in particular the formidable episode 5x10.

For today, it’s all I’ve to say. Hope this intro to Oitnb has entertained you. If you want a more punctual review of the season (1,2,3,4,5), comment below.

Kisses, CiakMovies

                                      

 

 

 

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