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fading gigolo dvd cover
fading gigolo dvd cover

Fading Gigolo,

directed by John Turturro

(R, 90 minutes)

It would be nice to credit John Turturro, an actor who elevates every film he graces, with a triumphant directorial turn. Fading Gigolo is a few degrees shy of that, although it contains enough nuance and charm to sustain interest. The result is a pleasant if forgettable film that tantalizes its audience with the prospect of a world beyond the frame that might be more interesting than what the director chooses to photograph.

Turturro gets away with casting himself as a Lothario because he's so obviously not a stud. He looks pretty much like the character he plays, a florist named Fioravante who moonlights as a clerk in the Upper West Side rare books store owned by his friend Murray (Woody Allen).

Fioravante and Murray are packing up the inventory at the bookstore, which is closing. Both are looking for a way to replace the lost revenue, and Murray reports that he recently overheard a conversation between his dermatologist (Sharon Stone) and her girlfriend (Sofia Vergara) about the possibility of arranging a menage a trois if they could find an appropriate male partner. Murray volunteers to help (for $1,000) and suggests Fioravante as a candidate.

Fioravante needs the money. So he shows up, bearing flowers, and charms the dermatologist, who becomes a satisfied customer. And Fioravante and Murray have new careers.

But far more interesting than the flimsy sex farce aspects of the script are the lonely, striving characters who wait in the story's wings. Among them are Liev Schreiber as a Jewish community-based police officer patrolling a Brooklyn Hasidic community and a young widow (Vanessa Paradis) whom he yearns over.

Turturro might have done more with a better script, but it's hard to imagine doing more with what he had. Fading Gigolo might sound a little trashy; in its execution, it's gentle and sweet.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (PG-13, 143 minutes) Critics are in despair over this overlong, low-energy and wearisome sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man. This time, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is reminded that being a hero means he must protect his fellow New Yorkers from assorted villains, including Electro (Jamie Foxx). With Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper, Paul Giamatti; directed by Marc Webb.

The Quiet Ones (PG-13, 98 minutes) A compellingly retro horror drama in which Jared Harris plays an ambitious British psychology professor in 1974 who, along with a team of graduate students, conducts a research project to uncover the dark forces at work in mentally disturbed young Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke). The results suggest they should have left well enough alone. With Rory Fleck-Byrne, Erin Richards, Sam Claflin; directed by John Pogue.

The Sacrament (R, 100 minutes) More horror, this time of the faux found-footage variety from writer/director Ti West and producer Eli Roth, The Sacrament concerns journalists Jake (Joe Swanberg), Sam (AJ Bowen) and Patrick (Kentucker Audley) who intend to document Patrick's search for his troubled sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) that takes them to a supposedly utopian commune known as Eden Parish. As you might suspect, it turns out Eden isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Only Lovers Left Alive (R, 123 minutes) Jim Jarmusch directs this moody, opulent romantic drama with unexpected and unusual horror overtones about isolated, depressed semi-famous musician/vampire Adam (Tom Hiddleston), who reunites with Eve (Tilda Swinton), his elegant, adoring and accommodating lover of several centuries at Adam's spooky gothic house in Detroit, only to find their sort-of bliss disrupted by the arrival of Eve's trouble-making younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska). With John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright.

MovieStyle on 08/22/2014

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