johnnyboyz It is not Malèna's fault she is so beautiful, nor is it her fault that she happens to find herself living in a society at a very specific point in history which happened to place a heavy emphasis on the appearance and internal makeup of a person: Italian; white; patriot; Catholic, etc. This is a film about beauty as much as it is beautiful people - certainly by the end of the film, all sorts of different individuals have sandwiched into their minds preconceptions on our eponymous herald, but a large chunk of the film is about what really transpired over a period of around four and a half years. It is also a film about behaviour - behaviour and outlooks at a time and in a place when behaviour and outlooks are scrutinised to within the inch. It is difficult for many of the men who live in the small Sicilian town in 1939 wherein "Malèna" is set to balance their lust for the eponymous woman with the honour they are supposed to feel towards their own spouses and the Catholic faith. Where director Giuseppe Tornatore toys with things in this respect lies in his placing of a young boy at the very epicentre of the film. At twelve years of age, Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) is too young for politics; religion and wives, and because he is so young he will never hook up with Malèna in the first place. Irrespective, he is still on the outside looking in like everybody else anyway. Amidst the ugliness of war; fascism; a volatile homestead situation and seclusion from a group of other boys, Monica Bellucci's Malèna character is both a visual tonic for our Renato as well as a key into an alternate reality where they are together; happy and blissfully ignorant of all the pain and misery which engulfs both of their worlds. But because the film takes place so long ago, there are no modern quick-fixes to relieve the cupid's arrow - having spent an afternoon spying on Malèna at her house, Renato has a pretty good idea of what music she likes to listen to, and must purchase it at the local music store if he wants to be reminded of her. The only problem is, he doesn't know what it is called, obviously, and must embarrass himself by singing it to the clerk in the vain hope he will recognise it. The film is emboldened by that sense of the nostalgic and of the romantic in this regard.Tornatore depicts the fascination Renato comes to possess of Malèna, the bulwark of the film, in such a way that we genuinely feel that the boy has come to feel a fondness for her that is authentic. We are already aware of just how out of favour Renato is with other boys in the town of his age, who bully him and pick on him. Their own fondness for Malèna is more superficial; they are not shy of crudely expressing their lust for her as she walks past them. We do not sense that they have the ability, or even the creativity, to visualise themselves in a motion-picture with her. In a film that is the antithesis to something like an "American Pie" sequel, or the ugly younger sibling to any of those films in the form of "Superbad", this is to be applauded. If you want to cover this sort of coming-of-age material, and give it a sprinkling of situational comedy, "Malèna" is how to do it.

zetes Sicily, 1940. A teenage boy (Giuseppe Sulfaro) is initiated into manhood when his friends introduce him to the glories of Malena (Monica Belluci), the most beautiful woman in town. Sulfaro becomes obsessed, following her wherever she goes on his bike, and he even spies on her in her home. His obsession is not the only one, as much as he wishes and wants to believe it were - the whole town worships her. Every man wants to have her, and every woman is deeply jealous of that fact. And, man, does that make life hard for Malena - her husband is fighting the war in Africa, and the rumors are flying, making life nearly impossible. Sulfaro might see her as a sex object initially, but the more he observes the more he sympathizes. This film begins as an enjoyable comedy, but it grows deeply serious. The climax is one of the harshest, most potent sequences I've seen in a long while. One will recognize the nostalgic tone of the movie if you're familiar with Cinema Paradiso, but I think this is actually a stronger film. Excellent.

Milad KhKh The movie focused on a worthless boy who fell in so called «Love» with a worthless woman (((whose husband left her alone to go fight the meaningless war. Her husband cared for other people more than his own wife. He knew that his wife would become a whore someday if he leave her alone with those meaningless people without a non-deaf person and enough money.))) but it seems that Malena doesn't even know that that boy exists; The boy doesn't have the courage to tell her how bad he loves to f**k her soft white ass up, so the boy starts masturbating. Masturbating, masturbating and masturbating. «He» masturbated and «They» masturbated. Everyone masturbated!The boy's father finds his son having Malena's panties in his mouth, so he gets beaten up by his father!The boy's father finds out that his son's penis has grown longer and thicker, so he take him to a place full of bi**hes, where he can choose who to f**k!They tell Malena's father that your daughter is a whore; Her father says OK!Malena has no more money now. So she become a Whore! -As for the boy, still masturbating!Malena gets beaten up by those meaningless people in the public, so she leaves the town! Her father? Doesn't hear her! The boy? Watching his «LOVE!» gets beaten up. His reaction? Still watching... . Is he a true Lover? Of course!Malena is leaving the town - the boy? Watching...Her husband comes back to the town with only one hand (left one), looking for his wife, but his wife is gone now, so he go to find her and take a her back to where she was.The next film: Malena comes back to the town with his husband arm to arm, and starts a new life with him and with the best people she has ever faced!Result: Sucked.

Johan Dondokambey The story first seems as a it's only focused on Renato and the depictions of his wild and childish imaginations while he's jerking off. But slowly and surely the side plot of Malena's life starts to take center focus and becomes the main focus nearing the movie's end. What's nice is that both focuses are depicted accordingly. The movie doesn't take lightly in portraying each sides of the story. It went on wild and crazy on Renato's imagination and on how he almost devoted his adolescent life to stalk on Malena.. Yet the movie also gives a good matured view on the focus of Malena's life. The story plays it nicely on telling how fate seemingly throws in inevitable situations again and again at her life. The movie uses nice touches of editing and fancy fast cuts here and there. We see great usage of camera angles and a lot of close ups focusing on Renato's expressions. The acting is a good work in overall. Playing the lead character Renato, Giuseppe Sulfaro acted out well enough maintaining the sad looks in his character's innocence. Monica Bellucci did well in portraying the expressions needed as a widow in such conditions, although the final conflict shot feels quite lacking.