I’M NOT SCARED (2004). On the outskirts of a rural Italian village in 1978, 10-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) is startled to discover there’s a boy (Mattia Di Pierro) his age who’s chained in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. Blissfully naive (or simply wary?), he leaves the lad in his prison but decides to befriend him, carting him food and water on a regular basis and tentatively engaging him in conversation. But before long, he begins to pick up clues that the adults in his tiny town, including his own parents (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon and Dino Abbrescia), are responsible for the child’s incarceration, and he’s forced to race against time to devise an appropriate course of action. Based on the novel by Niccolo Ammaniti (who co-wrote the script), this material sounds like prime fodder for a fast-paced thriller, but the movie is actually something more special: a tender-hearted rumination on the loss of innocence among children once they’re confronted by the vices of the adult world. As he did in his previous film, the forgettable Oscar winner Mediterraneo, director Gabriele Salvatores uses plenty of film stock to capture the unsullied beauty of nature and the characters’ desire to lazily lounge around in its sun-soaked embrace. Yet here there’s a pointed dichotomy, as the splendor in the grass is in sharp relief to the deceit, betrayals and broken trust that Michele experiences as he learns that childhood doesn’t last forever, parents aren’t perfect, and, in the film’s memorably staged finale, true friendship can flow from either direction. There are no extras on the DVD.
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THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (1974-1994). The cinematic equivalent of a sustained two-hour orgasm, That’s Entertainment! (1974) is pure pleasure from first frame to last. Think of this as the celluloid version of a “Greatest Hits” CD, as MGM waded knee-deep into its vaults and came out with this collection of the greatest moments from their vast library of movie musicals. Naturally, you get the artistry of Fred Astaire, the athleticism of Gene Kelly, and the exuberance of Judy Garland, as well as clips from such staples as The Wizard of Oz and An American In Paris — yet that’s just barely scratching the surface. Among the highlights: Astaire dancing on the ceiling in Royal Wedding, Donald O’Connor’s whirlwind “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singin’ In the Rain, William Warfield’s powerful “Old Man River” in Show Boat, and Clark Gable’s clumsy but endearing “Puttin’ On the Ritz” from Idiot’s Delight. That’s Entertainment! proved to be such a sleeper hit that it was followed a couple years later by That’s Entertainment, Part 2 (1976). This time, the clips include comedy routines by the likes of Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers, a tribute to the team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and familiar scenes from classic dramas like Gone With the Wind. Still, the focus remains squarely on the musical numbers, among them Judy’s incomparable rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me In St. Louis, Jimmy Durante performing his signature tune “Inka Dinka Doo,” and Bobby Van’s incredible bounce-dance through the neighborhood in Small Town Girl. It wasn’t until 18 years later that the studio finally got around to making That’s Entertainment III (1994). Along with the expected musical highlights from the MGM archives (including a nice montage featuring swimming star Esther Williams), this series entry includes a handful of sequences that never made it to movie screens back in the day — either alternate takes (Garland filming an Annie Get Your Gun number before her nervous breakdown forced her to abandon the project, replaced by Betty Hutton) or deleted scenes (Lena Horne’s bubble bath crooning in Cabin In the Sky, cut because the studio was nervous about the idea of a naked black woman under all that froth). This invaluable boxed set also includes a fourth disc packed with supplemental material, including more deleted scenes and vintage documentaries. Incidentally, 1954’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, one of the countless musicals featured in That’s Entertainment! (thanks to its classic barn-raising dance sequence), has just been re-released on DVD as a two-disc special edition.
That’s Entertainment!:
That’s Entertainment, Part 2: 1/2
That’s Entertainment III: 1/2
Extras: 1/2
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2004.
