Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy


Book Description

This volumes reintroduces critics, film musicologists, cinemagoers, and fans of Francis Ford Coppola's cinema and Nino Rota's music to the events that led to the realization of the three films that make up The Godfather Trilogy, commenting on their significance both musically and culturally. Released in 1972, 1974, and 1990 respectively, Coppola's three-part saga is one of the greatest artistic accomplishments (and financial successes) in the history of Hollywood cinema.




Mauro D'Agati


Book Description

Palermo Panorama is Mauro D'Agati's love letter to his beloved hometown, a raw portrait that shows Palermo's charm and grit in equal measure. The book comprises 13 chapters, each dedicated to a distinct series, which all grew organically over time to form a complex picture of the city. Here among others are D'Agati's very first photos, black-and-white street portraits taken while still a student; the waste-littered Termini Beach, a summer destination for the people of Palermo's suburbs; the abandoned and neglected Vucciria neighborhood; portraits of wedding photographers and singers at local music festivals; the Capuchin Catacombs; and transvestites on Via Roma near Palermo's central station. Regardless of his subject, D'Agati portrays Palermo's resilient characters and crumbling beauty with compassion and without judgment. For many years I've been taking photographs of Palermo and its inhabitants, living side by side with them and using my sense of belonging as an occasional tool. This book is both a declaration of love and an attempt to access the city without fear or favor--a very personal take which I hope unveils the true colors of Palermo. Mauro D'Agat




Diva


Book Description

"Animated by a luminous goddess at its center, the diva film provided a forum for denouncing social evils and exploring new models of behavior among the sexes ... Dalle Vacche offers the first authoritative study of this important film genre of the cinema that preceded the First World War ... Contrasting the Italian diva with the Hollywood vamp Theda Bara and the famous Danish star Asta Nielsen, Dalle Vacche shows how the diva oscillates between articulating Henri Bergson's vibrant life-force and representing the suffering figure of the Catholic mater dolorosa."--Cover.




The Family Corleone


Book Description

An exhilarating and profound novel of tradition and violence and of loyalty and betrayal, The Family Corleone will appeal to the legions of fans who can never get enough of The Godfather. New York, 1933: The city and the nation are in the depths of the Great Depression. The crime families of New York have prospered in this time, but with the coming end of Prohibition, a battle is looming that will determine which organizations will rise and which will face a violent end. For Vito Corleone, nothing is more important that his family's future. While his youngest children, Michael, Fredo, and Connie, are in school, unaware of their father's true occupation, and his adopted son Tom Hagen is a college student, he worries most about Sonny, his eldest child. Vito pushes Sonny to be a businessman, but Sonny-17 years-old, impatient and reckless-wants something else: To follow in his father's footsteps and become a part of the real family business.




New Neapolitan Cinema


Book Description

The New Neapolitan Cinema provides close analysis of the whole of this movement, which stands as one of the most vital and stimulating currents in contemporary European Cinema.







Mauro D'Agati: Sit Lux Et Lux Fuit


Book Description

Between 2008 and 2010 Mauro D'Agati visited Masonic lodges in Havana to take photos of this secret and largely unseen world. Through D'Agati's images of Masonic meetings, temples, symbols, documents, as well as portraits of the Masons themselves, we gain access to the intricate rituals of Masonic life, which are a blend of the earnest, mysterious traditions of an elite fraternity and everyday Cuban existence. The Grand Lodge of Cuba holds a special position in Freemasonry circles as Cuba is one of the few Communist nations where Masonry still thrives: today there are 316 lodges and more than 29,000 members on the island. The precise details of the workings within a temple may not be revealed to the public, yet D'Agati's photos take us as far as permissible into this fascinating subculture. Mauro D'Agati, born 1968 in Palermo, began working as a professional photographer in 1996, initially covering many Sicilian jazz festivals, as well as art and theatrical events. He has contributed to international publications including Le Monde, Stern, and Italian Vanity Fair. Steidl has published D'Agati's Palermo Unsung (2009), and Alamar and Napule Shot, both in 2010.




Messiah ... Money & Mayhem


Book Description

Two aging detectives, one Italian, one German, through luck and some good police work stumble upon a plot to control the world's food supply. Will they be able to build their case, or will sinister forces put an end to their investigation? Follow these two dedicated, but flawed, civil servants as they risk their lives (and vacations) pursuing a mysterious ultra-orthodox sect and their Machiavellian puppet master, know only as The Builder. Will they succeed? Only time will tell. "Gilbert has developed characters you both love and hate, no easy task, and put them in a sumptuous world of wine and food where they continue to surprise you, as you are absorbed in this page turner. A great read. Your flight better be long enough to finish it or they will have to drag you off the plane." Stephen Randall, Hollywood guy & voracious truffle hound







International Film Musical


Book Description

This is the first comparative consideration of the musical's role within national cinema traditions. While the musical is one cinema's few genuinely international genres, it has often functioned as an explicitly local or national form, drawing upon distinct traditions understood as 'native' rather than 'international'. Simultaneously, musicals from around the world have often imitated Hollywood models, resulting in their easy dismissal as culturally 'impure' and demonstrating the creative and ideological tension between promoting and abandoning traditional cultural forms and styles. This productive tension between local and global elements lies at the heart of international film musicals, which typically acknowledge the dominant Hollywood model while claiming their own cultural specificity.