Review of The Great Beauty (2013) by James D — 20 May 2014

8.5/10 The opening 7 to 8 minutes of this film manage to reach the visual heights set by "American Beauty" (one of my all time favourite shot movies). A great psychological study of a character that always manages to keep you on the edge of your seat without you really knowing the reason for it. It never feels pretentious, probably due to a brillant performance by Toni Servillo. The combination of cinematorgraphy and music is constantly breathtaking and manages to fully immerse you in the beauty of Rome. Dialouges never feel useless and always give you an in-depth look at the characters. It falls short of a mastepice because of 10 to 15 minutes involving "La Santa" near the ending of the movie, which anyway is able to restore itself and give us a great finale in the last 5 minutes.

Combined with Her, Rush and Blue is the Warmest Colour it is the high point of 2013 and has without a doubt the best cinematography of this year and probably some of the best I have ever seen.