Isabella Rossellini

Big Night (1996)

 

New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food.

Wonderfully light-hearted comedy with an excellent ensemble and good period detail is not just great entertainment, but also a culinary experience.

Halliwell**: "Charming small-scale comedy of brotherly rivalry and love, immaculately done." 

Maltin**1/2: "Endearing story...Finely tuned performances, amusing vignettes and observations make this small endeavor worthwhile, but it's too slow and quiet for its own good...The feast on-screen is mouthwatering."

Isabella Rossellini

(ph: Bruce Weber)

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Blue Velvet (1986)

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

(ph: Sheila Metzner)

Isabella Rossellini

(ph: Steven Meisel)

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Blue Velvet (1986)

On the set: Isabella Rossellini

Ingrid Bergman and Isabella Rossellini

Enemy (2013)

A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.

Somnambulant psychological drama conceived as one large riddle fascinates as a complex mystery, but the surprise end scene is grafted and quite a letdown.

Maltin**: "Ponderous psychological thriller...Strange, off-putting story, told in hushed tones,invites comparison to David Lynch's dreamlike films."

Isabella Rossellini

Blue Velvet (1986)

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Need I explain? When it was released I watched it 3 times in a row, I was completely overwhelmed, Lynch exceeded my expectations. An instant classic!

On renewed viewing: David Lynch's masterpiece still mesmerizes with its idiosyncratic and sinister, but spot-on vision of Americana.

Halliwell***: "Bizarrely stylish exercise by the director of The Elephant Man, popular at the box-office."

Maltin**: "Terminally weird, though flamboyantly original film...A highly individual look at the bizarre elements just behind the facade of a picture-perfect American town. Too audacious to be easily dismissed, but too strange to be easily enjoyed...yet this was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 1986!"