This past Tuesday, Yahoo! Movies unveiled the official US trailer for Woody Allen's »To Rome with Love«. I didn't post it on EPO yet, because I was working on a new design and layout for the multimedia section (see below). As it turned out - the waiting paid off. Meanwhile, the Italian film magazine Ciak revealed further details on the plot and characters in its current April 2012 issue, which have been included in the following review.

» To Rome with Love - US Trailer (04/03/2012) «



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(Format: AVI | Codec: XviD | Duration: 2:00 min | Resolution: 640x360 | Size: 17,0 MB)
© Sony Pictures Classics / Medusa Film / Gravier Productions. All rights reserved.

The film consists of four vignettes that are not connected to each other. Two of these are "Italian", one is "American" and the fourth shows a clash of the two different cultures playing with stereotypes and clichés. This is the part where director Woody Allen steps in front of the camera to play a guy called Jerry. He and his wife Phyllis (Judy Davis) travel to the Eternal City because of the forthcoming wedding of their daughter Hayley (Alison Pill). After arriving there, the stubborn pair not only gets to know brilliant lawyer and future son-in-law Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti), but also his parents (Fabio Armiliato and Rosa Di Brigida). It goes without saying that certain forms of trouble are almost inevitable.

On the Italian side, the first episode recounts the story of Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), a freshly married couple visiting Rome on their honeymoon. However, they are not prepared for what awaits them and find themselves emotionally and physically lost in the sprawling metropolis after a short time. While Milly is overwhelmed by the discovery of the world of cinema and meeting with (real-life) actors Albanian Antonio and Riccardo Scamarcio, Antonio encounters the attractive prostitute Anna (Penelope Cruz). She is unlike any woman he's ever known before and brings him into lots of awkward situations during Milly's absence.

The other Italian vignette tells in the "before, during and after" way what happens when the spotlight is suddenly pointing to a common man. The character in question is Leopold (Roberto Benigni) who gets mistaken for a movie star and becomes famous overnight. From this moment on he is besieged by paparazzi everywhere he goes, pampered like a star and pursued by beautiful women. Will he be able to resist the many temptations and remain faithful and loyal to his wife Sofia (Monica Nappo)? Until this question is answered, his daily life will be filled with strange and funny occurrences including a live TV broadcast of his normal routine of shaving in the morning.

The remaining chapter centers on Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend Sally (Greta Gerwig), a young American couple living in Rome's popular district of Trastevere. Their world is turned upside down by the arrival of Sally's best friend in the shape of Monica (Ellen Page). The bi-curious actress has just split up with her boyfriend, which eventually led to her first sexual encounter with a woman. These factors, combined with Monica's charming appearance and sweetness, have a magical attraction on Jack. As is typical for a Woody Allen film, the obligatory love triangle is not long in coming. But wait, isn't there another actor standing in the background in most of the scenes?

According to Ciak, all this is told by the adult Jack (Alec Baldwin), who became an architect in California and re-experiences his ancient memories while visiting the Italian capital with his friends. This also explains why Page and Eisenberg are making out in front of him at the end of the trailer and would be characteristic for Woody Allen's odd-ball humor. Put another way, Ellen interacts with both actors, but they are actually the same person.
We will know soon what other surprises the film has to offer and whether these details are true or not. The world premiere in Italy is in just two weeks, with the main cast in attendance.

During the last five days I worked on a new design and layout for the multimedia section. Since the first days of this website, all movie and series clips, movie specials and trailers have been displayed on a single page. While everything might look fine and clearly structured at first glance, I came to the conclusion that the current concept won't work in the long run. The content will increase with each new project causing longer loading times and the visitors will have to scroll down a couple of screens just to view or download a single video. For this reason, the clips in those sections are now sorted alphabetically and divided into sub pages. Each sub page can be easily accessed through either the alphabet matrix on the left, the links on the corresponding movie or series page or the brand new, poster-decorated start page for each category. I hope the new layout will enhance this website and meet your approval!

By the way, actor Josh Pais has shared some information about the upcoming movie project he is doing with Ellen the other day. I assume that the working title is either »Touchy Feely« or »Laggies«.