Mafia-lite: Pierfrancesco Diliberto directs, acts in & co-writes THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN SUMMER

TrustMovies has long insisted that if you want to see a really good movie about the Mafia, it simply has to be Italian. Italians understand and are able to show these ugly, murdering sociopaths for the walking, talking pieces of crap that they are. American movies and television -- from The Godfather and The Sopranos on down (or up, depending on your viewpoint) always manage to glamorize their subject, no matter how "real" they try to make things. Italian films -- from I cento passi to The Sicilian Girl are a whole other breed.

Now comes something a little different: It's Italian, all right, and it's a kind of Mafia comedy. But not anything of the heavy-handed-but often-hilarious Joe Pesci variety. No. THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN SUMMER offers a combination coming-of-age/first-love tale set in Palermo, Sicily, and wrapped around the Mafia as perceived by our little (and then larger, older) hero. The film's creator (director, lead actor and co-writer), shown at right, is a popular Italian comic and satirist known as Pierfrancesco Diliberto, aka Pif.

His movie, initially quite charming and amusing, introduces us to his younger self, as the boy Arturo -- played by a very good young actor in his first role, Alex Bisconti, below, right -- learns about everything from love and parents to school and the Mafia, in the process forming what can only be called a rather warped view of things. Given that the general populace cannot and will not admit even to the Mafia's existence, it is little wonder our confused hero goes his own odd way.

Movie fans of Italian cinema who know and love Il Divo should get a big charge out Pif's use of newsreel footage of the real Giulio Andreotti, who soon becomes the particular hero of little Arturo. There's a journalist who befriend the kid, too, offering some good advice. And then there's the love of his life, Flora, who appears as the school's new girl and has Arturo in the palm of her hand forever after. Into all this is layered various Mafia killings, as Arturo tries to come to terms with what he does and doesn't see and understand. (The movie's title comes from something his father tells him to make things "better.")

All this is reasonably interesting and fun -- until the adult Arturo arrives, in the form of Pif himself, who may be a fine and funny talk show host but plays a bumbling adult hero in a surprisingly charmless fashion. He looks and acts a bit like our own Ray Romano but turns out to be -- at this point in his career, at least -- not much of an actor. The movie soon turns into what it has been threatening to become all along: a network-TV-level, romantic sit-com. As the adult Flora, however, Cristiana Capotondi (of Kryptonite!), shown above and below, right, brings a healthy dose of warmth and beauty to the proceedings.

There is a fairly amusing section during which Arturo works as a "pianist" on a popular TV show (below), on which the host practices his "French," but at the point at which the film moves from the kids to the adult figures, it soon ceases to be very funny,  insightful, or satiric. And its final "homage" to the dead judges and other heroes who stood up to the Mafia -- and died for it -- seems almost tacky and more than a tad out of place. As Arturo teaches his own little son the lessons of how these dead figures stood up to this criminal organization, we are clearly meant to learn and appreciate these lessons, too. But it all comes off as mostly Mafia-lite.

The Mafia Kills Only in Summer opens tomorrow, March 6, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, and in the Los Angeles area on March 27 at Laemmle's Royal and Playhouse 7. Other cities will gain the film during April, as it expands across the country.

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coming-of age movies, Italian cinema, Pierfrancesco Diliberto, Pif, the Mafia, THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN SUMMER, triple threats, would-be love stories,

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MAGICIAN: Orson's back (we don't mean Bean) in Chuck Workman's new doc about the master

Is "astonishing" the best overall word to describe the life and work of Orson Welles? That, in any case, is the adjective chosen for MAGICIAN: THE ASTONISHING LIFE AND WORK OF ORSON WELLES, the new documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker, Chuck Workman. After watching the movie and letting it sink in a bit, TrustMovies suspects that it really is the right choice. At the time of the debut of Welles' various creations -- for legitimate theater, radio and film -- the populace (industry folk, too) were indeed astonished by the work of this "boy wonder," as the fellow was often called, well past the time he reached manhood. Even today, after some of his innovations have been re-used past cliche, his work stands up to scrutiny, and when coupled to the history we get here, astonishes all over again.

Whatever you may think of Welles and his oeuvre, I suspect that you may find yourself astonished, too, at his story, and the way in which Workman (shown at left) weaves it together via some priceless archival material (photos, newspaper clippings), along with interviews of old friends, co-workers and relatives (one of Welles' daughters contributed to the film, another refused to). After viewing the movie, my appreciation for this master has deepened and I find myself wanting to go back and see some of his work again (as well as wishing I could have experienced his live theater productions).

Mr. Workman divides his film (and Welles' life) into sections: Boy Wonder (through 1941), The Outsider (1942-49), The Gypsy (1949-57), The Road Back (1958-66) and The Master (1968-85). Though an interesting assortment, this sort of sectioning works better in a book -- where you can go back and peruse again some of the facts and/or photos -- than on film, where you're stuck with whatever you can immediately remember. Instead, it is the cogent interviews with their well-chosen statements that impress and remain.

Among the interviewees are the likes of Simon Callow (whose ongoing biography of Welles was most likely a major source of information for the filmmaker), actress Jeanne Moreau, film critic Elvis Mitchell, directors Julie Taymor (shown below) and Robert Wise,

film editor Walter Murch, actor/director Paul Mazursky along with many other smart and caring folk who fill us in on their experience with Welles. (The fact that many of those interviewed are now deceased would indicate that Workman has been preparing this movie for quite some time.)

We get much more of Welles' work than we learn of his personal life and/or personality (fitting for an artist of this magnitude). Although we do get a succulent slice now and then: "He was the only person I knew who had absolutely no empathetic skills," notes one old friend, who clearly appreciated the guy but also saw him plain. Later in the film, when some-one makes a remark that seems to contradict the above statement, Workman cuts back to this woman, who says nothing but rolls her eyes, seemingly in protest. (The filmmaker is not above eliding moments that were maybe not meant to follow each other, in order to make a point.)

We do gets some of Welles' family and romantic life included here -- from his distant mom to women the likes of Rita Hayworth and Geraldine Fitzgerald, with whom Welles is said to have had yet another child -- unacknowledged as the spawn of Orson, if I understood the film correctly, by either parent.

Yet it's the work, above all else, that comes through so strongly. The movie will have you hoping to finally see Chimes at Midnight, in which Welles played Falstaff, once again. (Did we greatly misjudge that one at the time of its original release?) As well as his Macbeth, Othello, and even The Lady From Shanghai -- which remains forever wondrous and silly, priceless and misbegotten.

More than anything else (there is really not that much that's new here), Magician is a genuine and highly entertaining appreciation of Welles, the movie-maker, if not so much the man. For its wealth of archival material alone, strung together with artistry and wit, it is simply unmissable.

From Cohen Media Group and running a swift 94 minutes, the documen-tary opens this Wednesday, December 10, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle's Royal.

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American documentaries, Chuck Workman, film history, MAGICIAN: THE ASTONISHING LIFE AND WORK OF ORSON WELLES, Orson Welles, triple threats,

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