USA,
1997, 98 min
Shown in 1998
CREDITS
- dir
-
Emanuele Crialese
- prod
-
John P. Scholz, Emanuele Crialese, Domenico Albonetti
- scr
-
Emanuele Crialese
- cam
-
Sam Selva
- editor
-
Simon Paggi
- cast
-
Vincenzo Amato, Jessica Whitney Gould, Anjalee Deshpande, Ajai Nadeu, Lynn Cohen, Lazaro Perez
- source
-
Acquario Films, 114 East 7th Street, Suite 16, New York, NY 10009. FAX: 212-677-5806
-
COMMENTS
Eligible for the SKYY Prize.
OTHER
Once We Were Strangers is a delightful story that carries the audience on a sweet summer rollercoaster of a ride. Unlike most romantic comedies, this mix of flirtation and social commentary doesn’t kowtow to formula or predictability. Sicilian immigrant Antonio (charismatic first-time actor Vincenzo Amato) becomes smitten by an American radio talk-show hostess. With a seductive Manhattan summer as a backdrop, he pursues her desperately, flourishing all the charm and persistence of an Italian in love. Antonio’s best friend, Apu, is the first émigré from a traditional Indian family. When he goes to meet his promised bride, he asks Antonio, “What if she is not beautiful?” “Beautiful women are for men without imagination,” responds the wise Antonio. Thanks (or no thanks) to an experimental drug he is testing for cash, Apu’s sex drive is diminished early in the marriage. The delicate new bride’s attempts to transform herself into a “seductive” American are simultaneously hysterical and poignant. Crialese’s script combines romance and struggle as those in search of the American dream continue to spice up the melting pot of New York City. He has a gift for comedy, dialogue, casting and evoking characters who are likable, multi-dimensional and totally real. With Once We Were Strangers, his first feature film, he emerges a fresh talent to watch—one who finds substance in comedy and makes the work seem effortless.
—Cathy Fischer
FACTOID #78
Now among California’s political luminaries, former ambassador Shirley Temple Black and Representative Nancy Pelosi both worked at the Festival in their days as civilians. Temple assisted in film selection in the mid-’60s and Pelosi planned Festival events in the ’70s.
