'This Must Be The Place' by Paolo Sorrentino

(No Spoilers)
What a marvellous thing this movie is, what a beauty. I think i can speak for everyone when saying that the movie where had Sean Penn dressed up as Robert Smith didn't look that interesting. It's true that it won the Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival but somehow it didn't look this good at all. But it is. It's another proof why Sorrentino is one of the greatest filmmakers alive and i don't think he's recognized enough.

'This Must Be The Place' is titled after the fantastic Talking Heads' song and the lyrics have a lot to do throughout the whole movie and different versions of the song keep sounding in the background. Even former frontman David Byrne sings during a performance in a fantastic scene but let's not get into that yet.

Sorrentino depicts the life of a Cheyenne, retired rock star played by Penn living off his royalties with a very accommodated life, he lives in a castle with his understanding wife (played by Frances Mc Dormand) and hangs out with a young girl (Eve Hewson), and there's not much more than that. He's completely done with music and kinda out of touch with reality, with his make up, messy hair and black clothes. That's all on the surface but in reality he lives a tortured life, he gave up music because he feels he has to punish himself after some incidents that happened in the past, and that's all i can tell about the pot without revealing too much.

Sorrentino creates a beautiful story with a character that you grow fond of, despite his eccentric looks, Cheyenne is a beautiful soul that even has the innocence of a young kid, and that's also one of his issues, that he hasn't grown up. Penn really embodies his role and despite usually seeing him in more aggressive roles in other movies, here he really gets to your heart. I might sound really soft and tender but really, it is like that. And that's what makes his story and the film so charming.

Besides the acting, and as usual, the director creates amazing music moments like the epic performance of David Byrne singing 'This Must Be The Place' in an astonishing scene. The rest of the soundtrack fits perfectly into the story (beside the tracks by the Pieces of Shit), and the many covers of the film's title song are simply fantastic to the story - i'm adding all of them below because after watching the movie i listened to them nonstop, as well as Gavin Friday's song 'Lord I'm Coming'.

I really can't recommend this movie more, it's not often that you watch a film and end up feeling like you've seen a great thing and this is exactly what happens with 'This Must Be The Place'. It plays on your mind for days and i adore when  that happens to me. Enjoy the few songs i'm posting after the cut and admire the greatness of Byrne's performance, and as always, some of the stills that i loved the best. Seriously, this is an instant favorite.

The Young Pope Soundtrack

As you can see i'm infatuated with 'The Young Pope' ever since i watched it last week and apart from the amazing photography, the locations, the acting of superb actors and the brilliant direction, the soundtrack really stands out. Obviously there are many instrumental songs meant for a mass, but there are many others that i have discovered and fell in love with. Besides the 'Sexy and I know it' song by LMFAO that hilariously appears in a scene, the rest are quite great so below i'm posting my faves. There are some that are Italian and it's so gorgeous to sing in Italian when you nearly understand everything, it's such a beautiful language.

Enjoy and discover some amazing tracks below that really created amazing music moments and listen to the complete soundtrack here.

Nada - Senza un Perché

This is, as i've already mentioned before, everyone's favorite on the show. And how not, the song is really catchy, the lyrics are somehow sad but it has something really nice about it that i love to sing along. I've added the actual scene where it appears at the end of episode 4 because it's such a nice ending. One of those iconic music moments that Paolo Sorrentino effortlessly creates.

Lotte Kestner - Halo

This song is obviously a cover of the stunning Beyonce ballad, but somehow this version is so beautiful and so heartfelt. You can hear it during one of my fave scenes on the show, when the Pope gives his amazing speech in Africa that i added in the review post, and it's simply such an amazing scene where the song fits perfectly.

Flume feat. Kai - Never Be Like You

And this is the other fave song from mine from the other speech that i posted in the review post, with a scene that melts your heart with every "My love" that Jude Law says. The song is equally great and gives you hope, as the words the young Pope says along in the most beautiful scene of the show.

Levo - Recondite

This instrumental tune plays along the majority of the series' episodes and it's really catchy and cool. It served somehow to conduct many of the scenes in the first half of the season and it can't be listened without thinking about it.

Antonello Venditti - Non Ci Sono Anime

This is another of the soundtrack's Italian songs that i just love to sing out loud. Also, the song is so powerful that i had to add it here.

Devlin - Watchower (instrumental)

And finally how not to add here the song used as a theme song for the show? Not only is a powerful track but serves to get a taste of what's coming, something good, unseen before and revolutionary as the pope himself. Brilliant opening.

There are a bunch of other great songs in the OST like 'Kissing Disease' by Melodium, 'Logan's Loop' by Andrew Bird or Post Pines' 'Simma', along with other more well known songs from Jefferson Airplane or Belle & Sebastian, so give this soundtrack a listen because it's so worth it, like the show.

sources: youtube

The Young Pope by Paolo Sorrentino

(Holy spoilers)
What a marvelous thing Paolo Sorrentino has created with this series, what an absolute work of art. I have to admit that without barely knowing anything from this show –the director was reason enough for me– i expected something totally different. I thought this was going to be a super scandalous series about a corrupt pope and that he would do anything he wanted when it came to women, habits and everything (even though Jude Law's pope smokes) but i was totally wrong and that's the beauty of it, because there's so much more than a simple story of a pope that doesn't follow the established rules of the Church.

For a starter, you don't get to understand the reasons behind Pius XIII's decisions (extraordinarily played by Jude Law). You just don't comprehend his motives, his rebellious attitude and his even mean words to some. It's only when the story goes on and develops that this new pope starts making sense to you. It's like he has ten thousand layers we have to get rid of before getting to the core of it, and even the character gets surprised by himself. It's a beautiful epiphany we witness and that's what makes the the series so great.

With the figure of the pope, or of Lenny,  his real name, we have to take into account that he's a burdened man. He takes the job of being the Holy Father not entirely sure of his beliefs and having a past that haunts him. His biggest weakness is the fact of being an orphan that lost his childhood when he was abandoned by his parents and taken under custody by sister Mary (Diane Keaton). The doubts of why he was rejected by his parents it's something that we see him struggle throughout the whole series. It's only when he decides to face the reality of being denied by his parents that he will finally become an adult and will be able to embrace God and himself, in the precious final scene of the last episode.

Because if there's something that stands out of 'The Young Pope' is the depth of the portrait of Lenny and the beauty of his reflections and speeches. That is what won me over with the show. Sorrentino not only turns to flashbacks of Lennys's childhood to understand him better but also of his dreams and visions that in part torture him. But those oniric images we see helps us to create a bond with a character that we don't like that much at first (or at least i didn't quite much) but through the episodes we get to like more and more.

And what about the beauty of his reflections and speeches? There are two that really stand out for me, the one he gives in Africa about kids and war and the one from his lost love letters that really touched me, especially because Sorrentino creates magic moments with those astonishing words but also with the music used during those two scenes ('Halo' from Lotte Kestner in the first one and 'Never Be Like You' from Flume in the second) which really make you feel everything he's saying as the owner of the absolute truth. Of course there are funny scenes like the one of the Pope getting dressed to LMFAO's 'Sexy and I Know It' but the use of music is really on point. I have to mention Nada's song 'Senza un perchè' as it has become everyone's favorite but practically the whole soundtrack (even though it has a lot of instrumental music) is fantastic.

And when it comes to the other cast apart from the pope, we really encounter a brilliant essemble. From Diane Keaton who's always graceful, to Javier Cámara playing Gutierrez as usual in an excellent way. We also find some others unknown to me like Silvio Orlando who plays Voiello and embodies both a mischievous and a funny character with his passion about footbal and also James Cromwell as the tortured mentor who never became pope or Scott Shepherd as Lenny's orphan pal Dussolier that also stand out.

Even though the subject of the series was not really attractive to me as i'm not really a religious person, this show has really surprised me in such a nice and beautiful way that overwhelms me. Having only watched Sorrentino's last two movies that i absolutely adored ('La Grande Bellezza' and 'Youth') i knew the show was going to be at least interesting but not this great. Being more a spiritual person and finding religions interesting, the series has really won me over in that aspect, as it talks about life and love and faith. And the portray that Jude Law makes is something memorable and probably the performance of his career. I couldn't recommend this show more as it's one of the best ones of the year. And it will have a second season, thank God.

Admire some of the most beautiful stills of the show after the cut, and also the two speeches that i liked most, because they're worth reading and remembering those two scenes have been my favourite part. Image heavy after the cut!

Paolo Sorrentino's 'Youth'

(No Spoilers)
This movie. This fucking movie. Up to the first four minutes of the film i was already drooling over how marvellous was everything that i was seeing. Because if something makes Sorrentino stand out is the powerful images, at times oneiric scenes that  speak louder than words.

Before i continue i have to admit that i have only seen his last two works, 'La Giovinezza' and 'La Gran Belleza' (The Great Beauty) but these two have been enough to have my complete attention on him. And while 'The Great Beauty' was a reflection on nightlife, leisure and being bored by all that, despite the glamour, the wealth and the apparent wisdom of artists and poets, in 'Youth' it depicts the contemplation of life growing old while surrounded by a society that glorifies and celebrates youth and has no room for anyone past that age and time.

Starring two old and enormous actors, Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel reflect on life and success, past mistakes and failed flames and all that while contemplating the ephemeral beauty that surrounds them while they're vacationing together. Both Caine and Keitel are companions in life and while one has retired from music, the only thing he understands, the other one is trying to complete his last movie that will serve as his final will after some disastrous works.

This movie is an observation of life at an old age, when it seems that everything glorious that could happen was long time ago and we're only witness of everyone else's prime of their lives. And Sorrentino achieves that with superb performances by his two leading actors, an spectacular cinematography and reflections that transcend the screen and make you think about what's slowly running through our fingers without noticing, that is the time of beauty, of feeling alive. Our youth.

You can see more stunning images after the cut, including the shot that has trapped me for days, that shot towards the ending of Michael Caine's character sitting in the hotel room, totally mesmerizing.