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Baumwoll Archives Presents – 2010 Film – Loose Cannons – Italian Comedy, Mine vaganti

Loose Cannons (Italian: Mine vaganti) is a 2010 Italian comedy film directed by Ferzan Özpetek.

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The following is from Wikipedia

Özpetek also wrote the script with the help of Ivan Cotroneo, while Domenico Procacci served as a producer. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Preziosi, Nicole Grimaudo, Lunetta Savino, Ennio Fantastichini, and Ilaria Occhini.

Loose Cannons premiered on 13 February 2010, at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. The following month, it was theatrically released in Italy, Switzerland, and Turkey. In the United States, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 28 April 2010, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was later screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Provincetown International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival. In October 2010, the film was screened at the London Film Festival.

Loose Cannons received generally positive reviews from critics.[2] It was nominated for thirteen David di Donatello Awards, including for the Best Film, winning the Best Supporting Actor for Ennio Fantastichini and the Best Supporting Actress for Ilaria Occhini. The film also earned six out of eleven nominations at the Nastro d’Argento Awards.[3]

Plot summary

Tommaso Cantone left his hometown in Salento, Southern Italy, because of its narrow-minded inhabitants, and for some time he has resided in Rome with his boyfriend Marco. In fact, in the big city, he was able to create his own independence and live in the light of the sun his homosexuality. After a long time, determined to reveal his sexual orientation to his family, he returns to his homeland, where he comes to confront his middle-class parents, and a mentally different society. The Cantone are a large and bizarre family, known in Lecce for being the owner of a large industrial pasta factory. Tommaso will have to face his severe and hard father Vincenzo, his suffocating mother Stefania, his elder brother Antonio, whom his father would like to be joined by Tommaso in the management of the pasta factory, and his sister Elena, who aspires to a better life than that of a housewife. His eccentric aunt Luciana and his grandmother are also part of the numerous clan of the Cantone.

Once back in Lecce, Tommaso comes out to his brother Antonio, who is not particularly disturbed by the revelation; however, on the evening in which Tommaso would like to reveal himself to his entire family, Antonio is the first to speak and to come out as gay himself: feeling the responsibility to carry on the family name, the man had always hidden himself, but in seeing the coming out of his brother his final sentence he had decided to do it first. In fact, the consequences of that gesture are tragic: Vincenzo kicks Antonio out of the house shortly before having a heart attack; the whole family feels targeted by the slander and gossip of the town, while Tommaso has the whole responsibility of the pasta factory. Tommaso also lied about his university career: he has in fact declared that he had enrolled in economics and commerce, while in reality he’s close to a degree in literature and his dream is to become a writer. In this, however, he finds an unexpected ally in Alba Brunetti, daughter of Vincenzo’s work partner and brilliant economist, with whom Tommaso establishes an ambiguous friendship.

While the family tries to adapt to the sudden change, Tommaso feels more and more inadequate in his new responsibilities, which also leads him to neglect his boyfriend Marco and not to be able to return to Rome as he would have liked. After a very tense confrontation with his brother, in which each of the two accuses the other of each other faults, the daily life of the Cantone is upset by the arrival of Marco together with his friends Davide, Andrea and Massimiliano: believing them to be heterosexual, Tommaso’s parents welcome them in his own house, against Tommaso’s wishes. Soon the extravagance of the three friends makes the family suspicious, confirming some clues about him being gay. Meanwhile, Marco accuses his boyfriend of not being able to deal with his parents, and their relationship becomes very tense. Only shortly before departure the two manage to clarify the things between them; once Marco and his friends are gone, Tommaso finally finds the courage to face his parents and declare that the life they have chosen for him is not the one he wants to live.

That same evening, the grandmother puts in place an extreme plan to resolve the situation: despite suffering from diabetes mellitus, she decides to eat a huge amount of sweets that leads her to her death. Since she is the largest shareholder of the pasta factory, she in her last will leaves it to Antonio, who will thus have to return to the family, and she recommends each member of the family to be himself and to respect the diversity of others. During her funeral, past and present come together in an almost dreamlike scene: the grandmother finds her beloved Nicola, her husband’s brother and her only true love; Vincenzo and Antonio seem to make peace, while Tommaso watches Marco and Alba dance and, after hinting at a smile, leaves.

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We Will Never Go Back – Rights For All – LGBTQIA & All People, We Are All The Same.

My husband and I have been together 45 years . We have always been out. We have face all forms of hate in this time. But also so much love.

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Baumwoll Archives Presents, A Tribute To “The Ghost & Mrs. Muir” Starring Gene Tierney & Rex Harrison

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From Wikipedia

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a 1947 American supernatural romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R.A. Dick. In 1945, 20th Century-Fox bought the film rights to the novel, which had been published only in the United Kingdom at that time. It was shot entirely in California.

Plot

London at the turn of the century : Mrs. Lucy Muir, recently widowed by Edwin, an architect, moves to Whitecliff by the sea, despite her sister-in-law Eva’s sharp disapproval, and her mother-in-law Angelica’s sadness at Lucy taking away her young daughter Anna, and her loyal housekeeper Martha Huggins. The local estate agent Mr. Coombe reluctantly shows her Gull Cottage, in which she sees the portrait of the former owner, the roguish sea captain Daniel Gregg. They hear a ghostly laugh – Lucy, unafraid, remarks, “Haunted. How perfectly fascinating.” Coombe claims that Gregg committed suicide, but she persists in renting Gull Cottage, joking, “it’s too ridiculous…in the 20th century, to believe in apparitions.”

That night, Lucy experiences odd disturbances. Resolutely, she demands that the ghost show himself. Captain Gregg manifests, explaining his death four years ago wasn’t a suicide, but resulted from accidentally kicking the gas heater valve while sleeping. He wants Gull Cottage to house retired seamen, thus he frightens away other tenants. Due to Lucy’s headstrong attitude, and her appreciation of the house, Daniel reluctantly agrees to allow her to remain, promising to materialize only to her.

Eva and Angelica visit, wanting Lucy to move back to London, as Lucy’s gold mine investment — her only source of income — has “petered out” and “stopped paying dividends.” However Daniel, having warmed to her, asks her to stay, suggesting her in-laws should “shove off.” They decide to write a book from which she can profit; a dictation of his ocean-going memoirs. While writing the book, they fall in love. Realizing it’s hopeless, Daniel urges Lucy to find a living man. Lucy meets London publisher Mr. Sproule, encountering Miles Fairley, a suave author of children’s books under the pen name Uncle Neddy. Sproule agrees to publish Daniel’s lurid and sensational recollections, titled Blood and Swash, providing Lucy with an advance to buy Gull Cottage.

Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and they begin a whirlwind courtship. Though initially jealous of their relationship, Daniel decides to leave, as he considers himself an obstacle to Lucy’s chance at happiness. While she sleeps, he imparts a mental suggestion that she alone wrote the book, and his presence was merely a dream. After declaring regret about never having had a life with her, he fades away.

Fairley cancels a planned visit to Gull Cottage, saying he will be in London for a few days. Lucy visits London to sign a contract, and obtains Fairley’s address in the city from the office clerk to pay a surprise visit. She discovers that Fairley is already married with two children, and Mrs. Fairley sympathetically tells her, she’s not Fairley’s first extramarital affair. Heartbroken, Lucy returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse, with Martha looking after her.

Years later, Mrs. Fairley has had enough of her husband’s philandering and divorces him, taking full custody of their children. Anna goes to university and returns with a Royal Navy lieutenant she plans to marry. Anna reveals to her mother that she knew about her mother’s relationship with “Uncle Neddy”, and that she believes that she too saw Daniel, whom she regarded as a childhood crush, meaning Daniel broke his promise to Lucy not to show himself. Anna argues that Daniel must be real since they both saw him, but Lucy still believes that it was a dream and reasons it is more logical to conclude that she transmitted her dream to Anna through her stories than to believe in ghosts. She also tells Anna that although she had at times been lonely, she was never truly alone.

Many years later, the elderly Lucy is now ailing, and Anna’s daughter (also named Lucy) is engaged to an airplane captain; Anna believes that affection for captains runs in their family. Lucy rejects the glass of hot milk Martha has brought for her with a complaint that she is tired. After Martha leaves the room, Lucy dies. Daniel returns and approaches her, whispering that she will never be tired again. Taking his hands, her young spirit leaves her aged body and greets him with a loving smile. Unseen by Martha, the couple leave the house and walk arm-in-arm into an ethereal mist.

Cast

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