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The Star Maker

R Released Mar 8, 1996 1h 53m Drama List
75% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 81% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings
A con man (Sergio Castellitto) posing as a talent scout charges Sicilian townspeople for screen tests, then feels pangs of conscience. Read More Read Less

Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Susan Stark Detroit News Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times The movie is not as special as Cinema Paradiso, but in its own way it is enchanted, too. Mother of God, what faces. Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Mike Clark USA Today The central story, belatedly introduced, may prove rudely downbeat for viewers who lapped up Paradiso's sentiment. Rated: 2/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily Rated: 3/5 Oct 27, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Aug 26, 2005 Full Review Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice A bittersweet tale of redemption that conveys the power of cinema and the soulful dimensions of storytelling. Rated: 4/5 Jul 25, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (51) audience reviews
Audience Member Un film che aveva delle premesse interessanti: un truffatore che gira la Sicilia vendendo sogni irrealizzabili a contadini e analfabeti che spendono tutti i risparmi nella speranza che si realizzi questo sogno impossibile. Però il film è sviluppato male, non ha un finale preciso e coinvolgente e lascia poco nella testa dello spettatore (se non le bellissime piazze barocche siciliane). Inoltre l'ho trovato noioso (forse proprio per la sua vacuità). Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member A masterpiece, on a similar note to "Cinema Paradiso". Tornatore is a genius! PS: the original poster is much much better than this non-sense picture here which I guess is the foreign version. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member After exploring the nostalgic side of the cinema in older Sicily, Tornatore looks at its darker side. Set in the mid fifties, a con artist travels through Sicily pretending to be a man working for a cinema production company looking for new faces. When he meets a beautiful and naïve young girl, his conscience begins to haunt him. Tornatore's film is made of great sequences where real Sicilian townspeople and actors and reveal their dreams and sins as if the camera were a confessor. Though the film is essentially a tragic and dark drama, it is also testimony of the importance the object of cinema was given and what it represented among the poor classes. Castellitto's lead performances is intense. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member A pretentious, ambiguous and frustrating journey with one of the most irritating characters in cinema history, The Star Maker has some brilliant scenes but then loses the way with cheap dilemmas and a dissapointing resolution. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member à un film ruffiano, di quelli che si vogliono far piacere e ci riescono. Scordatevi la storia, quella c'è, ma è completamente secondaria, per quanto non banale. Lo scopo del film è catturarti con delle musiche belle ed intense, con immagini della Sicilia allo stesso tempo più povera ma più vera, con un modo di fare molto italiano. E alla fine mi sono chiesto: che cosa ti rimane di questo film? Ancora non mi so dare una risposta. Forse solo una voglia matta di tornare a visitare quei posti meravigliosi. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a socio/political film about a man who tries to fraud poor people in order to steal their money. Sicily Island forgotten villages make the perfect spot for accomplishing the fraud process. Director Tornatore's film also revives the love of cinema throughout the people. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Star Maker

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A con man (Sergio Castellitto) posing as a talent scout charges Sicilian townspeople for screen tests, then feels pangs of conscience.
Director
Giuseppe Tornatore
Producer
Rita Rusic, Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Distributor
Miramax Films
Production Co
Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinema
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 8, 1996, Original
Box Office (Gross USA)
$116.8K
Runtime
1h 53m