In 1988, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore touched audiences with his love letter to film, Cinema Paradiso, the story of a filmmaker who looks back on his boyhood friendship with the projectionist at his village’s local movie house. Tornatore’s latest work, The Best Offer, is an English-language affair that looks as beautifully shot as his breakout feature — but the similarities end there.
The Best Offer stars Geoffrey Rush as an art auctioneer who becomes obsessed with an extremely reclusive heiress who collects fine art (played by Sylvia Hoeks). A trailer for the film was released, and it looks deliciously European, down to its distinctly old world on-location sets in Italy, Vienna, and Prague. Unlike the heartwarming Cinema Paradiso, it also suggests a taut, thrilling drama with an emotionally tortured man at its core. It’s always a pleasure to see a fine actor like Rush at play, and it looks like he gets plenty of screen time to demonstrate his craft.
See trailer the trailer below (via BleedingCool):
Synopsis: Requested to handle the discharge of the artistic wealth of an old building, the antiques dealer finds himself in the middle of a passion that will change his grey existence forever. It can be defined as a film on art seen as the sublimation of love, but also a love story engendered by art.
The film also features Donald Sutherland and Jim Sturgess. Though it opened in Italy earlier this month, no U.S. release date has been set.
Do you think Tornatore’s new film will appeal to an American audience?