| Queen of Hearts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jon Amiel |
| Written by | Tony Grisoni |
| Starring | Vittorio Duse Joseph Long Anita Zagaria |
| Cinematography | Mike Southon |
| Edited by | Peter Boyle |
| Music by | Michael Convertino |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Cinecom Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 112 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £107,840 (UK) [1] |
Queen of Hearts is a British comedy film directed by Jon Amiel in 1989. [2]
"An epic tale of romance, revenge, and cappuccino". An Italian couple tie the knot out of love and elope to London. Four children later, they are running a café in the Italian Quarter. The story is told through the eyes of the young boy Eddie.
A UK and US co-production, filming took place in Italy and the UK, with a mixed Italian and British cast. [2] It was the first cinema film directed by Jon Amiel, [3] and the first feature film written by Tony Grisoni. [4]
The film received mostly positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes 3 of 4 critic reviews were positive. [5] US film critic Leonard Maltin included Queen of Hearts in his list of "Great Films You Can't Find on DVD" as well as his book "Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen", [6] and called it an "extraordinary and unusual film about an Italian couple who lead a pleasantly quixotic life in England running a family cafe. Tony Grisoni's screenplay embraces elements of romance, humor, melodrama, mysticism and fantasy in a heady mix. Remarkable first feature for director Amiel." Roger Ebert said that it "has the same sort of magical romanticism as "Moonstruck," but in a more gentle key" and rated it 3.5 out of 4. [7] It won the Montréal First Film Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1989 (at which Vittorio Duse won the best supporting actor prize for his portrayal of Nonno in the film), [8] and won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Festival du Film de Paris. [9]
Missing is a 1982 American biographical thriller drama film directed by Costa-Gavras from a screenplay written by Gavras and Donald E. Stewart, adapted from the book The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice (1978) by Thomas Hauser, based on the disappearance of American journalist Charles Horman, in the aftermath of the United States-backed Chilean coup of 1973, which deposed the democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende.
Earth Girls Are Easy is a 1988 American science fiction musical romantic comedy film that was produced by Tony Garnett, Duncan Henderson, and Terrence E. McNally and was directed by Julien Temple. The film stars Geena Davis, Julie Brown, Charles Rocket, Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans, and Jim Carrey. The plot is based on the song "Earth Girls Are Easy" from Brown's 1984 EP Goddess in Progress.
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014.
The Wages of Fear is a 1953 French thriller film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Yves Montand, and based on the 1950 French novel Le Salaire de la peur by Georges Arnaud. When an oil well owned by an American company catches fire, the company hires four European men, down on their luck, to drive two trucks over mountain dirt roads, loaded with nitroglycerine needed to extinguish the flames.
Bicycle Thieves, also known as The Bicycle Thief is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will lose the job which was to be the salvation of his young family.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1990 French period comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and based on the 1897 play of the same name by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière and Rappeneau. It stars Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet and Vincent Perez. The film was a co-production between companies in France and Hungary.
Thomas Lee Holland is an American screenwriter, actor, and director best known for his work in the horror film genre, penning the 1983 sequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, directing and co-writing the first entry in the long-running Child's Play franchise, and writing and directing the cult vampire film Fright Night. He also directed the Stephen King adaptations The Langoliers and Thinner. He is a two-time Saturn Award recipient. Holland made the jump into children’s literature in 2018 when he co-wrote How to Scare a Monster with fellow writer Dustin Warburton.
Murmur of the Heart is a 1971 French comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Louis Malle. It stars Lea Massari, Benoît Ferreux and Daniel Gélin. Written as Malle's semi-autobiography, the film tells a coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy (Ferreux) growing up in bourgeois surroundings in post-World War II Dijon, France, with a complex relationship with his Italian-born mother (Massari).
Tune in Tomorrow is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Jon Amiel. It is based on the 1977 Mario Vargas Llosa novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and was released under that same title in many countries. Relocated from the novel's setting in 1950s-era Lima, Peru to New Orleans, Louisiana that same decade, it stars Peter Falk, Keanu Reeves and Barbara Hershey in a story surrounding a radio drama. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Wynton Marsalis, who makes a cameo appearance with various members of his band.
Demons is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava, produced by Dario Argento, and starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. Its plot follows two female university students who, along with a number of random people, are given complimentary tickets to a mysterious movie screening, where they soon find themselves trapped in the theater with a horde of ravenous demons.
The Pope of Greenwich Village is a 1984 American crime black comedy film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her two-scene role. The film was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick from his novel of the same name.
Anatomy of Hell is a 2004 erotic drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat, based on her 2001 novel Pornocratie. According to Breillat, Anatomy of Hell is a "sequel" to Romance.
Fade to Black is a 1980 American psychological horror comedy film written and directed by Vernon Zimmerman, and starring Dennis Christopher, Eve Brent and Linda Kerridge. It also features Mickey Rourke and Peter Horton in minor roles. The plot follows a shy and lonely cinephile who embarks on a killing spree against his oppressors while impersonating classic film characters.
Jon Amiel is an English director who has worked in film and television in both the UK and the US. After receiving a BAFTA Award nomination for the BBC series The Singing Detective (1986), he went on to direct films, including Sommersby (1993), Copycat (1995), Entrapment (1999), The Core (2003) and Creation (2009).
Tempest is a 1982 American adventure comedy-drama romance film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a loosely based, modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare play The Tempest. The picture features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raúl Juliá and Molly Ringwald in her feature film debut.
Tony Grisoni is a British screenwriter. He lives in London. His first feature film, Queen of Hearts, directed by Jon Amiel, won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Festival du Film de Paris.
Vittorio Duse was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director.
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, usually shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1967 British film adaptation of Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade. The screen adaptation is directed by Peter Brook, and originated in his theatre production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The English version was written by Adrian Mitchell from a translation by Geoffrey Skelton.
Around a Small Mountain is a 2009 French drama film directed by Jacques Rivette, which was his final film before his death on 29 January 2016, and starred Jane Birkin and Sergio Castellitto. It was screened in the main competition at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.
Dillinger and Capone is a 1995 American action film directed by Jon Purdy and starring Martin Sheen, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Oliver, Catherine Hicks, and Don Stroud. The film was screened at MystFest in Cattolica, Italy and the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. Written by Michael B. Druxman, the film is not based in real events but imagines a world in which John Dillinger is not killed at the Biograph Theater and lives on to work with Al Capone. The film was acquired by Cinemax and aired on their cable television network periodically in 1996. In 1997 the film was acquired by HBO and aired periodically on that television network.