Get the latest gossip
‘Diva Futura’ Review: An Unconvincingly Bouncy Biopic of an Idealistic Italian Pornographer
Italian adult-entertainment impresario Riccardo Schicchi is the genial subject of Giulia Louise Steigerwalt's rose-tinted hagiography "Diva Futura"
Schicchi, the film explains, was a porn prodigy who first tasted success when he collaborated with his girlfriend Ilona Staller (Lidija Kordić) on her transformation into La Cicciolina, a flower-garlanded child of the hippie era happy to commercialize her free-love image. His confidence is borne out when he develops the even-more successful career of Moana (an excellent Denise Capezza), who is still such a national icon that 22 years after her death Disney still decided to change the title of their 2016 movie in Italy and to rename the lead character, to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings. But over each close-up of the hapless Schicchi, wearing the uncomprehending expression of a puppy who’s been told off for humping the furniture, you can almost imagine his voiceover claiming “ever since I can remember I always wanted to be a pornographer.” Except the “Goodfellas” of the porn industry has already been done, and having Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” to hand as such an easy tonal and thematic comparison does little for Steigerwalt’s film except show up its lack of depth and steadfast, smiling refusal to self-critique.
Or read this on Variety