‘Lord of the Ants’ Review: Gianni Amelio’s Stodgy But Eventually Stirring Account of Homophobic Injustice

Guy Lodge Film Critic At the height of his career, Czech-born composer Josef Mysliveček was the most prolific and sought-after figure in Italian opera, bound for immortal celebrity. Nearly three centuries later, his name isn’t forgotten to classical music scholars, but neither does it have anything approaching household status; the facts and records of his personal life, meanwhile, have largely been lost to history. Via a blend of free narrative speculation and exacting musical presentation, Petr Vaclav’s stately, sumptuous biopic “Il Boemo” seeks to restore a degree of iconic status to a talent latterly overshadowed by relative 18th-century contemporaries, albeit not with much swagger or modernity of its own: This is costume drama of a traditional, ornately brocaded stripe, a classical music lesson for classicists.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Gianni Amelio’s “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet and playwright Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law, has reached the top spot at Italy’s box office following its launch from the Venice Film Festival. “Ants” on Monday reached the numero uno position at the local box office roster with a €483,474 ($487,000) intake from more than 300 screens following its September 8 release. While far from stellar in normal times, this result is being hailed as an encouraging sign for the country’s still sagging post-pandemic theatrical sector. Amelio’s film is now ahead of Japanese anime pic “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo,” which was released as an event on Monday for a three day run, and “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which is at the end of its run, following it’s Aug. 18 Italian outing.

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power star Cynthia Addai-Robinson has responded to racist abuse levelled at the series and its cast.The show and its actors have condemned “the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse” levelled at the series’ actors in recent days in regards to its diverse cast.Speaking to NME about her role as Queen Regent Míriel in the Amazon Prime Video show, Addai-Robinson addressed the trolls who have been “review-bombing” the series and targeting the show’s POC actors.“I would engage a healthy debate on a topic that I felt was coming from a place of respect and intelligence,” she said.“I do not engage with that other thing; that toxic thing. And in fact, I would never consider them to be fans.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic God’s thumbs! Leave it to “Girls” creator Lena Dunham to deliver what’s been missing from the field of princess movies all these years: namely, permission for young women to be themselves, regardless of what their parents or the patriarchy might think. In many ways, movies — and YA movies in particular — double as a kind of socializing tool, encouraging audiences to be independent thinkers (on their surface) while in fact giving them the keys for conformity: Follow the rules, respect your elders, marry the right guy, and you’ll be rewarded with your happily ever after, they say. But that’s not independence; that’s indoctrination. Adapted from Katherine Cushman’s 1994 novel, “Catherine Called Birdy” is a genially impertinent feature-length celebration of not always doing what you’re told. Set in 1290, at a time of infrequent baths and early-40s life expectancy, Dunham’s comedic take follows the creative schemes 14-year-Lady Catherine (Bella Ramsey) devises to avoid being married off by her father, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), to the first scraggly beard that comes along. “Your villagers are allowed to marry where they will, but your daughter is sold like a cheese for your profit!” she scoffs in the book. Here, she’s got even more attitude, a 21st-century spirit trapped in a girl’s body.

With Italy not being a nation typically associated with progressive views and attitudes regarding sexuality, it was reassuring to hear the largely local crowd at the “Lord of the Ants” press screening of the Venice Film Festival laugh at the preposterous words of an ultra-religious woman on screen talking about how she “cured” her son from homosexuality by sending him to a saint. Whether the scene was intended to provoke that reaction is another story.

Finding The One. Billie Lourd and Austen Rydell have preferred to keep details about their romance on the down low — but they have still offered glimpses at their road to happily ever after over the years.

EXCLUSIVE: Pen15 co-creator and star Anna Konkle has been tapped as the lead in Amazon Freevee’s Western, a half-hour period comedy pilot from Sony Pictures Television, Amazon Studios and Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Sony TV-based Lord Miller.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Billie Lourd, Colin Hanks and Aisling Bea have boarded the transatlantic comedy “And Mrs,” which is set to start shooting in east London this fall. The British feature centers on Gemma, a woman living in London (Bea) whose American fiancé Nathan (Hanks) dies shortly before their wedding day. When, with some encouragement from her sister-in-law, she decides to go ahead and marry him anyway, she has to overcome public opinion, the law of the land and even her own family’s objections. Bea is best known for “This Way Up,” “Living With Yourself” and “Doctor Who,” and will soon be headlining the much-anticipated film based on the songs of Take That, “Greatest Day.”

Billie Lourd is pregnant with her second child. The Scream Queens actress put her growing baby bump on display as she posed for photographers at the Ticket to Paradise premiere in London on Wednesday night. Billie, who attended the event alongside her husband Austen Rydell, walked the green carpet in a formfitting pink sequin dress with tulle sleeves.

Baby on board — again! Billie Lourd is pregnant with her second child, debuting her baby bump at the red carpet premiere of her movie Ticket to Paradise.

Billie Lourd is pregnant, and she’s revealing the news on the red carpet!

Billie Lourd is going to be a mom of two! On Wednesday, the 30-year-old actress debuted her baby bump at the world premiere of her upcoming flick, , in London, England.Lourd, wearing a sequin pink dress with tulle sleeves, was glowing as she posed for pics at the event. The actress cradled her baby bump in several shots, and smiled next to her suit-clad husband, Austen Rydell, in others.ET has reached out to Lourd's rep for comment.Lourd and Rydell, who've been romantically linked on-and-off since 2015, announced their engagement in June 2020. They welcomed their first child, Kingston, in September 2020. In a January 2021 interview with SiriusXM’s Bruce Bozzi for , Lourd praised Rydell as both a partner and a father.«Now we know each other better than anybody could ever know each other… We just became even closer friends, even better partners.

Myrmecology is a study of science that looks at the life, society, and hierarchy of Ants. Early Myrmecologists believed that Ant culture was utopian and thought by studying them in encased Ant farms, they could find solutions to human problems. However, in Gianni Amelio’s Italian post-WWII drama, The Lord of the Ants (Il Signore Delle Formiche), flips this idea around. It examines why strict societies foster cultures of oppression where everyone must play their role or be punished. The screenplay by Amelio, Federico Fava, and Edoardo Petti chooses its dialogue with precision. They want us to know they resent post-Mussolini Europe and how not just homosexuals but anyone on the margins is oppressed under fascist rule. 

Nick Cannon was joined by a pregnant Brittany Bell and their two children for an overseas vacation. On Tuesday, the 41-year-old entertainer shared a series of pictures featuring himself, the model and their kids enjoying their time in Guam.