and Movies
With English subtitles:
Il Postino - 1995, Michael Radford -Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi), the mailman on an Italian island, pines from afar for a beautiful waitress. When exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret) comes to live on the island, Ruoppolo delivers Neruda's mail and picks up lessons on love, life and poetry. With director Michael Radford's commentary, a featurette about the real-life Neruda and more, Il Postino is a sun-splashed romantic comedy.
Family Flaw - 2002, Alberto Simone - Two estranged brothers are reunited in this heartwarming comedy set in southern Italy. Forty years after his brother Francesco came out of the closet, disapproving Nicolo must confront his sibling amid the chaos of his mother's funeral and his daughter's wedding. The brothers embark on a road trip to bury their mother in their hometown, and along the way, family secrets are revealed and bonds rekindled. Nino Manfredi and Lino Banfi star.
Bread and Tulips - 2000, Silvio Soldini - A cosseted, unhappy housewife (Licia Maglietta) taken for granted by her philandering, self-centered husband (Antonio Catania) finds bella fortuna when she hitchhikes to Venice and starts to construct a new life for herself. Blossoming with her newfound independence, the woman begins a tentative relationship with a lonely, suicidal waiter (Bruno Ganz) that bodes well for both of them.
Life is Beautiful - 1997, Roberto Benigni- In this poignant tragicomedy, a clever Jewish Italian waiter named Guido (Roberto Benigni, who also directs and won an Oscar for his role) is sent to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, along with his wife (Nicoletta Braschi) and their young son (Giorgio Cantarini). Refusing to give up hope, Guido tries to protect his son's innocence by pretending that their imprisonment is an elaborate game, with the grand prize being a tank.
Tiger in the Snow - 2005, Roberto Benigni - Italian actor-director Roberto Benigni stars as a romantic poet who vows to follow his love (Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi) to the ends of the earth -- even if that means going to Iraq at the dawn of the American invasion. Borrowing a bit from the plot of Benigni's Oscar-winning film Life Is Beautiful, this whimsical comedy presents a world in which all camps are absurd. French actor Jean Reno co-stars.
Ciao, Professore! - 1993, Lina Wertmuller - In this winsome Lina Wermuller-directed comedy, Marco Sperelli (Paolo Villagio), a priggish upper-class teacher from northern Italy, is assigned to teach a group of street-smart southern Italian village kids. But there's a problem: First, he'll have to find them and bring them to school. Before long, the tables are turned and the teacher becomes the pupil as he learns about the children's hard-knocks lives.
Cinema Paradiso - 1988, Giuseppe Tornatore - A Sicilian boy named Salvatore (played by Salvatore Cascio and Marco Leonardi) is mesmerized by the American movies shown at the local theater and befriends Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), the gruff but warmhearted projectionist. Mentored by Alfredo, the boy grows up to become a famous movie producer -- but never forgets his roots. Tremendously affecting on nearly every level, Cinema Paradiso won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Malena - 2000, Giuseppe Tornatore, When 12-year-old Renato catches a glimpse of beautiful new bride Malèna (Monica Bellucci), his heart skips a beat. But when jealous town busybodies begin spreading vile rumors about Malèna, Renato must incorporate those falsehoods with what he knows to be true. A coming-of-age story set in Sicily during World War II, Malèna exposes the effect waggish gossip can have.
Best of Youth - 2003, Marco Tullio Giordana - This sprawling Italian drama sweeps from the '60s to the 21st century, tracking the journey of two brothers, Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and Matteo (Alessio Boni). The two take different paths: After traveling, Nicola becomes a successful psychiatrist, while Matteo becomes a policeman intent on catching criminals. Their politics diverge as well, straining the family bond. Originally aired as a miniseries on Italian television.
Mediterraneo - 1991, Gabriele Salvatores -With a sun-burnished Aegean isle as a backdrop, this breezy, escapist comedy (which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) follows eight misfit Italian soldiers dispatched to defend the remote island during World War II. Next thing you know, the garrison ends up stranded on the seemingly deserted paradise. When the men discover the island's many charms -- including its preponderantly female population -- their fighting spirit melts away.
Facing Windows - 2004, Ferzan Ozpetek - Feeling overwhelmed and stuck in a dull marriage, Giovanna begins refocusing her attention (or repressing her emotions) by caring for the Jewish Holocaust survivor her husband brings home one day. As Giovanna reflects on her life, she turns to the man who lives across from her and whose window faces hers.
The Bicycle Thief - 1948, Vittorio de Sica - Widely considered a landmark Italian film, Vittorio De Sica's tale of a man who relies on his bicycle to do his job during Rome's post-World War II depression earned a special Oscar for its devastating power. The same day Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) gets his vehicle back from the pawnshop, someone steals it, prompting him to search the city in vain with his young son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola). Increasingly, he confronts a looming desperation.
Open City - 1945, Roberto Rossellini - Director Roberto Rossellini's unsettling drama portrays the harrowing struggle of everyday women and children as they try to shield resistance forces from the Nazis and to maintain compassion and self-respect despite Rome's de facto occupation during World War II's waning days. Rossellini's landmark film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, brilliantly depicts the Italian people's weary despair and collective resolve.
Divorce Italian Style - 1961, Pietro Germi - Marcello Mastroianni stars as Ferdinando, a self-centered Sicilian nobleman who's facing a midlife crisis and has lost all romantic interest in his wife. But there's no divorce in 1960s Italy, so Ferdinando devises an elaborate scheme for another man to seduce his wife -- which would, under Italian law, allow him to kill her with impunity in defense of his honor. Highlights include the fantasy murders Ferdinando imagines as he pursues his goal.
I'm Not Scared - 2003, Gabriele Salvatores - Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano), a 10-year-old boy growing up in a southern Italian village, discovers another youngster, Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), chained up inside a small hole dug in the yard of an abandoned house. Michele soon learns from watching the news that the boy has been kidnapped … and things take an even darker turn when he realizes his own parents may be involved.
1900 - 1977, Bernardo Bertolucci - Bernardo Bertolucci's epic tale follows the lives of two Italian men -- a peasant (Gerard Depardieu) and a landowner (Robert De Niro) -- both born on Jan. 1, 1900. Friends as children, the two become estranged as their differing social status pulls them apart. Their personal conflicts mirror the political events in Italy, as both fascism and socialism gain footholds in the country. Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland and Burt Lancaster co-star.
Umberto D - 1952, Vittorio De Sica - Bankrupt and lonely, an old man (Carlo Battisti) considers committing suicide. Since he has only a devoted dog and a maid (Lina Genneri) as his companions, things look bleak -- until one day when the old man's luck changes, giving him new hope. Director Vittorio De Sica's touching portrait of one man's effort to retain his pride in the face of adversity is a treasure of Italian post-war cinema.
The Night of the Shooting Stars - 1982, Paolo Taviani - Concetta (Maria Lozano) narrates a heartfelt story that begins during the closing days of World War II, as retreating Nazi troops take revenge on the old men women and children who remain in the towns and villages of Italy. The people of Concetta's town, San Minato, must decide whether to stay and possibly be butchered by the Nazis, or leave the area to seek the safety Allied troops can provide. A wonderfully resonant film.
A Brief Vacation - 1973, Vittoria De Sica - Good things come to those who wait ... or to those who travel far. That's according to this romantic movie about Clara Mataro (Florinda Bolkan), a factory worker who recuperates in the mountains under doctor's orders and soon realizes there's more to life and love than her neglectful husband (Renato Salvatori) and his critical family.
Caterina in the Big City - 2003, Paolo Verzi - Twelve-year-old Caterina (Alice Teghil) faces new vistas when her father (Sergio Castellitto) is transferred to Rome. She has new classmates to win over in an environment that's a far cry from the bucolic existence of her small country hometown. Amidst the tumult, Caterina could easily lose her sense of self … if not for an extraordinary Australian boy (Zach Wallen) who lives in the apartment building across the way.
The Swindle - 1955, Federico Fellini - Augusto (Broderick Crawford), Picasso (Richard Basehart) and Roberto (Franco Fabrizi) are a trio of con artists who victimize poor Italians in this classic Fellini film. Aging con man Augusto works to avoid personal entanglements and seeks the good life. When he runs into his daughter, whom he rarely sees, he realizes that she's in need of his help to continue her studies. But a swindle gone awry leaves Augusto beaten, robbed and alone.
Seven Beauties - 1975, Lina Wertmuller - In World War II Italy, a second-rate pimp (and gangster wanna-be) with seven sisters lands in a German concentration camp. He encounters the ultimate test of his way with the ladies: a brutal female commandant he must seduce in order to live. At once hilarious and horrifying, this study of survival received Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Foreign Film and Director (Lina Wertmueller, the first woman ever nominated for directing a feature).
Seduced and Abandoned - 1964, Pietro Germi - When his 16-year-old daughter (Stefania Sandrelli) is seduced -- and impregnated -- by her sister's flirtatious fiancé, Peppino (Aldo Puglisi), the enraged Don Vincenzo (Saro Urzi) sets out to salvage his family's honor. But when Peppino runs away, Vincenzo promptly sends his son (Lando Buzzanca) on an errand to kill him. Pietro Germi directs this outrageously comic follow-up to his internationally successful Divorce Italian Style (1961).
Rocco and His Brothers - 1960, Luchino Visconti - This award-winning drama by director Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice) is an epic tale of how lust, greed and jealousy can rip apart even the closest of families. Famed French actor Alain Delon portrays Rocco, an introspective dreamer whose hope of fortune in Milan turns into a tragedy of sibling rivalry. Rocco and his brothers must battle their own conflicting passions as a bitter family feud ultimately leads to murder.
Mamma Roma - 2003, Pier Paolo Pasolini - Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) is an Italian call girl who's hoping to get out of her current vocation in order to spend more time with her son and create a better life for herself. Things don't go as planned, though, as her pimp and previous customers keep resurfacing, making it nearly impossible for her to leave the past behind. She goes back to hooking, until she learns that her son (Ettore Garofalo) has been arrested for robbery.
La Dolce Vita - 1960, Federico Fellini - Federico Fellini's lush and intoxicating masterpiece, La Dolce Vita, is a meditation on the meaning of life and love and stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello, a gossip writer who seeks the fleeting excesses and decadence of life and sex. He sleeps with the beautiful Maddalena (Anouk Aimee), alienating and driving his lover, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), to attempt suicide. When he meets an elusive actress, Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), he dives deep into the abyss.
Mid-August Lunch, Pranzo di Ferragosto - 2009, Gianni Di Gregorio - Gianni, in his 50s, lives with his elderly mother and has money worries. One day in August, the administrator who takes care of the bills for their apartment building agrees to cancel his debt if he will look after his mother for a few days while he goes away with his family. Reluctantly Gianni agrees, and then finds himself with not one but three elderly and demanding guests to look after in their small apartment. Anyone with a typical Nonna will sympathize with Gianni’s plight as he tries to keep all the ladies comfortable, happy and well fed, with only a bottle of wine for support.
And others in English:
Much Ado About Nothing - 1993, Kenneth Branagh - Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson star as Benedick and Beatrice, two marriage-phobic rivals in Florence, Italy, in a lively plot involving complications, pranks and peerless wordplay. This must be Shakespeare! Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) try to hook up the two B's despite tenacious resistance. Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves round out a cast that cavorts amid sumptuous Tuscan scenery.
For Roseanna - 1997, Paul Weiland with Jean Reno - When loving hubby Marcello (Jean Reno) learns that his wife, Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl), has scant weeks to live, he's determined to fulfill her last wish: to be interred beside her dead daughter. Trouble is, the local boneyard has only three vacant plots, which are first come, first served. While Roseanna plays matchmaker for the soon-to-be-widowed Marcello, he tries frantically to keep the other townsfolk safe and sound in this romantic comedy.
My Voyage to Italy - 1999, Martin Scorsese - Director Martin Scorsese acquired his love for film as the son of Italian immigrants who watched movie after movie as a child in New York City. As host of this special documentary, Scorsese provides a glimpse into his personal affection for Italian films, with favorite clips and thoughts on the careers of many Italian stars.
Under the Tuscan Sun - 2003, Audrey Wells - In this movie loosely based on Frances Mayes's best-selling memoir of the same title, Diane Lane stars as Frances, a newly divorced American writer who heads for the Italian region of Tuscany to make limonita out of life's lemons. Having just quit her high-pressure job and ended her heartbreaking marriage, she buys a decrepit-but-charming house in Cortona on impulse, rebuilding it piece by piece -- and herself along with it.
Stealing Beauty - 1996, Bernardo Bertolucci - After four years, Lucy Harmon (Liv Tyler) returns to the artist's colony in Tuscany where her recently deceased mother was once the resident poet. Although she has returned to learn more about the past (and find love as well), she does not anticipate the revelations and relationships that await her in the pastoral paradise.
Tea With Mussolini - 1999, Franco Zeffirelli - Based on director Franco Zeffirelli's childhood in 1930s Italy, this film follows a group of Englishwomen living in Italy who believe that fascist leader Benito Mussolini will protect them from war's gathering storm clouds. When a boy's mother dies, Mary (Joan Plowwright), Arabella (Judi Dench), Lady Hester (Maggie Smith), Elsa (Cher) and Georgie (Lily Tomlin) will do anything they must to protect the child and preserve their way of life.
The English Patient - 1996, Anthony Minghella - Adapted from Michael Ondaatje's acclaimed novel set against the backdrop of World War II, Anthony Mingehlla's Oscar-winning drama stars Ralph Fiennes as a horribly burned pilot who recounts a tale of doomed romance to the nurse tending him (Juliette Binoche). As his story is revealed via flashback, so too are secrets about his identity and the depth of his passion for the woman he loved (Kristin Scott Thomas). Willem Dafoe co-stars.
A Good Woman - 2004, Mike Barker - What does a good woman have if not a good reputation? While seductress Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) takes up with rich aristocrat Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers), his young, fragile bride, Meg (Scarlett Johansson), is pursued by the caddish Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) -- setting all tongues wagging. Director Mike Barker's adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play is set in 1930 on Italy's sparkling Amalfi Coast and co-stars Tom Wilkinson.
The Merchant of Venice - 2004, Michael Radford - William Shakespeare's incendiary drama about passion and justice amid an anti-Semitic atmosphere hits the screen again in this lush production starring Al Pacino. Lacking money to woo an heiress (Lynn Collins), smitten Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) turns to his merchant friend, Antonio (Jeremy Irons), whose cash is tied up. But he secures a loan from Shylock (Pacino) on condition that if Antonio defaults, he'll pay with a pound of flesh -- literally.
Dangerous Beauty - 1998, Marshall Herskovitz - Prevented from marrying her nobleman lover (Rufus Sewell) because of her commoner status, real-life historical heroine Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) is left with two choices: join a convent or become a courtesan. Following in mother's (Jacqueline Bisset) footsteps, she chooses the latter. Set in 16th-century Venice, this biographical drama follows Franco as she rises to power and fearlessly fights off accusations of witchcraft.
Room with a View - 1986, James Ivory - On a trip to Italy, prim aristocrat Lucy Honeychurch (Elaine Cassidy) steals a kiss from a handsome commoner (Rafe Spall) but pays a heavy emotional price when she sees him again in stuffy Edwardian England in this spirited adaptation of E.M. Forster's classic novel. The talented cast includes Elizabeth McGovern as Lucy's mother, Timothy Spall as the socialist Mr. Emerson and Sinéad Cusack as the flamboyant Miss Lavish.
Roman Holiday - 1953, William Wyler - Audrey Hepburn (in an Oscar-winning performance) stars as a cosseted European princess who goes AWOL in Rome and is soon taken under the wing of tabloid journalist Gregory Peck and his photographer sidekick Eddie Albert. She thinks the boys don't suspect who she really is … but they're clued in and sense a sensational story if they can just keep Audrey's handlers from retrieving her too soon. The essence of 1950s chic.
Big Night - 1996, Stanley Tucci - Despite having a talented chef and outstanding cuisine, an Italian restaurant run by two brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. It's then they learn a huge star will visit their bistro for a multicourse meal. With everything to lose, the brothers pull out all the stops hoping the "big night" will save their trattoria.
Golden Door - 2007, Emanuele Crialese - In this elegiac immigrant's tale from director Emanuele Crialese, Sicilian widower Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) leaves behind everything he knows to pursue a better life in America at the dawn of the 20th century. With his sons in tow, Salvatore survives the harrowing Atlantic crossing only to suffer more hardship and humiliation on Ellis Island. But along the way, he finds romance with a mysterious Englishwoman (Charlotte Gainsbourg).
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