Massimo Ghini Movies

Directed by Neri Parenti, Christmas in Miami stars Massimo Boldi as Ranuccio and Christian De Sica as Giorgio, friends whose wives have left them just before the titular holiday. The two head for sunny Miami in order to get away from their problems, and soon are involved in a number of sexual escapades. Giorgio must contend with the provocations of his daughter's underage friend, while Ranuccio embarrasses his son (Francesco Mandelli) who is himself attempting to score with the local ladies. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A woman left alone by the death of her husband finds her love life has become suddenly and dangerously complicated in this drama. Mary Panton (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a British woman living in Italy in 1938 who has been financially ruined by the death of her husband. Edgar (James Fox), an aging diplomat, asks Mary for her hand in marriage, and while she doesn't love him, she longs for the security of a husband and asks for a few days to consider the proposal. The next evening, Mary is invited to a party by an American socialite known as the Princess (Anne Bancroft); there, Mary meets Rowley Flint (Sean Penn), a rough-hewn and cocky American who is intrigued by her. Mary also feels drawn to Rowley, but their personalities clash, and they end the evening in an argument. Mary impulsively spends the night with Karl (Jeremy Davies), a young musician who played at the party. In the cold light of day, Mary decides that her fling with Karl is best left as a one-night stand, but Karl insists that he's fallen in love with her, and he melodramatically kills himself. Mary, desperate, calls upon Rowley to help her hide the body; he agrees, and soon they are both being questioned by local fascist leader Leopardi (Massimo Ghini) about Karl's disappearance. Up at the Villa was adapted from a novella by W. Somerset Maugham. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based in part on his autobiography, director Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini is a drama with comic accents about a group of British and American travelers on an indefinite visit to Italy in 1935, when, as one character puts it, "Mussolini was just a man who made the trains run on time." Luca (played by Charlie Lucas) is a boy living in Florence whose family situation is precarious at best; his mother has died and his father has little time for him. Fortunately, he's a welcome guest with Mary (Joan Plowright), a English woman visiting Italy to soak up European culture. Mary and her friends -- high-toned Lady Hester (Maggie Smith), pretentious Arabella (Judi Dench), American art collector Elsa (Cher) and cheerful lesbian Georgie (Lily Tomlin) -- enjoy the cultured, creative atmosphere of life in Italy, and their initial response to the rise of fascism is to arrange a polite meeting with Mussolini to make sure he and his soldiers mean well. After some time, Luca's father becomes concerned that the boy is soaking up too much British influence and enrolls him in a boarding school in Austria; by the time 1940 rolls around, situations have changed radically for everyone. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Alessandro D'Alatri directed this Italian drama about Jesus Christ, covering his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, an 18-year span not chronicled in the Bible. The film uses names of the period instead of names given in the Bible. The adult Jeoshua (Kim Rossi Stuart) reflects on past events -- his journey into the desert, baptism, acceptance into the Essenes' community, Jewish life in Galilee, his yeshiva studies, education from his father Josef (Omar Chenbod), and his spiritual growth. After seeing slavery, crucifixions, the stoning of an adulteress, and brutal Roman soldiers, Jeoshua turns to God for answers, leaves the village, and is betrayed by his friend Aziz (Said Taghmaoui), who leaves him to die in the desert. Issues such as carnality bring Jeoshua in conflict with the Essenes, yet he speaks out on behalf of the Essene David (popular Italian singer Lorenzo Cherubini). Journeying forth once more, Jeoshua rejoins his cousin Jochannan (Boris Terral), later known as John the Baptist, who recognizes Jeoshua's link to God. Shot in the Moroccan desert by lenser Federico Masiero, the film combines chants, vocals, and Middle Eastern-styled music by Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Three foolish Italian hunters head into the Yugoslavian wilderness for a vacation. Unfortunately, their timing is terrible and the trio end up trapped by the dawn of the war that would tear the country apart. This fact-based actioner tells their terrifying and horrific tale. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In 1945, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini released the daring Rome, Open City, a film that sharply criticized the Nazis and became a cornerstone of the Italian Neorealist movement. This Italian drama tells the fascinating true story of the film's genesis. Originally Rossellini and his screenwriter wanted the film to chronicle and comment upon the Nazi occupation of Rome. After finding a suitable cast they began making the film and then showed a few rushes to outspoken producer Pepino Amato who was so upset by the radical message that he walked out, taking his financial backing with him. Fortunately, the director manages to find backing from an enigmatic countess. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The lives of four middle-aged gay men are chronicled in this bittersweet Italian drama. The men are the cynical Dado, who tries to come to grips with his expanding waistline, receding hairline and the thought of spending the rest of his life alone; the catty Tony, a shirt designer who is still too bonded in a complex relationship with his overbearing mother, Sandro, a film producer who only recently came out of the closet after years of feigning heterosexuality, and Vittorio, a heartbroken architect trying to cope with the fact that his beloved went out and married a woman. Their stories are told as brief vignettes and chronicle a six-month period. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this Italian drama the lives of three people are turned upside down when a depressive young man attacks a young woman who was unaware of his fixation upon her. Saverio suffers from unrequited love of Gina, a post office clerk. Though intelligent, sensitive, Saverio's depressive tendencies make it impossible for him to repress his inner feelings. Gina has no idea that Saverio has feeling for her; she doesn't even know who he is. She and her baby live with Riccardo. Gina keeps receiving mysterious love letters, flowers, and gifts; she hides these from Riccardo. He discovers them and begins to distrust her. After Saverio becomes bolder, the two successfully trace his phone number. Grudgingly, Riccardo and Gina decide to help the young man. Gina meets with Saverio's eccentric mother and Riccardo visits Saverio' doctor. Gina tries to become his friend and helps him get a job. Once she allowed him to kiss her, then had to prevent him from going further. The situation grows more serious when he attacks her in a supermarket. Gina suddenly disappears and the bereft Saverio's life becomes gray and lifeless. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Stefania (Margherita Buy) is having her own troubles with her marriage, and the troubled romance between Marilu (Barbara Jane Ricassa), her Filipina nanny, and a local plumber (Raoul Bova) only highlights her own concerns. Her husband (Massimo Ghini) used to be full of the fire of political convictions, but has lost his belief in much of anything. Perhaps this is an occupational hazard for political journalists, but it doesn't help Stefania much. She has a job dubbing an Argentine soap opera into Italian for television, so if she had to she could set out on her own. Somehow, she and her husband struggle through their difficulties, and are able to smooth the way for Marilu as well. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This detective drama explores the labyrinthine byways of the Sicilian and Italian mind when confronted with ancient family secrets and treasures in the course of a murder investigation. In the story, an eminent diplomat returns unexpectedly to his remote villa near a small Sicilian town to hunt for some correspondence between his family members and the famous Italian historical figures, Pirandello and Garibaldi. While there, he calls the police, but before they can get around to seeing him, he has been killed. After that, every step they make towards solving his murder leads them deeper into complications. The two feuding policemen on the case (Ricky Tognazzi and Ennio Fantastichinni) are forced to call on a professor Gian Maria Volontè) for help in unraveling the tangled threads from the past which connect to the murder. This intricate whodunit is based on a celebrated novella by Leonardo Sciascia). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi