Luigi Maria Burruano Movies

A Serbian smuggler living in Trieste, Italy, and specializing in knock-off brand cigarettes makes the fateful decision to accept a larger-than-usual shipment in director Nora Hoppe's slow-burning study of human trafficking and immigration. On days when the rolling fog provides him with enough cover to set out to sea undetected, small-time cigarette smuggler Todor readies his boat and collects his cargo. The shipments are generally small, but provide enough income for Todor to comfortably exist outside of the law. One day, Todor reluctantly accepts a substantially larger cargo than usual and gets curious enough to open the crate. Inside, he finds something that he never expected: a drugged and wounded woman who has obviously fallen prey to some very nasty people. Incredibly moved by the sight of the beautiful and defenseless woman, Todor boldly fills the crate with rocks, ships the crate to his client, and does his best to tend to the ailing woman's wounds. Though at first the woman is frightened of Todor, she gradually comes to realize that he means her no harm. Later, Todor procures the woman's passport and asks her to run away with him. Unfortunately for both of them, Todor's clients are less than pleased to discover that they have been duped and soon come looking to settle the score. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Italian filmmaking team of Daniele Cipri and Franco Maresco is responsible for the satirical comedy Return of Cagliostro, set in Palermo during the late '40s. Luigi Maria Burruano and Franco Scaldati play a pair of brothers who decide to start up a film production company called Trinacria Films with money from corrupt politicians and religious leaders. The brothers don't know much about filmmaking, so they decide to do a remake of a popular adventure film about a magician named Cagliostro. They get American star Erroll Douglas (Robert Englund, also known as Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street) to play the lead role. With an incompetent director (Pietro Giordano) and serious language barriers, the film's production results in catastrophe. Return of Cagliostro was shown in the Upstream program of the 2003 Venice Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Two women on the run from the law soon find they have more than the cops to contend with in this feminist thriller from Italy. Eleonora (Mariella Valentini) learns that her daughter Lenni (Regina Orioli), a teenage runaway, is working at a run-down gas station in a small town, and decides to pay her a visit. Eleonora is quite surprised to discover that Lenni also happens to be involved in a lesbian relationship with Stella (Maya Sansa), a mechanic who runs the station. While glad to see her daughter, Eleonora makes no secret of her indignation, and after a heated argument Eleonora winds up dead. Lenni and Stella set out to find a safe place to hide the body, but, en route, they're trailed by three sexist toughs (Chiara Conti, Marco Quaglia, and Pietro Ragusa) whose childish taunting escalates into violence, forcing the women to fight fire with fire. As if they didn't have enough problems, Lenni and Stella must also contend with the spirit of Eleonora, who, even in death, will not keep her uncharitable opinions to herself. Benzina made its North American premier at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Gianfranco Cabiddu directed this mockumentary on the life and loves of fictional Italian folk hero Tullio Saba (Fausto Siddi) -- miner, wedding singer, anti-fascist, unionist, and politician. Based on the book by Sergio Adtzeni, the faux documentary employed many non-professionals to portray Tullio's family, friends, and opponents. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Rotterdam), the English language title of this film is The Son of Bakunin. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This Italian film was released in 1995 and slowly made its way around the world; its English title is The Star Maker. Like the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso by the same writer-director, Guiseppe Tornatore, it's drenched in the filmmaker's love for cinema. In Sicily in the early 1950s, Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a con man who travels by truck from village to village posing as a film company representative. For a fee, he offers the rubes screen tests, using passages from a script of Gone with the Wind and encouraging their hopes with lines such as "Success awaits you!" Morelli's camera brings out people's hidden sides, including a soldier's war trauma, a woman's protests at being accused of prostitution, and a policeman who recites poetry. Begging for a chance at the stardom Morelli purportedly offers, Beata (Tiziana Lodato) asks Morelli to take her with him. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

The real-life tragedies wrought by organized crime are mirrored in this fast-paced, suspense-filled action thriller by Damiano Damiani about Mario (Michele Placido), a young man from a Sicilian family who runs a pizza place in Brooklyn. All seems normal until Mario is called to Palermo by the Mafia, and his role as a hitman is revealed. On the way to his assassination job, Mario stops by his impoverished family's home and cunningly tries to manipulate his brother Michele (Mark Chase) into joining him. Unlike Mario, Mark has an extreme aversion to killing anything, not even the colt in a field that his brother wants him to "practice" on. But the love of Michele's young life, Cecilia (Simona Cavallario), a 14-year-old teen forced into prostitution by her mother, needs to be saved from her degrading existence -- and so Michele is vulnerable to making some quick cash against his better judgment. The results of his decision and Mario's hit are not the standard gore and violence otherwise seen in action thrillers, but a more human and humane look at the real effects of murder on the innocent, and the not so innocent. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi