Maria Monti Movies

This $5 million Italian comedy is based on a novella by Nicolo Ammaniti (from his 1996 collection Mud). With a structure reminiscent of Robert Altman, interweaving events transpire in 12 hours on New Year's Eve as the film explores the lives of dwellers in a suburban Rome apartment complex: Just before her dinner guests are due, a hostess learns her lover has been sleeping with her best friend; a gigolo hired for the night is surprised by soccer players from his hometown; thieves interrupt the S&M session of a dominatrix and a lawyer; a family prepares for a fireworks display; the building's doorkeeper entertains the maintenance staff while her son sniffs glue; and a woman attempting suicide wanders the halls. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Dario (Diego Abantantuono) is a psychologist who is in no hurry to marry his schoolteacher paramour Maria (Lina Sastri) in this romantic comedy. He meets an old friend who married Dario's former sweetheart Anna (Monica Guerritore), and with a picture of his wife and mistress in his hand, the man drops dead. Dario breaks the news to both women, who cling to him in their grief. He ends up in bed with the unbalanced patient Silvia (Domiziana Giordana) before a friendship with the two women turns into a sexual liaison. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Young Betty Pellegrino (Orla Conforti) is a strong-minded 13-year-old, left on her own to deal with life in the poorer districts of an industrialized Turin. Street life alternates with bouts in the reformatory, and Betty's prospects for a decent life seem fairly dim in spite of her consistently ready wit and ability to take whatever life hands out. Then she meets a social worker willing to add Betty to her already heavy case load. Maybe there is some hope after all, as two against the world double Betty's odds. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Bernardo Bertolucci's 255-minute 1900 was a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the resources of three European countries and a trio of American movie studios. Set in the Italian town of Parma, the film's continuity backtracks from Liberation Day in 1945 to the occasion of composer/patriot Giuseppe Verdi's death in 1901. We follow the lives of two men born on that day in 1901, who grow up to be Alfredo Berlinghieti (Robert De Niro) and Olmo Dalco (Gérard Depardieu). Wealthy Alfredo sinks into dissipation, while poverty-stricken Olmo becomes a firebrand labor leader and communist. After WWI, Alfredo is allowed to peacefully retain his land holdings by playing nice with the burgeoning fascists; Olmo, on the other hand, engages in a long-standing battle against the minions of Mussolini. The two protagonists are reunited when Alfredo returns to Parma to preside over Olmo's trial for "political crimes." Co-star Burt Lancaster is cast as Alfredo's wealthy grandfather, who hates to see the old values buried beneath the social travails of the 20th century. Many American prints of 1900 were shortened to 243 minutes, rendering the story hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

For many decades after the Second World War, the Italian economy was so much weaker than that of its European neighbors that many of the "guest workers" in those neighboring states were Italian. This film tells the story of some Italian guest workers in Switzerland and highlights the discrimination they suffered. Pino has raised the money, after two years in Switzerland, to bring his wife and children to live with him outside the Italian ghetto. When he brings her brother to live with them, an international crisis develops. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi