Jose Quaglio Movies

In this provocative, suspenseful drama, a penniless aspiring painter receives an offer he cannot refuse and ultimately finds himself making a devil's bargain. Essentially a variation on "Faust," the tale is set in Rome and begins at an art show. Like the other artists, Nicolas Morgan hopes that the show will bring him success. The mysterious and dapper Bellisle sees his work, realizes that Morgan will do anything for wealth and fame, and offers to help him out. That night Bellisle calls Morgan and demands he witness a teen's fatal leap from a window. The tragedy inspires the artist and the resulting painting makes a splash in the Roman art world. Next, Morgan is at a sporting event and witnesses a terrible accident which he also captures on canvas. More gruesome coincidences occur and each results in a painting. Soon he finds himself the toast of wealthy art patrons. Meanwhile, police detective Marc Lauzon becomes interested in the artist's relationship to the sudden string of tragedies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Even among bombers and murderers, there is a social ladder, a hierarchy to climb. Jeremie is a mere bomber who blows up people and places for mobsters in Paris. He may not look it, scruffy lad that he is, but he is a sensitive fellow, and he feels his lowly status keenly. If only he could graduate to the ranks of hitmen, who are honored in his world, perhaps then he would feel more like somebody. He finally gets his chance when he receives instructions to kill the eminent hitman Max, who knows too much to be left alive. Instead of planning a cool and distant hit, Jeremie gets to know his quarry personally and thereby gets entangled in a mass of conflicting allegiances. Max has one more assignment and has asked Jeremie to help him with it. The hero-worshipping boy can't bring himself to knock of this classy guy. However, just having such an inept apprentice as Jeremie around is enormously dangerous for the soon-to-be-retired killer. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The internationally renowned string quartet had been performing together for most of their adult lives when their lead violinist suddenly died, leaving the remaining three confused about their lives and careers. Up till then, all they had known were the rigors of constant practice and traveling. Music was everything, and they never took the time to sample Life's other pleasures. The trio decide to split up, but then a young violinist shows up and convinces them to reform the group and let him take over. He is one of the most talented players they have ever heard and the quartet once again makes sweet music. But as good as he is on stage, the youth is a wild man off stage who freely smokes dope, sleeps with fans, and parties whenever he can. Seeing that his private life has not affected the brilliance of his playing and even suspecting that it may even improve his playing, the three old players are thrown into personal tail spins as they look back at their own austere life choices. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

When the story begins a young girl who has wandered away from her nanny at a French ski resort is abducted, killed, and buried in the snow. Later, in Venice, the young daughter of Franco (George Lazenby), a popular sculptor, is stalked by a woman in a black veil. Finally, after several near-chances, the girl is grabbed, only to be found later floating in a canal. The police are as arrogant as they are stumped, so Franco, accompanied by his estranged wife, Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg), investigates. As Franco begins uncovering clues, the people he talks to about the case begin to die gruesome deaths. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

The conformist is 1930s Italian Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a coward who has spent his life accommodating others so that he can "belong." Marcello agrees to kill a political refugee, on orders from the Fascist government, even though the victim-to-be is his college mentor. The film is a character study of the kind of person who willingly "conforms" to the ideological fashions of his day. In this case, director Bernardo Bertolucci suggests that Marcello's desire to conform is rooted in his latent homosexuality. In addition to its strong storyline, the film is critically revered for the astonishing production design by Nedo Azzini, which, together with Vittorio Storaro's camerawork, recreates the atmosphere of Fascist Italy with some of the most complex visual compositions ever seen on film, filled with highly stylized uses of angles, shapes, and shadows. The Conformist was cut by five crucial minutes when first released in the US; those missing moments were restored in the 1994 reissue. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi