Gigio Alberti Movies

Ernesto (Sergio Castellitto of Va Savoir) is a successful artist and devout atheist who finds out that his mother, whom he despised, is being considered for sainthood. Ernesto's young son, Leonardo (Alberto Mondini), influenced by his religion teacher, has developed a fear of God, whom he tries to shoo away like a pest. "If He's everywhere," Leonardo reasons, "then I'm not free -- even for a second." Ernesto's estranged wife, Irene (Jacqueline Lustig), encourages Leonardo's faith, and seems to be on the side of Ernesto's family, who are greedily clamoring to get Ernesto to participate in the canonization process. His mentally unstable brother, Egidio (Donato Placido), who will speak only to Ernesto, murdered their mother years earlier, and holds the key to her beatification. At a party, Ernesto insults a deranged monarchist, Conte Bulla (Toni Bertorelli), who then challenges him to a duel. Ernesto goes to complain to Leonardo's religion teacher, expecting to find an ugly old woman, and instead finds Diana (Chiara Conti), an impossibly beautiful young woman who admires his work. Ernesto meets the Cardinal (Maurizio Donadoni), and tells the man that his mother was "stupid" and "had no passion." "Loving someone is the best way to declare my atheism," he declares. But as he gets caught up in all the intrigue, Ernesto recognizes a connection to his hated mother that he cannot escape; he has the same mocking smile. Marco Bellocchio's My Mother's Smile was shown at the 2002 New York Film Festival and at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a Special Mention for the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

From the comedic trio Gialappa's Band comes this high concept wacky caper flick. The Band's popular Italian television show Never Say Goal consists of a Mystery Science Theater 3000-like narration over sports footage and trashy TV shows; in this film, they do basically the same thing, narrating over a plot about an insane yuppie entrepeneur who performs a sadistic test on members of the public at large. Leone Stella (Arnoldo Foa) (aka Leo Star) runs the wildly successful computer company Totem Arts. Structured around a video game based on Stella's adventures in California during the 1960s, the test places contestants, all of whom are named Stella or Star, in a harrowing race against the clock where they must smuggle marijuana across the border, kiss strangers, and defuse a bomb. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Darker undertones infiltrate this lightweight Italian romantic comedy, as a troubled young man's fancy turns to obsession and jealousy. While most of his friends are eagerly preparing to graduate from high school, Matteo realizes that his poor grades are going to hold him back unless he can devise a plan to radically alter his records. His buddy Piterone has the same problem. Matteo's depression lifts when he meets the free-spirited, slightly older artist Margherita and falls in love. She seems to return his affection, and the youth eagerly moves into her studio apartment. At first Matteo is happy, but as time passes, he begins discovering small signs around the place that imply that his beloved has not only had an active past love-life, but that she may also be cheating on him. The more things he finds, the more suspicious Matteo becomes, and when suspicion becomes paranoid obsession, his relationship with Margherita begins to crumble. At the same time, Matteo and Pietrone attempt a desperate ploy to change their grades, an action that brings the story to its climax. The feature-film debut of documentary and television director Gabriele Muccino, Ecco Fatto competed in the 1998 Turin Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

No linking device is used in this Italian anthology film in which five untitled episodes offer a portrait of life in Rome: A businessman sees a prostitute before going home to his wife; a film-extra goes to a movie theater to see himself but falls asleep before his 15 seconds of fame; a farmhand turns the tables on an East European bully; after a tryst, a woman foresees the death of her lover; and a hitman finds the mob is checking up on him. Shown at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The English title of this complex Italian film is apt. Featuring 65 main characters and 130 speaking parts (famous faces abound and many of the actors appeared gratis), and ranging in tone from tartly humorous to darkly tragic, it presents 30 interwoven slices from the lives of modern day Romans during a single day. The lone, silent figure of a lone jogger provides a sort of continuity between the vignettes. Beginning at sunset of the previous day, the jogger is seen warming up on his apartment terrace, looking for all the world as if he would like to jump. The rest of the stories seem to be randomly presented. Stories include the robbery of a Chinese restaurant that causes a birthday celebrant to die of fright, two different newlyweds who find themselves attracted to each other, an opportunistic mechanic's plan to capitalize on the death of a rival, a sneaky, sadistic meter maid and others. One uniting feature of the stories is their underlying bitter assessment of modern humanity. People are seen as selfish and basically cruel, still the stories move quickly and the balance between humor and drama, affection and cynicism, and shallowness and complexity is carefully maintained. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

How bad can political corruption get? Try this on for size: the four men in this story had already lost their jobs when an earthquake hit their part of Sicily and destroyed their houses. The government promised them money to rebuild with, but all of it went into the pockets of a local politician who was so greedy that they haven't seen a single lira of relief money. Now it is election time, and they are expected to stand idly by once again while that same local politician routinely replaces every honest ballot with special ones made out for him and his cronies. This time, the homeless men have had enough. They storm a local polling place in a school and demand jobs and housing. Normally, the local carabineri, who owe their jobs to the politician, would have stormed in and gunned them down, but the protesters have inadvertently trapped the politician's daughter in with them. While the authorities try to figure out what to do, word of this protest spreads through the community, and soon similar protests are taking place at other polling places. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The system established early in the days of the Roman Empire (whereby those who have a powerful patron prosper and no one without a patron can get anywhere) still exists in present-day Italy. Today, this system is given many pejorative labels and is classified as a form of corruption when it intrudes into the political process. In this satire, a schoolteacher (Silvio Orlandi) takes on an extra job as a way of paying for expensive repairs on his ancient home. His sideline job is as a ghostwriter for a political column supposedly written by a representative of a bizarre political party. As a result of this slight involvement, he becomes the favored darling of a series of political bigwigs and is increasingly embroiled in the schemes and rivalries of national politics. While his ethical life is being compromised, the politicians have arranged to have his home declared a national landmark, eligible for government funds for rebuilding, and his material circumstances have improved enormously. When he finally tries to set things right, he soon discovers that the system is rigged against honesty. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

When Teresa (Cristina Marsillach), an old school chum from ten years before, shows up at his house, Marco (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) lets her in. She wants him to help her get hold of $20,000 to pay off a Moroccan judge to get her boyfriend Rudy (another old school chum) out of jail. Somehow, this story plays on his heartstrings, and instead of kicking her out, he contacts other old chums from the period. The whole gang reunites with Teresa and Marco, at first revealing, then shedding their grown-up identities. After raising the money, they all travel to Morocco to spring their comrade. Along the way, they smoke a lot of dope and relive old times. When Teresa apparently runs off with the money (and Rudy), they get hold of some bicycles and try and track them down. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi