Enzo Cannavale Movies

Directed by Marcello Cesena, Mari del Sud (Our Tropical Island) follows a dysfunctional family whose idea of concealing their bankruptcy from friends and family is hiding in the basement of their palatial home while they're presumed to be vacationing. The basement is a disgusting place to live; rat-infested and stocked only with pickled vegetables, trips to the supermarket and attempts to counter their meddling neighbors become full-scale commando operations. As the situation snowballs, the family is unwittingly pushed into a catharsis which will bring them together in a way they hadn't thought possible. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

In the hippie era, the motto used to be "never trust anyone over 30." In this geriatric romance, the motto might be amended to read "never trust anyone under 60." Still sprightly and interested in life though they are in their 70s, the two lovers in this film are confined in an unsympathetic "rest home" by their relatives and are only able to meet rarely in a camper loaned to them by some black immigrant workers. When the staff at the home get wind of their affair, they take vigorous action to try and "calm them down" simply to reassert their deadening control over them. Eventually the two of them end their romance, but the woman escapes the rest home and finds freedom in the company of the immigrants. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This three-part romantic comedy illustrates that people are never too old to fall in love and often act too old when they are young. Silvio Ceccato plays a man who believes he is Socrates. His concerned wife hires two actors of questionable talent to play his "disciples." Soon the wife and the man's own psychiatrist (Luciano De Cresenzo) are questioning their own sanity. Part two finds the 65 year old Carlotta (Caterina Boratto) as the attractive widow who acts like a teenager. When she falls in love, her conservative son Oscar (Renato Scarpa) and his wife try to stop her -- in fear she will spend their inheritance. The third story finds the impoverished Alphonso (Enzo Cannavale) wandering the street on New Years Eve hoping to buy fireworks for his young sons. He meets a learned astronomer who explains how the new year should really fall a week later. The happy Alphonso accepts the explanation and explodes a cherry bomb the following week, which leads to his arrest. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Cinema Paradiso offers a nostalgic look at films and the effect they have on a young boy who grows up in and around the title village movie theater in this Italian comedy drama that is based on the life and times of screenwriter/director Giuseppe Tornatore. The story begins in the present as a Sicilian mother pines for her estranged son, Salvatore, who left many years ago and has since become a prominent Roman film director who has taken the advice of his mentor too literally. He finally returns to his home village to attend the funeral of the town's former film projectionist, Alfredo, and, in so doing, embarks upon a journey into his boyhood just after WWII when he became the man's official son. In the dark confines of the Cinema Paradiso, the boy and the other townsfolk try to escape from the grim realities of post-war Italy. The town censor is also there to insure nothing untoward appears onscreen, invariably demanding that all kissing scenes be edited out. One day, Salvatore saves Alfredo's life after a fire, and then becomes the new projectionist. A few years later, Salvatore falls in love with a beautiful girl who breaks his heart after he is inducted into the military. Thirty years later, Salvatore has come to say goodbye to his life-long friend, who has left him a little gift in a film can. In 2002, over a decade after the film's original release, Tornatore brought the original 170-minute director's cut to American screens for the first time. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this teen beach movie, Italian singer Nino D'Angelo is Nino, a poor ice cream vendor at a wealthy resort club on Capri who falls in love with the daughter of an industrial magnate, a match made in heaven but not as far as the father is concerned. Nevertheless, after six songs and the intervention of Nino's good buddy -- a waiter pretending to be a baron -- the recalcitrant father is convinced there is nothing like true love and the couple get a green light (though they would have run the red). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The main character in this comedy-detective story is Riccardo Finzi, played to the hilt by the real main character, comic Renato Pozzetto. The apparently plodding, Sad Sack-type P.I. has just gotten licensed and arrives in Milan with high hopes, however high they are in his case, of launching his investigative career. A trip to a night spot lands him a place to live in, a nubile young woman, and a murder case when he finds out the next morning that the nymphet has been killed. Finzi has a voluntary assistant in the form of a retired cop (Enzo Cannavale) who helps him make progress in spite of himself. Contempo subjects like left-wing students or terrorism pop up here and there in one-liners, providing humor at unexpected moments. Especially made for an Italian audience familiar with Renato Pozzetto's style and the local references in the script, this fun comedy may still amuse other audiences as well. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

During the five years he was in prison, Alfredo's (Johnny Dorelli) wife Adelina (Agostina Belli) and son have gone to live with a stable, non-criminal man -- a taxi driver. Now that Alfredo is out, he wants her again. After a series of failed attempts even to meet with her, she finally meets up with him as he attends his dying mother. Despite his past betrayals, his vast charm and the numerous examples of his devotion to her warm Adelina's heart to him again, and she begins a series of secret "liaisons" with her own husband. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The action comedy Piedone Lo Sbirro concerns a police officer who goes to great and unusual lengths to put some nasty drug dealers behind bars. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi