Omero Antonutti Movies

With three of his companions in a fatal gas-station robbery drowned while evading a police roadblock, the surviving young thug has no reason to turn himself in to the police, since they don't know about his existence. At least, that's the way his rescuer Bruno (Bruno Ganz) sees it. Besides, Bruno needs such an overly enterprising fellow to help him pull off a really big heist that he's been planning for a long time. It takes some doing, but the boy and his girlfriend are recruited by the older man, who has been keeping a low profile by working as a gardener. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Omero Antonutti is divorced, and has a grown son who a young, upwardly-mobile professional person (yuppie) and an ex-wife who regularly sharpens her tongue on him. These developments have only served to sharpen the cynicism he naturally has as a private investigator, constantly exposed as he is to the shabbiest human behavior. However, when a beautiful and obviously wealthy woman asks him to track down her second boyfriend on behalf of herself and her first boyfriend, his interest is aroused. The absent boyfriend is a professional model from Greece who is also a painter. The woman believes he may have disappeared somewhere in Barcelona. His investigation exposes the P.I. to a world of sexual and other eccentricities which even he had never imagined existed anywhere, much less in his hometown. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The performer known as Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi (and played in this film by Stefano Dionisi), was famous in the 18th century as the world's greatest castrato, a male singer whose testicles were removed in childhood so that he would retain the high, clear voice of a child while gaining the control and power of an adult vocalist. A strikingly gifted singer with a range of more than three octaves, Farinelli was given little choice but to sacrifice his manhood in exchange for his art, and as his career was founded on the surgery that would dramatically restrict his off-stage life, his art was in turn hemmed in by his family. Carlo's father declared early on that he should only sing the songs of his brother Riccardo (Enrico LoVerso), and while Farinelli's fame gives Riccardo's career a needed boost, the mediocrity of Riccardo's compositions holds Farinelli back. When the singer is given the opportunity to work with the great composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbe), his brother's jealously and Farinelli's own poorly chosen career alliances stand in his way. The brothers' often contentious partnership also extends to the bedroom; while Farinelli's performances set women on fire, he's physically incapable of satisfying them sexually, so he provides the foreplay in a bizarre game of seduction and then turns his conquests over to his brother. Farinelli il Castrato received a Golden Globe award as Best Foreign Language Film of 1994 and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A brilliant detective from Southern Italy investigates the death of a young girl found drowned in a remote lake in the mountains of Friuli in director Andrea Molaioli's dramatic mystery. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The always innovative Taviani Brothers pay homage to another unique filmmaker, D. W. Griffith, in Good Morning, Babylon. Vincent Spano and Joaquim de Almeida star as Nicola and Andrea Bonnano, the latest in a long line of Tuscany-born cathedral builders. Emigrating to America, the brothers settle in Los Angeles in 1915, even as director Griffith (Charles Dance) is preparing his epic production Intolerance. The boys are hired to help construct the massive sets for the film's Babylonian sequence (hence the title), for no other reason than the fact that Griffith is impressed by Italian craftsmanship. As the film progresses, Nicola and Andrea assimilate to their new surroundings, even launching a romance with a pair of pretty movie extras. On the verge of continuing the family tradition, the boys' ambitions are cut short by events well beyond their control. Still, their past artistic accomplishments, like those of their forebears, survive the ages -- but only on the ethereal silver screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by Giuseppe Ferrara, the political thriller I Banchieri Di Dio (God's Bankers) is based on the true-crime saga of the corrupted Banco Ambrosiano and the unsolved murder of bank president Roberto Calvi in 1982. Co-written by Ferrara and Armenia Balducci, the complex story involves the discovery of a trillion lire deficiet in the bank accounts. Calvi (Omero Antonutti) is blamed and thrown in prison. With the help of his wife (Pamela Villoresi), Calvi goes between the corrupt system of political and religious leaders who can get him out of jail. Rutger Hauer appears as Cardianle Marcinkus, the head of the Vatican bank. In March of 2002, an Italian businessman tried to ban Gods Bankers, claiming ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

In this Italian mystery, a detective journeys into the rarified world of the idle rich to look into a puzzling murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this Swiss-Italian-French co-production, architect Luca (Roberto Citran) goes to the Jewish section of Venice to restore a house where reclusive novelist Elio (Omero Antonutti) lives. When Elio lets Luca read the manuscript of his current novel about a famous composer, Luca begins to imagine himself in the role of the composer. Music by Pino Donaggio who also wrote the film's operatic sequences. Shown at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Davide (Daniel Ezralow) is a young psychiatrist who is tormented by his own dreams in this psychological drama. Maddalena (Beatrice Dalle) is a beautiful but disturbed mental patient who resembles a woman Davide dreamed was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft. Davide soon has trouble dividing fantasy and reality when he falls for Maddalena. A well-orchestrated dance scene and simulated orgy with clothed participants are the big production numbers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Spike Lee's World War II film Miracle at St. Anna begins in 1983 with Hector Negron, a veteran of that war, unexpectedly shooting a customer dead. Police discover that the suspect, a quiet postal worker, kept a statue head worth millions of dollars in his apartment. An eager young reporter (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) interviews Negron in his cell about the mysterious artifact. While serving in the all-minority 92nd "Buffalo Soldier" Division, Negron and three comrades managed to sneak deep into enemy territory in Italy. One of the men, Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller), picked the head up while they were serving in Florence and believes it brings him good luck. Negron (Laz Alonso), Train, and Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy), along with their sergeant, Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke), take refuge in the Italian village of St. Anna, harbored by locals who are resisting the Nazis -- who themselves surround the area. Train also protects an injured Italian boy he discovers while investigating a seemingly abandoned dwelling. Eventually, the soldiers make contact with their superiors, and are ordered to capture a German so that he may be interrogated about an upcoming attack. Lee adapted Miracle at St. Anna from a novel by James McBride, who also penned the screenplay. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Director Theodoros Anghelopulos has created a clever vehicle for conveying the substance of this award-winning political drama. He uses the acting techniques of Greek tragedy, such as formal posturing and long-held camera shots, as well as symbolism right out of classical Greek plays, to put across his parallel to Alexander the Great. This new Alexander is a "bandit" who escapes from prison in 1900 and starts fighting the government. He kidnaps some British aristocrats to hold them as ransom against amnesty for himself and his men. When he returns with his hostages to his native village, he and the local ruling schoolteacher have a go-around on how the town is to be run. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide