Antonio Catania Movies

Left-wing and right-wing agendas go head-to-head in Diverso da Chi?, Umberto Carteni's satirical skewering of contemporary Italian politics. Luca Argentero stars as Piero, an openly homosexual gay rights activist, running as the more progressive candidate in the mayoral election of Udine, Italy. At the other end of the spectrum stands the bigoted right-wing candidate, who builds physical walls á la Padua around his community to keep foreigners and drug dealers confined to their various neighborhoods, and his candidate for vice-mayor, pro-family values champion Adele (Claudia Gerini). In an odd twist, Piero temporarily sets his political loyalties and gayness aside and sleeps with the gorgeous Adele, betraying his male partner, Remo (Filippo Negro) in the process. This has a positive effect on Adele, who starts to reexamine her political convictions as a result, but Piero grows horrified by his own actions and runs away; meanwhile, Remo proposes that they form a family with two fathers, and the upcoming mayoral race continues to beckon. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

An unusually wise twelve year old boy attempts to save his mother's failing love life by setting her up with his handsome music teacher in director Claudio Antonioni's entry into the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival. Raul is a precocious adolescent who lives with his mother Monica - a singer in an eccentric orchestra called Orfeo that was founded by Monica's father. Lately, Monica's love life is in shambles, and this fact hasn't gone unnoticed by Raul. In attending his mother's performances, Raul concludes that she has a bad habit of pursuing relationships with the wrong kind of men. Convinced that his mother could be happy if she only found a mate who would properly care for her, Raul does his best to play matchmaker by introducing her to his music teacher Medri. Later, when the relationship takes an unexpected turn, Raul learns a valuable lesson in love that will no doubt remain with him well into adulthood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Italian actor/director Carlo Verdone teams up with screenwriter Piero De Bernardi for the ensemble comedy Ma Che Colpa Abbiamo Noi? (What Fault is it of Ours?). The story follows eight people in a therapy group headed by an elderly psychotherapist who dies of a heart attack during one of their sessions. The group includes main character Gegé (Verdone) surrounded by a gay intellectual (Max Amato), an aspiring mother (Margherita Buy), an unfaithful husband (Antonio Catania), an anorexic student (Anita Caprioli), a sensitive young man (Stefano Pesce), a fiftysomething blonde (Lucia Sardo), and a conservative musician (Luciano Gubinelli). The group meets again at the therapist's funeral and ends up staying at an inn together for the weekend. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Piero C. (Piero Chiambretti) has an unusual knack for meeting beautiful women -- which, in this comedy, turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing. As we first meet Piero, he's just been given his walking papers by his beautiful girlfriend (Vanessa Asbert), and a close friend (Gretha Cavazzoni), who also happens to be a gorgeous woman, stops by to cheer him up, though it's obvious she has no romantic intentions in mind. As Piero tells his long, sad story, it seems that as far back as he can remember, he's been a magnet for lovely women -- but they have the bad habit of either leaving him or deciding they'd rather be "friends," even after he becomes the host of a popular dating show on television. Ogni Lasciato e Perso marked the big screen debut for Piero Chiambretti, a popular comic on Italian television; he also directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Sandra Ceccarelli plays three different women in three separate decades in this three-part anthology drama. In the opening segment, set in the 1940s, Stella (Ceccarelli) is a woman who, after years of working on other people's property, hopes to soon have enough money to buy farmland of her own. However, Stella's dreams are dashed when she learns she's pregnant. In the mid-'70s, Sonia (Ceccarelli) is a woman soon to marry the man she loves. But while Sonia values her career, her fiancé insists that if they wed, she must become a stay-at-home wife (except for occasionally helping out with the family business). And in the 1990s, Silvia (Ceccarelli) is a woman caught in a divisive labor dispute that has left her and her husband on opposite sides of a contentious strike. Guardia Il Cielo: Stella, Sonia, Silvia marked the first solo directorial effort from filmmaker Piergiorgio Gay, who previously made Tre Storie in collaboration with Roberto San Pietro. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Horst Fantazzini was a thief who became famous in Italy for a long series of bank robberies where he made a point of never hurting his victims and behaving with as much courtesy as the situation allowed. When he was handed a 20-year prison sentence after finally being caught by the police, Fantazzini discovered life behind bars didn't agree with him, and, in 1973, he attempted to break out. This real-life escape plot provides the basis for the comedy/drama Ormai E Fatta!/Outlaw. Stefano Accosi plays the anarchist Fantazzini, who manages to sneak a gun into Piemonte, a progressive prison where he's being housed. However, Fantazzini turns out to be better at robbing banks than breaking out of jail. He ends up wounding three guards without ever getting outside, and finally takes two other guards hostage and barricades himself in an office at the jail, hoping to ransom his way out. Fantazzini's hostages, two men from Southern Italy who are new to the North and don't much care for it, are no happier in their surroundings than Horst is, and in his negotiations Fantazzini finds himself dealing with two polar opposites, a prison director who emphasizes lenience and trust, and a senior corrections officer who believes in swift, dramatic action. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This complexly plotted comedy interweaves snippets from the lives of nearly 40 diverse patrons sitting at 14 tables in a little Italian trattoria. Though the diners come from all levels of society, most are bound by one or two common threads: their engagement in illicit romantic affairs and the fact that they are, for the most part, morally and spiritually bankrupt. The restaurant's unflappable, wise owner Flora (Fanny Ardant) is the only one with any real common sense. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Three foolish Italian hunters head into the Yugoslavian wilderness for a vacation. Unfortunately, their timing is terrible and the trio end up trapped by the dawn of the war that would tear the country apart. This fact-based actioner tells their terrifying and horrific tale. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A computer virus endows Solo (Diego Abatantuono), the hero of a virtual reality game, with human consciousness, thereby creating all kinds of headaches for his creator Jimi (Christopher Lambert). The trouble begins in the futuristic metropolis of Northern Agglomerate three days before Christmas. With little time left, video-game designer Jimi has no choice but to give his newest game, "Nirvana," to his powerful bosses. Unfortunately, the virus strikes just before the deadline. At first Solo doesn't know he is a graphic image, but when he finds out, he fervently pleads with Jimi to destroy every existent copy of the game so that he will not have to live the same sequence of events over and over for eternity. Jimi, vulnerable after the mysterious and sudden disappearance of his lover Lisa (Emmanuelle Seigner), agrees to honor Solo's wishes, but is unable to simply erase the program because his every move, on and off the job, is monitored by a giant, Orwellian computer. He therefore takes off for the Arab quarter and enlists the aid of two hackers, Joystick (Sergio Rubini), an expert at sabotaging databases, and Naima (Stefania Rocca), a woman with the skills to destroy the prototype of the computer game. With the company's henchmen hot on their heels, the threesome set off on a colorful journey through real and virtual worlds to destroy Solo before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A 20-year-old Eastern European girl impetuously ditches the rest of her tour group to embark upon a new life in Italy. Though she writes friends and family glowing accounts of her fabulous and successful adventures in her adopted home, the truth is much more tragic. Intelligently and poignantly drawn, this drama offers a portrait of Vesna's life. Shortly after leaving the tour, Vesna finds herself broke and without a plan so she hangs out in a local coffee bar where she meets a businessman who takes her home. Needing cash, she asks him to pay her for the sexual services he desires. He agrees, but struck by moral confusion, Vesna refuses the money then changes her mind again. So begins her descent into prostitution. Later she ends up in Rimni, a glittering tourist resort where she numbly pursues her new profession in earnest. She does not like turning tricks, but her irresistible craving for money drives her. A former runner, she still finds herself on the fast track to nowhere until she meets the kindly Antonio, a construction worker and kindred spirit who becomes a client and one day saves her life after the still innocent girl inadvertently involves herself with organized criminals. She encounters more tragedy when her passport is stolen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mario (Diego Abatantuono) is a gentle soul living in a big Italian city. He works as a bank teller. When his bank is robbed for the umpteenth time, and he sees yet another policeman killed, he throws in the towel on city life, and attempts to get away from it all by fleeing to a small town in Mexico. In this comedy, instead of getting away from the complications of big city life by moving to a backwater, he finds himself even more deeply embroiled in them. Things come to a head when he cop-killer he saw in Italy also winds up in Mexico. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide