Giuseppe Cederna 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, Rovi

Enzo Monteleone's World War II drama El Alamein: The Line of Fire is concerned with the life of Italian soldiers. Lieutenant Fiore (Emilio Solfrizzi) leads a group of soldiers stationed in Egypt. The troops, including Sargent Rizzo (Pierfrancesco Favino) and newbie Serra (Paolo Briguglia), are constantly under attack from the British. Eventually the commands from the military hierarchy become indecipherable, and the madness and horror of war overtake the men. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Novellas by Luigi Pirandello provided the source for this Italian anthology of two tales written and directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. "Felice," set in Rome of the '30s, focuses on former opera baritone Felice (Antonio Albanese), now an accountant at the Teatro dell'Opera. Felice roars with laughter during his sleep, prompting his suspicious Russian wife (Elena Ghiaurov) to leave him. Abrasive opera director Migliori (Luca Zingaretti) has a daily ritual of tormenting crippled Rambaldi (Giuseppe Cederna). Since Felice has dreamed of joining Migliori in this humiliation, he is overcome with guilt when Rambaldi commits suicide. Felice makes plans to drown himself, but his future brightens after he finds romance with former chorus girl Nora (Sabrina Ferilli). "Two Kidnappings" begins in contemporary Sicily with a mobster holding a youth (Steve Spedicato) hostage to prevent his Mafia turncoat father from naming names but then segues to a kidnapping of 100 years earlier at the same location. Originally a three-parter, the third tale was filmed and edited but later deleted from the final release version. Nicola Piovani's orchestral score includes selections from Rossini. The Taviani brothers previously adapted Pirandello in their 1984 Kaos. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival , the 1998 Toronto Film Festival, and the 1998 New York Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A man trying to honor the last wish of his beloved wife has to keep an entire city alive in this bittersweet romantic comedy. Marcello (Jean Reno) is the owner of a restaurant in a small village in Italy. His wife Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl) has received some awful news: she has learned that her weak heart has gotten worse, and she has only a few weeks to live. Roseanna has given Marcello a final request: she wants to be buried next to her daughter, who died some years before. Marcello wants nothing more than to comply with her wishes, but there's a problem; the town's cemetery is quite small, and right now funeral plots are on a first-come, first-served basis. The spot next to Roseanna's daughter does happen to be open, but she'll only get it if no one else dies first. So Marcello suddenly becomes the village's watchdog of health and safety, trying to make sure no one needlessly dies, and even shuffles around a few bodies of people who do happen to pass on. Meanwhile, Roseanna is worried about both Marcello and her sister Cecilia (Polly Walker) and would like them to marry after her death so they won't have to be alone. However, Marcello and Cecilia don't always get along very well, and besides, Cecilia is in love with Antonio (Mark Frankel), whose father has prevented the town's cemetery from expanding. For Roseanna was filmed under the title Roseanna's Grave and was briefly publicized as For the Love of Roseanna. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This surreal Italian comedy centers around the circular game of love. After Rosario, a depressed high-school teacher who recently lost his liberal political idealism and his hot-blooded wife Elena, a private detective, he begins to see the Virgin Mary. Apparently his visionary Mary is in love with him. Amelia, a co-worker, and Salvatore, his neighbor the gangster, are also in love with him. In despair, Rosario attempts suicide and fails.He decides that to experience the real world he must become a criminal. He steals a car, gets and gun and goes off the deep-end. He finds great rewards in his new shady life and is doubly rewarded when Elena finally returns. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gabriele Salvatores' antiwar story Mediterraneo is set during World War II on a seemingly deserted island in the middle of the Aegean Sea. After their ship is sunk by the British, a unit of Italian soldiers finds refuge on the island, where they soon realize that the area is not deserted after all--its citizens have merely gone into hiding after believing they were under German attack; indeed, the Germans have already imprisoned all of the village's young men. As the brigade of soldiers, led by one Lt. Montini (Claudio Bigagli), becomes ingrained into island life, they begin repainting the church's frescoes, starting soccer teams, even finding romance. Time passes until an Italian pilot (Antonio Catania) touches down on the island, and relates the news of the world since the soldiers' arrival in 1941. Ultimately, a British rescue party comes for the soldiers, bringing with them the men who were captured by the Germans years before. Four decades later, Montini returns, re-joining the few other men who could not bring themselves to leave their island refuge. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

In this romantic comedy/spy thriller, Clarissa Boulanger (Sabine Azema) is eager to take a breather from her deteriorating marriage, so when the French Secret Service asks her to team up with Hippolyte (Isaach de Bankole) and pose as a newlywed in order to thwart the shipment of powerful weapons to terrorists, she is all too happy to oblige. However, she and her new partner find that it's easier to say "pretend" than it is to avoid having a real romance heat up between them. Things get complicated when Clarissa's husband gets wind of her "beau" and comes to where the agents are staying in order to "catch her in the act" with her partner and win an easy divorce. None of this helps the two secret service agents in their mission. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A family history is recalled by the venerable patriarch Carlo (Vittorio Gassman) as he prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday. Young Carlo (Andrea Massimo) marries Beatrice (Stefania Sandrelli) in 1926 but later has an illicit affair with her bohemian artist sister Adriana (Fanny Ardant). Fascism, World War II, and the raising of children and grandchildren mark the passing of a lifetime. Old Carlo lives with his grandson where his recollections are interrupted by the gentle nagging of his beloved Beatrice. This feature received an Oscar nomination in 1987 for "Best Foreign Film." ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This Wertmuller sex comedy centers on a married couple who have found the magic gone from their physical relationship. The trouble begins when the wife, Ester, finds herself sexually attracted to her best friend Adele and one day tells her of the erotic dream she had in which she and Adele were reenacting the kissing scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. Soon a flirtation ensues that falls just short of an actual affair. Poor Oscar, Ester's sexist husband, is beside himself. Eventually doubts about his own manliness end up driving him totally nuts. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Meant to be farcical but with comedy that somehow falls between the cracks, this horror spoof starts off with inept real estate agent Fracchia (Paolo Villaggio) trying to redeem his job. Fracchia has to save his hide by selling something within three days, and his only client is a hard-nosed cuss named Filini (Gigi Reder) whose limit is $3,000, tops. Unable to buy a Port-a-Potty on those terms, Fracchia gets a deal on a castle in Transylvania and off the duo go to inspect the premises. Inhabiting the castle are the usual monsters and zombies and a ghost-buster, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dracula's libidinous sister Countess Oniria (Ania Pieroni). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This Italian version of Henry IV is based on the Luigi Pirandello play rather than Shakespeare's historical work. Moreover, the Henry depicted herein is not the English king, but the 11th-century Holy Roman emperor. In addition, central character Marcello Mastroianni doesn't play emperor Henry, but instead a contemporary man of wealth who thinks he's Henry. Also, Mastroianni's delusion is not a delusion, but a subterfuge. Well, we told you it was based on a Pirandello play, so enter ye and leave all sanity behind. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Giovanni (Beppe Grillo) is a mysterious hitchhiker of unknown origins, oddly out of place in the modern world since he is quite humble in his attitude, equally compassionate to everyone, and unselfish. Giovanni is given a lift by a priest (Fernando Rey) who looks like he deals cards under the table but has the noble project of publishing the life of Jesus Christ as a novel, and he needs to find some appropriate-looking young man to pose for book illustrations as the Christian Savior himself. Giovanni, it seems, fits the bill just perfectly. As Giovanni encounters the darker side of human failings, his abilities to apparently work miracles and to convince a hardcore terrorist to change her ways, set him apart -- as does his unique, non-violent philosophy. The less-than-ideal priests cannot identify with Giovanni's viewpoints, on the contrary, they begin to conclude that he is not playing with a full deck and they have some definite plans for how to take care of this aberrant loner. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi