Paolo Ferrari Movies

Italian director Carmine Amoroso's politically tinged, slice-of-life seriocomedy Cover Boy... Last Revolution details the wild, unpredictable, and bittersweet experiences of Ioan (Eduard Gabia), an illegal Romanian immigrant who passes into Italy undetected and attempts to eke out a life for himself in the land of Caesar. After an introductory montage of stock footage dramatizing Romanian political history -- including the fall of Ceausescu -- Amoroso moves into Ioan's personal story. When his father, Florin (Gabriel Spahiu), is shot dead in Bucharest, Ioan accepts an invitation from a friend to travel with him to Italy, but en route, authorities discover the friend's illegal immigrant status and promptly deport him, leaving Ioan to fend for himself. In a seemingly chance encounter, the young traveler meets Michele (Luca Lionello), a fourtysomething who promptly invites Ioan to share a room with him -- never admitting his sublimated gay attraction to the newcomer. For a time, Ioan struggles to keep himself afloat with menial jobs -- until a sexy and enterprising young fashion photographer notices Ioan and sees in him Milan's freshest modeling sensation. She thus ensures that Ioan's life will never be the same. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Brooke Shields, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, and Pierfrancesco Favino co-headline the romantic comedy Our Italian Husband (Mariti in Affitto), directed by Ilaria Borrelli. When Vincenzo Scocozza (Favino), an Italian immigrant sculptor living and working in Manhattan, weds the expectant Charlene Taylor (Shields), it overcomplicates his life -- for he has tied the knot twice over. Unbeknownst to Charlene, he claims a spouse and two kids in the old country! Suddenly, first wife, Maria (Cucinotta), pops up in the Big Apple, with their sons in tow, letting her Italian temper erupt when she hears of wife number two -- and the schemer Vincenzo finds himself caught in the middle of a small marital war. Chevy Chase makes a guest appearance as Paul Parmesan, a Ron Popeil-like TV shopping magnate who only adds to everyone's confusion and misery by cooking up a delicious scheme against the two women. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

With the industrial wastelands of the Metropolitan area west of Naples as background, this film is a Mediterranean style Bonnie and Clyde with a clever collage of film noir elements. The Chinese ideograms in the main credits set the tone, representing three I Ching hexagrams -- Adversity, Biting and the Family. Rosa is pregnant, but her partner Angelo does not know it. They are on the run from her ex-husband, the wealthy butcher Pappalardo, who has hired a killer to get rid of Angelo. To get the money to leave town, Angelo becomes involved in a strange hold-up while Rosa goes back to the erotic chat line she had worked in the past after an unsuccessful attempt at drug pushing. Subplots involve two dudes, a dentist who smokes, a role player, a couple who manage the erotic hot-line, a maniac, a transsexual, an ex-burglar who is mad about electronics, a serial killer, a veteran actress, and more. All this leads to an almost happy ending. The film supports the idea that classical feminism is at odds with the younger generation who find security in the ideals of family traditions and Catholicism, all of which results in hybridization. The structure is not a linear narrative, but rather a series of special links -- internal rhymes, reversals of themes and timing -- coming together as in a jigsaw puzzle. In a way, the form serves as the content. Talented Italian jazz musician Eugenio Colombo's score is emotionally gripping. Rose e Pistole was screened as part of the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

In this Italian comedy, eight lifelong friends attending their annual dinner party/reunion must re-evaluate their lives after they read a provocative letter from a group member who recently died. All of the remaining eight are retired. The letter suggests they all move into an empty convent and live the rest of their lives together. Though the eight seem outwardly comfortable and happy, the proposition becomes more enticing. As the evening wears on their truths are revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Mino Guerrini uses four stories about various encounters in his 1965 romantic comedy Up And Down. Included are "A Question Of Principle, "A Wife In August," "The Dream," and "Once In A Lifetime." The feature is well-photographed but lacks substance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

"White Voices" is a vernacular term referring to Italian Castrati of the 18th century Vatican Choir. The Castrati were male children who were castrated so that they could retain their beautiful soprano singing voices into maturity. Paolo Ferrari plays a Roman youth who isn't keen on being gelded and bribes his way out of it. Even so, he trains with the choir and becomes an habitue of the houses of the rich and famous, using his supposed lack of male essentials to his advantage--especially in bed. Ferrari comes a-cropper when he impregnates a girl and is forced to go under the knife to establish an alibi! It is very, very hard to write about White Voices without making a wisecrack, so we'll cut this short (oops!). The film, a French/Italian coproduction, was originally released in France as Le Sex Des Anges and in Italy as I Castrati. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Excellently directed by Elio Petri, this psychological and social drama illustrates the contrast between an older man's humanity and the reality of the world around him. When Cesare (Salvo Randone) sees a man die of a heart attack while on a streetcar, he is shocked into changing his own lifestyle before it is too late. So he quits his job and careers around the city, visiting museums, cultural centers, and old friendships or passions that passed him by earlier when he was too busy to notice. But as he runs into a former friend who seems to be corrupted, an old flame which has long since fizzled, and other people with obvious clay feet his attitude toward what he has missed begins to change. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide