Mino Bellei Movies
Academy Award-winner Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio. In his usual fashion, Benigni directs and stars, this time as the little puppet boy made out of wood. The familiar story begins as a log of pinewood falls out of a cart and lands in front of woodcarver, Geppetto (Carlo Giuffré), who carves the puppet out of longing for a son. When the puppet begins to come alive and cause trouble, Geppetto is arrested and Pinocchio is left to his own naïve worldview. After getting a stern warning from the Blue Fairy (Benigni's wife and producer Nicoletta Braschi), Pinocchio sets out to reunite with his father, become a real boy, and succumb to some desire for adventure. Along the way, he meets a number of characters played by mostly Italian stage actors, including Franco Javarone, Peppe Barra, and Kim Rossi Stuart. The popular Italian comedy team Fichi d'India plays the roles of the Cat and Fox. Released by Miramax in the U.S., the film received an English-dubbed soundtrack with the voice talents of Glenn Close, David Suchet, and Breckin Meyer as Pinocchio. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
Based in part on his autobiography, director Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini is a drama with comic accents about a group of British and American travelers on an indefinite visit to Italy in 1935, when, as one character puts it, "Mussolini was just a man who made the trains run on time." Luca (played by Charlie Lucas) is a boy living in Florence whose family situation is precarious at best; his mother has died and his father has little time for him. Fortunately, he's a welcome guest with Mary (Joan Plowright), a English woman visiting Italy to soak up European culture. Mary and her friends -- high-toned Lady Hester (Maggie Smith), pretentious Arabella (Judi Dench), American art collector Elsa (Cher) and cheerful lesbian Georgie (Lily Tomlin) -- enjoy the cultured, creative atmosphere of life in Italy, and their initial response to the rise of fascism is to arrange a polite meeting with Mussolini to make sure he and his soldiers mean well. After some time, Luca's father becomes concerned that the boy is soaking up too much British influence and enrolls him in a boarding school in Austria; by the time 1940 rolls around, situations have changed radically for everyone. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cher, Judi Dench, (more)
