Valeria Ciangottini Movies
In one of the most widely seen and acclaimed European movies of the 1960s, Federico Fellini featured Marcello Mastrioanni as gossip columnist Marcello Rubini. Having left his dreary provincial existence behind, Marcello wanders through an ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated, ultra-decadent Rome. He yearns to write seriously, but his inconsequential newspaper pieces bring in more money, and he's too lazy to argue with this setup. He attaches himself to a bored socialite (Anouk Aimée), whose search for thrills brings them in contact with a bisexual prostitute. The next day, Marcello juggles a personal tragedy (the attempted suicide of his mistress (Yvonne Furneaux)) with the demands of his profession (an interview with none-too-deep film star Anita Ekberg). Throughout his adventures, Marcello's dreams, fantasies, and nightmares are mirrored by the hedonism around him. With a shrug, he concludes that, while his lifestyle is shallow and ultimately pointless, there's nothing he can do to change it and so he might as well enjoy it. Fellini's hallucinatory, circus-like depictions of modern life first earned the adjective "Felliniesque" in this celebrated movie, which also traded on the idea of Rome as a hotbed of sex and decadence. A huge worldwide success, La Dolce Vita won several awards, including a New York Film Critics CIrcle award for Best Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Yvonne Furneaux, (more)
- 1961
An uneven mix of right-on situations and two-dimensional characters or worse, La Giornata Balorda is all the more interesting because it was banned in Italy -- not because of sexual or anti-religious content, but because of its depiction of Italian society. David (Jean Sorel) is a poverty-stricken young man who has impregnated the woman he loves and now wants to marry her. The baby has already been born when David sets out to "buy" a job. His uncle, not a model of propriety, gets him introduced to a slick operator who really does not want to hire David at all. But the future employer's mistress takes one look at David and lets her lover know he just has to give him a job. Meanwhile, David is still stuck with the problem of getting the money together to "buy" his job, and he solves that in a rather creative manner. This story of networking among the non-yuppy population did not sit well with the Italian censors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Sorel, Lea Massari, (more)
- 1963
A touching story of brothers raised apart and then brought together under tragic circumstances, this drama by Valerio Zurlini remains true to Vasco Pratolini's novel. Told in a series of flashbacks as Enrico (Marcello Mastroianni) remembers the past, the brothers are separated after their mother dies. Enrico is raised by a humble guardian who works as a butler, his brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) is taken in by a grandmother who gives him all he wants or needs. Enrico grows up to become a hard-working journalist, spending most of his time in Rome. Lorenzo is a young idealist living in Florence with no real need to work. The brothers rarely see each other, but when they finally meet after an extended absence, Lorenzo is gravely ill and dying. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1963
The "vice and virtue" of the title of this wartime drama directed by Roger Vadim are exemplified in the personae of two very attractive women: Juliette (Annie Girardot) and Justine (Catherine Deneuve). Juliette is a collaborator and Justine supports the resistance movement, yet when her husband is arrested on her wedding day, she goes to Juliette to ask for help. That simple plan is nixed by a series of unfortunate circumstances that send Justine to a brothel for German soldiers and make Juliette the mistress of a brutal Nazi officer. The symbolism in this tale harks back to two stories by the Marquis de Sade, one titled "Juliette" and the other, "Justine." Vadim seems to have been caught between creating symbolic characters versus creating believable women since as the story unfolds, Juliette is not exactly vice incarnate, nor is Justine a model of pristine virtue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Robert Hossein, (more)
- 1965
The first of two Francis Coplan spy films directed by veteran Riccardo Freda, this flamboyant entry has FX-18 (Richard Wyler of British television's The Man from Interpol) hurtling back and forth between Paris and Istanbul to prevent an Arab nuclear strike on Israel. Teamed with a bumbling Israeli operative (stunt coordinator Gil Delmaire), FX-18 must deal with exploding airplanes, nuclear terrorists, scientists in spiked coffins, murdered strippers, and sadistic torture-killings, all while trying to avoid World War III. Freda loads the film with campy sexual sight-gags and wonderfully silly setpieces such as the film's finale, in which Coplan is strapped inside a nuclear warhead to be launched to a certain doom. Delmaire stages some impressive stunts, and although the supporting cast is rather weak, Wyler, Delmaire, and siren Jany Clare make the film enjoyable for genre devotees. This film has several alternate titles, including: The Exterminators, FX-18, Superspy, Coplan FX-18, and Coplan Casse Tout. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this Italian exploitation drama, a heart-broken young woman, recently jilted by her lover, becomes a hooker involved with a cruel pimp. After beating her, she heads for a new brothel. There she meets a dashing public- relations man who has come to her room to look into the killing of his aged boss. He helps her escape her murderous pimp and his brother, a professional killer. Unfortunately, the crooks manage to catch her. Fortunately, she is rescued by the PR man after one hood kills the other. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This German language feature is a highly experimental and intellectual examination of the musings (told through flashbacks) of a young man sitting in a courtroom as the public prosecutor goes over his case in a desultory manner. A crisis of conscience has brought him to this point. Daniel Hartmann (Jost Vobeck) was at first just a witness, called to testify about the abduction of a political dissident by thugs from his native country. Then he became aware that the police were not really interested in solving the case, or helping the unfortunate political refugee. He acts independently to rescue the man, and winds up having to kill one of the abductors. Because the young man is just a private citizen, his actions result in his being brought to trial himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Caterina (Isabella Ferrari) grieves for her father who died in Brussels when British soccer fans from Liverpool rioted in 1985. In a vivid, reoccurring nightmare, she sees her father and sees the murderer administer the deadly blow. When she is visited by a Liverpool police inspector (John Steiner), he shows her pictures of suspects and points out the killer with absolute certainty. She drives her late father's car to Liverpool to seek vengeance in this uneven melodrama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabella Ferrari, John Steiner, (more)
