Germana Dominici Movies
- 1994
This Italian comedy examines the emotional and sexual dynamics of several troubled couples. The stage is set at an aged Italian rural villa. Luca and Mara's two girls are making their first Communion, and many relatives have come to watch. Family trouble brews. Luca is planning to leave Mara and the kids for a sexy actress. Mara does not want him to go. Mara's two fluff-headed sisters are also in turmoil. Sister Claudia is involved with a married guy, while Giusy's hypochondria is destroying her love life. Maurizio and Serena, Luca's nymphomaniacal sister, are the only happy couple in the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricky Tognazzi, Barbara de Rossi, (more)
Intervista has been termed a semi-documentary: This is in fact the filmed autobiography of Italian director Federico Fellini, framed in the form of an interview conducted by a Japanese film crew. As the interview progresses Fellini's mind wanders to his earliest days (the reenacted events conflict with several of the "official" stories of his life). His fascination with filmmaking is manifested in the "wonderland" atmosphere of the old Cinecitta studios. With the cooperation of Fellini's loyal co-workers, we are permitted to see tantalizingly brief excerpts (some self-mocking) of Fellini's modus operandi. A visit by Fellini and guest-star Marcello Mastroianni to Anita Ekberg's home leads to a lavish (and poignant) "reliving" of the 1961 Fellini/Mastroianni/Ekberg effort La Dolce Vita. The climax of Intervista scene invokes Fellini's previous inward-looking classic 8 1/2, with a novel twist calculated to send the director's disciples home with a knowing smile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1986
In this typical teen comedy with all the elements of humor and romance that pander to the younger set, first-time director Franco Amurri looks at the trials and tribulations of a young man who cannot find a job (Jerry Cala). After he is rejected right and left, the just-graduated teen finally finds work with the "Pony Express," a privatized mail service that helps fill in the chinks in Italy's national postal system. He hotrods around town on a motor scooter he bought with purloined funds (he stole a young woman's purse), and he is intrigued by a dashing, wealthy young woman who goes about in a red riding outfit. The question is how will Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf get together? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Calà, Isabella Ferrari, (more)
Generally considered to be the foremost example of Italian Gothic horror, this darkly atmospheric black-and-white chiller put director Mario Bava on the international map and made the bewitching Barbara Steele a star. Steele plays Princess Asa, a high priestess of Satan who is gruesomely executed in 1600s Moldavia by having a spiked mask hammered into her face. Before she dies, Asa vows revenge on the family who killed her and returns from the grave two centuries later to keep her promise. In a striking resurrection scene replete with bats, scorpions and fog, Asa rises from the tomb to claim her bloody vengeance. With vampires, bubbling flesh, dank crypts, undead servants and torch-bearing mobs, the plot is a little ripe, but the visuals are Bava's primary consideration. The atmosphere is so heavy and the imagery so dense that the film becomes nearly too rich in texture, but the sheer, ghastly beauty of it all is entrancing. Although this was only the second of Bava's twenty-six films as director, it is undoubtedly his best and the one upon which most of his considerable reputation rests. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Steele, John Richardson, (more)
