Isabella Ferrari

With Quiet Chaos (Caos calma), acclaimed Italian helmer Nanni Moretti steps away from his standard directorial role to essay the lead and co-author the script in a gentle psychological drama directed by Antonello Grimaldi. Moretti stars as Pietro, a film executive whose life takes an irreversible and devastating turn one fateful morning. During a trip to the beach with his brother, Pietro's path intersects with that of a woman, Eleonora (Isabella Ferrari) who is drowning in the ocean; horrified, Pietro rushes in to save her. He subsequently returns home only to discover that his wife, Lara, just died in a nasty falling accident; devastated to the core, this nascent widower must make the necessary psychological accommodations to adjust to life as a single parent, with sole responsibility for raising his ten-year-old daughter Claudia (Blu Yoshimi). Almost instinctively, as a reaction to Lara's death, Pietro opts to sit and wait for his daughter to finish school each day (in a park across from the school), in lieu of abandoning her to his own priorities and commitments. This means that the fellow's colleagues in the film industry must, by necessity, come to do business with him in the park. Through it all, Pietro remains silently dumbfounded that the tragedy itself hasn't shaken him more, that the grief (the "quiet chaos" of the title) is subtly agonizing instead of grossly traumatizing and debilitating. Nevertheless, he ultimately begins to approach a full realization and acceptance of his loss, and gains an enhanced awareness of himself and others from the potentially crippling events thrust into his path. Valeria Golino (Rain Man) co-stars; Roman Polanski lends a cameo as one of Pietro's industry colleagues. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Turkish-born director Ferzan Ozpetek's meditative, character-driven ensemble drama Saturno Contro (a French-Italian-Turkish co-production, from a script co-authored by Ozpetek and Gianni Romoli) studies the interrelationships of a tightly-knit group of gay and straight friends, in the period surrounding the premature death of one young man and the split of a married hetero couple. At the story's center are Lorenzo (Luca Argentero), a confident, surreally handsome, 30-year-old Italian man, and his live-in lover, the author Davide (Pierfrancesco Favino. They spend their non-working hours with a colorful clique that includes: bright, spunky cocaine addict Roberta (Ambra Angiolini); husband-and-wife (and parents) Antonio (Stefano Accorsi) and Angelica (Margherita Buy); caustic Neval (Serra Yilmaz) and her husband, a cop (Filippo Timi); Davide's former lover, the acid-tongued Sergio (Ennio Fantastichini); and a new arrival to the group, Paolo. After Ozpetek and Romoli take time and care to introduce the characters, an unforeseen crisis arises: Lorenzo is rushed to the hospital, and dies. In time, his distanced father (Luigi Diberti) turns up, accompanied by his second wife, Minnie (Lunetta Savino) and still grappling with the knowledge of his son's homosexuality. Meanwhile, Antonio and Angelica split, the latter devastated by the sudden discovery of her husband's infidelity with a florist (Isabella Ferrari). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A pair of would-be criminals get more than they bargained for during a robbery of a Catholic church in this satiric comedy from Italy. Willy (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is a salesman who has been fired from his job, while his friend Antonio (Antonio Albanese) is a football player whose career has hit the skids. Short on money and with no immediate prospects, Willy and Antonio decide to steal the donation box at a church in a prosperous neighborhood. The burglary turns disastrous, but as they flee, Antonio grabs a jeweled curio, which turns out to be a holy relic containing the tongue of Saint Antonio, the patron saint of the humble and needy. Thinking he may have found a gold mine, Antonio demands a ransom from the Vatican in exchange for the safe return of the tongue. When the church refuses to pay, the novice thieves pry some of the rubies from the relic and try to sell them to a pack of gypsies. But the gypsies turn out to be big fans of Saint Antonio, and are horrified when they discover the source of the jewels. Krondano (Toni Bertorelli), the gypsy leader, takes the story of the stolen relic to the media, who have a field day with it, and Maritan (Giulio Brogi), a successful businessman who believes he owes his good fortune to Saint Antonio, steps forward to offer a bounty for the safe recovery of the saint's tongue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After short films, videos, commercials, and work as an assistant director, Marco Turco made his directorial debut with this Italian drama set during the '80s in a community of former Italian terrorists in the Paris section of Belleville. After journalist Jacopo (Massimo Bellinzoni) attends the wedding of his exiled older brother Dario (Ennio Fantastichini), he stays on, taping video interviews with Dario's past associates. This is material Jacopo intends to use in an article he's writing, but group members become suspicious. The hostility heightens after Jacopo grows close to Eugenia (Isabella Ferrari), who once teamed with Dario for a hit on an Italian industrialist. Meanwhile, Dario is overcome by the realization that his young daughter is beginning to learn the truth about his past. The screenplay is based on Turco's 1996 documentary about political refugees in Paris. Shot with a 16mm blow-up to 35mm, the music track combines the percussive jazz of Riccardo Fassi with moody Steve Lacy sax solos. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Comprised of a series of bizarre and unrelated incidents, this absurdist Italian comedy earned the inglorious honor of being the film with the most audience walkouts at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In the first segment a widow attends her husband's funeral and ends up having sex with her brother-in-law beside her husband's casketed corpse. The late husband eggs them on with his ghostly comments. In scene two, a wife leaves her husband in favor of a hunky mortician. Strangely, the mortician rapidly becomes an old man while the abandoned husband becomes younger, stronger and much happier. A photographer becomes terribly paranoid after he steps on a bus passenger's foot and begs his pardon. When the passenger refuses to offer it, the photographer goes off the deep end. In another episode, a cruel headmistress at a school for social graces tries to capture and destroy a young free-spirited girl's individuality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Italian film takes a chilling, nonexploitative look into the mind of a nice young man who compulsively rapes beautiful women. The rapes are graphically presented and may be disturbing to some viewers. Outwardly Luca seems to be a normal, quiet 20-year old. His mother is frequently gone. Trouble begins when Luca becomes obsessed with Valeria, the beauty who works in the next building. He begins spying on her, and then secretly filming her with his camcorder. He tries to get to know her, but she ignores him. Unable to stand her constant refusal, the frustrated young man accosts her on dark street and rapes her. The first rape was almost accidental; he encountered her on the street and he hurt her. Unfortunately, he liked the violence and begins raping every attractive woman he sees. He is particularly violent with Lorena, a jewelry saleswoman whom he beats up in a park before violating her. Much of the film focuses upon Luca's twisted thought processes. He is upset by the constant rejection he feels; especially when women say no. The film's climax is predictable, and few will feel remorse for Luca's passing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

During World War II, the powerful and influential Italian Communist Party actively supported the anti-fascist resistance. Now the Germans have surrendered, and Hitler and Mussolini are both dead. However, in this story, one group of partisans can't resist the opportunity to complete some of the assassinations they had planned. The new Italian Republic is calling for ex-Nazis to be tried under the new legal system, and the Communist Party is echoing that sentiment. When the die-hard partisans finally pull off the hit, they manage to kill not only the high-ranking Nazi they were aiming at, but two not-so-innocent bystanders, members of the Italian mafia. The civilian authorities are seeking the killers, and the communists are trying to retain the legitimacy they have so precariously attained. They search out one of the gang, now on the run from both the civil authorities and the mafia, and persuade him to turn state's evidence. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Not only lawyers are "ambulance chasers." In this film, Willy (Francesco Nuti) is an ambulance chaser of another sort, a newspaper reporter. While driving around one evening looking for a story, he has an collision with a car being driven too fast by a drunkard. The drunk dies, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend. While he feels he is (legally, at least) blameless in the incident, the dead man's girl, Lucia (Isabella Ferrari), has decided that he should take full responsibility for her and her unborn baby. For some reason, Willy accepts this scheme of things, despite the crimp it puts into his relationship with another woman and with his family. All sorts of conflicts arise, but in the end, everyone reaches some sort of accomodation with Willy's changed life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

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

A romantic comedy for those who take reality sugar-coated in tiny doses, Domani Mi Sposo features Arturo (Jerry Calà) and Susie (Isabella Ferrari), scheduled to marry in one day -- but not without mishaps. Arturo is seduced by one of his old lovers (Milly Carlucci) which starts a quarrel that almost trashes his wedding, and his bachelor party throws him together with a gorgeous stripper (Karina Huff). After some flashbacks to Arturo's wild, pre-engagement days, the ending is fairly predictable. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Geared to a teen and pre-teen audience, this juvenile romance is set in the last year of high school and involves the attraction between a beautiful newcomer (Isabella Ferrari) to the school, and an introverted, hard-working young student (Massimo Ciavarro), and between a plain woman (Orsetta Gregoretti) infatuated with the school's womanizer (Carlo Mucari), and the class joker (Mauro Di Francesco). Their stories play out as expected, against a backdrop of current hit songs and with a lot of frenetic acting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide