Francesco Bruni Movies
- 2009
This crime comedy from the nutty Italian duo Valentino Picone and Salvatore Ficarra features the two writer-director-stars, respectively, as Paolo and Gaetano, cousins estranged from one another. The boys haven't spoken for almost twenty years, thanks to the enmity that their fathers feel toward one another. But an accident suddenly brings the cousins back together and thrusts them deep into the heart of the mafia. Godfather Don Gino (Pino Caruso witnesses the extent to which Gaetano and Paolo need to stay close, and aggressively intervenes to try to reconcile them with one another. Anna Safroncik and Mary Cipolla lend supporting roles. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Safroncik, Claudio Gioe, (more)
- 2008
An amateur theatrical troupe struggles to earn a living by day and bring the crowds to their feet every night in director Emanuele Barresi's madcap ensemble farce featuring Rocco Papaleo, Alba Rohrwacher, Raffaele Pisu, and Paolo Ruffini. Every night, the dedicated actors at a small theater put aside their daily concerns in order to deliver the best show possible. When a series of unfortunate events bring the future of the theater into question, each actor must consider a future with no creative outlet as they contend with issues of life, love, health, and employment. As the curtains rise on the opening night of their latest production, all of their problems are systematically brought out into the open and miraculously solved during a spectacular series of plot twists and cliffhangers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rocco Papaleo, Alba Rohrwacher, (more)
- 2006
A young firebrand learns the hard way about the practical problems behind political assassination in this lavish period comedy. In 1814, with his reputation in tatters and his rule of France come to an inglorious end, Napoleon Bonaparte (Daniel Auteuil) flees to the Island of Elba, where his arrival causes no small stir among the citizens. However, not everyone is pleased with his presence; Martino (Elio Germano) is a young and idealistic schoolteacher who believes Napoleon turned his back on the ideals he fought for in the French Revolution, and doesn't hesitate to criticize the former Emperor in front of his students. When Martino isn't busy with his students, he attends to the romantic needs of the beautiful Baroness Emilia (Monica Bellucci), but she's powerless to help him when his controversial opinions about Elba's new arrival cause him to be fired. When Martino learns that Napoleon is in need of a personal secretary and librarian, he has a brainstorm -- if he can get the job, he'll be close enough to the former emperor to win his trust and then kill the despot when no one suspects. Martino is awarded the prestigious position, but once he gets to know Napoleon, the great man's charm and wit make it difficult for Martino to put his deadly plans into motion. N (Napoleon and Me) (aka N (Io E Napoleone) received its North American premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Elio Germano, (more)
- 2003
Mimmo Calopresti directs and stars in the existential drama La Felicita Non Costa Niente (Happiness Costs Nothing). Calopresti stars as Sergio, a successful architect who is suddenly afflicted with a malaise. Haunted by the ghost of a co-worker, Sergio takes a mistress, offends his best friends, refuses to acknowledge guidance from his doctor, and eventually loses everything. He has a failed relationship with a woman named Sara (Francesca Neri). Only after losing it all does Sergio find something worthwhile in life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mimmo Calopresti, Vincent Perez, (more)
Writer/director Paolo Virzì and co-writer Francesco Bruni follow up their sly fish-out-of-water comedy My Name Is Tanino with another comedy in a similar vein, Caterina in the Big City. Giancarlo (Sergio Castellitto) is delighted when he has an opportunity to leave his provincial teaching job and drag his wife Agata (Margherita Buy) and 12-year old daughter Caterina (newcomer Alice Teghil) back to his old neighborhood in Rome. Caterina is a sweet, naïve, and pretty girl, and on her first day of school, she finds herself mocked as a hick. Her classmates are the sons and daughters of Rome's elite. Margherita's (Carolina Iaquaniello) parents are prominent intellectuals, and she leads a faction of bohemian socialist kids, while Daniella's father is a political heavyweight, and her preppy clique dresses in designer duds and espouses right-wing politics. Poor Caterina finds the two opposing factions battling over her allegiance, but every time she makes a new friend, her father fouls things up. Giancarlo, who is also an aspiring novelist, spends his evenings at home ranting about the elites and their devious, cliquish ways, but every time he's in the presence of an important person, he desperately tries to ingratiate himself and get his talents noticed. Meanwhile, he's drifting into depression and isolating himself from his wife and daughter. Caterina in the Big City was shown at New York City's Walter Reade Theater in 2004 as part of a Sergio Castellitto retrospective presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Teghil
- 2001
A young, clue-free Italian finds and eludes trouble on numerous occasions as he journeys to and through America in director Paolo Virzi's 2001 comedy My Name Is Tanino. Naïve optimist Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) gets romantically involved with an American tourist named Sally (Rachel McAdams), who happens to visit his hometown one fateful summer. After Sally's vacation ends, Tanino decides to follow her to the U.S. -- not realizing that Sally's interest in him ended when her vacation ended. Upon arriving in America, Tanino learns the truth about Sally -- while being mistaken by Sally's father for his wife's lover. Beating a hasty retreat, Tanino takes refuge with an Italian-American family he encountered on his trip to the U.S., only to just as quickly find himself affianced to a corrupt politician's daughter. Forced to escape once more, Tanino heads to New York City, which prompts the young man to follow his dream of meeting film director Chinawsky (Don Franks) and maybe study with him if the reclusive filmmaker will allow it. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corrado Fortuna, Rachel McAdams, (more)
- 2001
A young man who was an outcast in his own family finds himself embraced by another, with troubling results, in this drama based on a novel by Italo Svevo. Zeno (Fabrizo Rongione) is the son of a wealthy family whose father (Toni Bertorelli) did not place much faith in the young man's abilities; during their final moments together, the father's parting gesture was a literal slap in the face, and as a condition of his father's last will and testament, Zeno will not receive his share of the family fortune until he's shown the ability to hold down a job for an entire year. Zeno finds employment at an art gallery owned by Giovanni Malfenti (Mimmo Calopresti), a longtime friend of the family, and Giovanni grows fond enough of Zeno that he brings him home to meet his four daughters. Shy Zeno soon becomes infatuated with Giovanni's oldest daughter Ada (Chiara Mastroianni), but when he fails to make the first move, Ada does it for him, and before long she's talked Zeno into her bed. But Ada quickly loses interest in Zeno, and the process begins to repeat itself as Alberta (Claudia Coli), the next-oldest of the Malfenti sisters, sets her sights on the young man, who is drawn into a strange web of jealousy and competition among the various members of the family. Le Parole Di Mio Padre was screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Un Certain Regard series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fabrizio Rongione, Chiara Mastroianni, (more)
- 2000
Mimmo Calopresti directs this subtle coming-of-age drama about the prejudices between the north and the south of Italy. Rosario (Michele Raso) is from Calabria in the Italian deep south. Because of the fact that his father is in jail and his mother was rubbed out in a mob hit, he has grown into a fiercely proud and self-sufficient lad. Matteo (Paola Cirio), on the other hand, is a mopey rich kid, the son of successful Turin businessman Luigi (Silvio Orlando). An unlikely string of coincidences leads to Luigi stumbling upon Rosario, who proves to be a distant relative. He arranges for his old friend Don Lorenzo to take in the orphaned waif and encourages him to hang out with Matteo. Soon, as Luigi's prejudice against southerners becomes more and more apparent, Matteo and Rosario become fast friends. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Dominated by a cast of newcomers, this comedy of errors from director Paolo Virzi aims for both laughter and poignance. Three factory workers who lose their jobs when their employer closes shop decide to join forces and open an ostrich ranch, in hopes that ostrich meat will find favor on Italian dinner tables. Elsewhere, Mario, a restaurateur, is suicidally depressed over the collapse of both his business and his marriage. Renato, leader of the ostrich ranchers, discovers his sister is romantically involved with a government councilor, also named Mario, who could approve state financing that would keep their business afloat. Renato dumps every penny he has into an elaborate party in hopes of impressing the councilor, but when he goes to the train station, he picks up the restaurant owner instead, who is so dazed by pills and exhaust fumes that he's not sure where he is. Italian television comic Massimo Gambacciani makes his film debut here, one of only two experienced actors in the cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francesco Paolantoni, Massimo Gambacciani, (more)
Former documentary filmmaker Mimmo Calopresti (The Second Time) made this Italian-French romantic drama that focuses on fragile and phobic 30-year-old Angela (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). She should have a comfortable life, yet she sinks into solitude, hungers for love, can't communicate with her wealthy mother (Daria Nicolodi), and makes decisions based on various colors and numbers. Her conversations with her mother are strained and formal, so she expresses her barren existence during visits to her psychoanalyst (Calopresti), who has problems of his own. A meeting with divorced cello teacher Marco (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) sets Angela veering in another direction, one with obsessive overtones. The absent-minded Marco has his own emotional needs, and his passivity is seen in contrast to his energetic teenage daughter Malvi (Emanuela Macchniz). Making anonymous overtures to Marco, Angela sends him fragments of Japanese love poems, but he simply thinks one of his students is responsible for the notes. After an argument with her analyst upsets her, Angela's anxieties increase. She checks herself into a psychiatric clinic where she finds a friend in fellow patient Sara (Marina Confalone). Indications during a later encounter with Marco suggest the two might indeed find a connection. Once down as a producer of this film, Gerard Depardieu instead did only a brief cameo appearance in the role of a lawyer. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, (more)
- 1997
In this bittersweet coming-of-age comedy, seven-year-old Piero (Matteo Campus) lives in Livorno, a city along the coast of Tuscany, in a low-rent shantytown the locals call "Ovosodo" (which literally translates as "hard boiled eggs"). Piero is forced to grow up at an early age after the death of his mother, leaving his father to raise him and his mentally challenged brother on his own. As Piero turns 13 (now played by Malcolm Lunghi), his dad -- a second rate criminal with no gift for staying out of jail -- complicates matters by bringing his new (and pregnant) girlfriend Mara (Monica Brachini) to live with the family. Despite his difficult childhood, Piero is a bright boy, and he is encouraged to pursue greater educational opportunities by Giovanna (Nicoletta Braschi), a widow who teaches at his school. Piero gains a friend at his new school, Tommaso (Marco Cocci), a rich but troubled boy, and a few years, later the 18-year-old Piero (Edoardo Gabbriellini) finds love with a girl named Lisa, though sadly it's not destined to last. Ovosodo won the Special Jury Prize at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edoardo Gabbriellini, Malcolm Lunghi, (more)
- 1996
Two disparate Italian families battle it out on a remote island during summer vacation in this barbed social comedy that sharply comments on the yawning chasm created by ideological and political differences between liberal-but-narrow-minded intellectual elitists and ultra-conservative, ignorant masses. The story's battleground is set upon the island of Ventotene and on either side are adjacent cabins. In one stays the intellectually arrogant Sandro Molino. He brings with him his girl friend Cecilia, her baby, and her father. Cecilia is constantly insecure about her relationship with Sandro while papa Mauro, a failed thespian, fights his ever-encroaching depression. The Molino camp and its many followers spend their days playing music, sipping wine, smoking hashish, grooving on nature and engaging in endless conversations until the prominent Roman gun merchant Ruggero Mazzalupi and his boisterous family show up and spoil everything. The riotous Mazzalupis are as vulgar as the Molinos are tragically hip. The real conflict begins when Sandro threatens to turn Ruggero in for abusing a Senegalese servant. Chaos between the clans erupt, but amidst the cafuffle, two teens still manage to fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
A former terrorist from the early 1970s, who has totally suppressed the memory of the night in which she almost executed a man; encounters her intended victim a few years after the crime was committed. He, who wound up with a bullet lodged in his skull has never forgotten her, and so begins a complex, compelling Italian psychological drama that does not provide any simplistic answers to a situation that is difficult for both parties. The woman, Lisa Venturi was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to serve a 30-year sentence. Though she has only been in prison 12 years, she is given a chance to do work release during the day. It is on her way to work that she runs into Professor Sajevo, the man she tried to kill. He shows some interest in her, but she has no idea why. Soon the meetings become a strange unspoken ritual. Every day on her way to work, he manages to block her way. Finally she begins thinking he wants to court her and so begins fabricating a perfectly normal life. He meekly seems to buy every word, but eventually, he tells her the truth. Lisa is so deeply upset at having to face what she so carefully tried to hide from herself that she gives up her job and returns to the prison so she will not have to face him. Unfortunately, it is unavoidable, as by then both of them are pulled inexorably towards more communication about the situation and the ideology that threw them together in the first place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This Italian romantic comedy examines the life of the working class in modern Tuscany. Bruno is going to be among those laid off from the local steel mill. His consternation is compounded by his wife Mirella's discontent. Though they've only been married three years, she is already involved in an affair with a local television host, Gerry Fumo. When Bruno, the last to know, finally learns of the affair, he asks her to leave. She moves in with Fumo, but inside, misses Bruno. After Bruno and friends try unsuccessfully to open their own steel mill, Bruno has a serious coronary. Mirella temporarily returns, then leaves after the couple decides that they would be happier apart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudio Bigagli, Sabrina Ferilli, (more)
- 1993
- R
Marco (Claudio Bigagli) is an insurance adjuster who must travel all over Tuscany in order to investigate and settle claims put through by his firm's various branches. This brings in a tidy sum of money, and he has every reason to expect that he will continue to prosper in his work. He manages quite successfully to organize every event in his own life, but he can't manage the lives of others. His tidy and reasonably satisfying world comes unglued when his mother's extramarital affair causes dissension between her and his father. The tidiness of his life is also undone when his former girlfriend actually gets married, and his current girlfriend dumps him. Soon he is irritated even by his work, and then the real hysteria sets in. The only thing he can think to do is to opt out of having such a tidy, predictable, yuppiefied life, and this is what he does. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudio Bigagli, Gigio Alberti, (more)
- 1991
It's pretty clear that the people who are attending the tenants' management meeting for the low income housing unit they live in are there unwillingly. They don't care about much except their own lives -- certainly not maintaining their building. When a new tenant, Carlo Delle Piane, arrives at the meeting dressed in a suit and looking like a kind of boss, the tenants' association immediately appoints him as the apartment administrator. To their astonishment, he takes his responsibilities seriously, and at least a little in their lives begins to improve. Vignettes in the lives of the tenants flesh out this dark comedy, as some experience hardship and suffering, and others gain reason for a bit of hope. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo delle Piane, Ottavia Piccolo, (more)
