Roberto De Francesco Movies

A handful of semi-professional musicians struggle to make a name for themselves in this nostalgic comedy-drama set in Italy in the mid-seventies. Faustino (Antimo Merolillo) is a would-be jazz guitarist who has just graduated from school and is looking for a gig, at least in part because he's trying to avoid the military draft. If he can get local promoter Raffaele (Ernesto Mahieux) to sign him to a contract, Faustino can tell the draft board that he's a professional supporting his widowed mother with his career in music, but getting Raffaele to make a deal is proving difficult. Faustino plays part time with a local band led by hard-drinking Mimmo Falasco (Toni Servillo), but when Augusto Riverberi (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), a once-famous bandleader looking to make a comeback, arrives in town, Raffaele pulls some strings and gets Faustino a job as Riverberi's assistant. In need of a singer, Faustino and Raffaele persuade Riverberi to hire a vocalist named Gerry Como (Peppe Servillo), and the first few dates of the tour go well as Riverberi entertains the crowds and juggles romances with Faustino's mother (Lina Sastri) and a lovely small-town hairdresser (Valeria Golino). But when Raffaele double-crosses Riverberi and runs off with the band's money, Faustino begins to wonder if he'll ever make good as a musician. Lascia Perdere, Johnny! (aka Don't Waste Your Time, Johnny!) was the first directorial credit for veteran actor Fabrizio Bentivoglio, who also co-stars as the bandleader Riverberi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two men learn firsthand about the cruel twists of fame and fortune in a drama from Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino. In the early '80s, Tony Pisapia (Toni Servillo) and his younger brother, Antonio (Andrea Renzi), have each risen to the peak of their chosen professions. Tony is a nightclub singer who after years of struggle has achieved nationwide fame, and Antonio is a soccer player who becomes a star after scoring the game-winning goal in the European championship match. However, a few years down the line both men are experiencing a sharp reversal of their good fortune. Tony has developed a devastating cocaine addiction, and after it's revealed he's become sexually involved with an underage girl, it doesn't seem likely that the public will ever forgive him. Meanwhile, a leg injury has put an end to Antonio's career as an athlete, and he finds himself starting from zero as he tries to launch a new career in coaching; he faces another personal crisis when his wife, frustrated by Antonio's career decline, leaves him. L'Uomo in Piu was loosely based on the true stories of two Italian celebrities, musician Franco Califano and football star Agostino Di Bartolomei. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Mario Martone (L'amore Molesto) wrote and directed this drama about the tragedy of war, beginning with acting exercises in a garage rehearsal area and then intercutting between the lives of Italian stage actors and scenes of their rehearsals on Seven Against Thebes. Director Leo (Andrea Renzi), in 1994, arranges to have his Italian company, as an act of solidarity, do a show in Sarajevo where theaters have remained open. With the support from actor Vittorio (Marco Baliani), Leo seeks a key to staging the Aeschylus play about a civil war and a city under siege. Theater in Sarajevo is shown in contrast to the mainstream theater in Naples with a lavish production of The Taming of the Shrew staged by pompous Franco Turco (Toni Servillo). Actress Luisella (Iaia Forte) leaves Leo's Greek drama for Turco's production. Even though the actors are going without pay to Seven Against Thebes, young talent Diego (Roberto De Francesco) and diva Sara Cataldi (Anna Bonaiuto) both turn away from Turco to work with Leo, while set designer (Sergio Tramonti) contributes to both. Outside the rehearsal space, Neapolitan life goes on with neighborhood disputes, drug deals, fights, a police round-up, and murder -- events drawing parallels with Sarajevo. Some street scenes are unstaged, adding a documentary authenticity. Martone spent several years on this project by filming the rehearsals of a Seven Against Thebes stage production he directed in 1995-96 (featuring the same cast). Martone wrote his screenplay around that material, and then he filmed in the infamous Spanish Quarter of Naples, shooting in 16mm with a blow-up to 35mm. Shown in the Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The English title of this complex Italian film is apt. Featuring 65 main characters and 130 speaking parts (famous faces abound and many of the actors appeared gratis), and ranging in tone from tartly humorous to darkly tragic, it presents 30 interwoven slices from the lives of modern day Romans during a single day. The lone, silent figure of a lone jogger provides a sort of continuity between the vignettes. Beginning at sunset of the previous day, the jogger is seen warming up on his apartment terrace, looking for all the world as if he would like to jump. The rest of the stories seem to be randomly presented. Stories include the robbery of a Chinese restaurant that causes a birthday celebrant to die of fright, two different newlyweds who find themselves attracted to each other, an opportunistic mechanic's plan to capitalize on the death of a rival, a sneaky, sadistic meter maid and others. One uniting feature of the stories is their underlying bitter assessment of modern humanity. People are seen as selfish and basically cruel, still the stories move quickly and the balance between humor and drama, affection and cynicism, and shallowness and complexity is carefully maintained. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An alienated lonely fat man goes off the deep end in this Italian tragedy set in Naples. The man is Crecenzio, a portly meter reader who is first seen blowing up a building. The reasons for this drastic, desperate act provide the basis for the story, which is told in flashback. Up to the explosion, Crecenzio's life had been notable only for it's grimness. His brother Beniamino is as lively and charismatic as Crecenzio is depressive and withdrawn. Beniamino works in an electrical repair shop run by a corrupt, brutish businessman. He works with Giuliana, another alienated soul. Crecenzio has feelings for Giuliana, but she seems to return them out of pity and perhaps empathy rather than real affection. She also sets clear limits as to how much affection the lonely meter man can express to her. Anyway, Crecenzio is the least of Giuliana's worries as much of her time is spent fending off the advances of her boss. The employer becomes so insistent that Giuliana goes to Beniamino for help. This makes Crecenzio jealous and the brothers begin feuding, but the real trouble doesn't begin until Giuliana is finally raped by her boss. When the meter man learns of the violence, something inside of him finally snaps and soon he is caught up in a destructive maelstrom that has a greater effect than Crecenzio ever imagined. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this Italian drama, set during the summer of 1966 when soccer great Bobby Charlton lead England's victorious team, a divorced man goes off the deep-end and kidnaps his children. He is known only as Father. He is a teacher in the South of Italy; his ex-wife is northern Italian. He cannot bear being separated from his two sons Enrico and Francesco so he kidnaps them from his wife's parents home in Austria. He then travels south in a VW bug. As the journey progresses, flashbacks of happy family scenes are shown. Included are home movies. The story also jumps into future and chronicles the reactions of the adult boys to their summer adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Matteo (Vincenzo Salemme) is a very devoted teacher. He spends most of his free time during the school year taking care of his invalid father, but during the summer holidays he occasionally tutors students. This year, he has two students to bring up to speed in physics: Elsa (Carlotta Natou), a confident girl of the '90s, and Giulio (Arturo Paglia), a shy, soft-spoken boy. At the end of the holidays, after many weeks of intense tutoring, Matteo treats his charges to an overnight trip to the sea. Whatever he may possess in the way of good sense should prevent him from acting on his attraction to Elsa, but he is not able to accomplish this perfectly. Giulio is also attracted to the girl, and, while they are on their jaunt together, this puts the two men in competition with each other. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Cristina is passionate, charming, magnetic and forceful, and when she gets involved with Sergio while he is studying at the university, the experience is nearly overwhelming for him. He is easygoing and somewhat aimless; she is determined to have a career as an opera singer. Soon enough she is pregnant and they have a son. He is bemused by the whole experience; she is progressively more irritated by his puzzlement. Before long she has abandoned Sergio and her son, taking work as a singer in Paris. Four years later, this supremely self-concerned woman comes back and wants to claim her son. However, Sergio has devoted the past four years of his life to the boy, and his parenting is not something to shrug off lightly. Enraged, she brings out her big guns, claiming she was pregnant when she met Sergio and that the child is not his. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

There have been quite a few spoofs of Hollywood, and a similar number of spoofs about filmmaking in general. This is one of the few spoofs which is about film festivals and, in particular, the Taormina festival in Italy. It was shot during the 1988 festival using many of the actual participants in the festival as actors and leading characters. When word of the film went round, many more wanted to participate than was originally planned, and further scenes were shot during the next year's festival. It was finally shown at the 1990 festival. Those who are not playing themselves are portraying characters who are easily recognized by those attending the festival, though these references are probably impossible for non-participants to understand. Nonetheless, the scenes showing the chaos and energetic self-promotion behind the scenes serve to leaven the heavy seriousness with which festivals promote themselves. The frequently leaden, self-important themes of many festival films are not exempt from barbs in this comedy, any more than the are the windbag philosophical utterances of the unhappy critics who must watch them. Reviewers of this film expressed considerable pleasure in observing the gusto with which the participants made fun of themselves in this unusual festival offering. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide