Galatea Ranzi Movies

A young man struggles to hold on to his life with his family against the judgment of those who want to help him in this drama from Italy. Salvatore (Allesandro Mallia) is a thirteen-year-old who has become the primary breadwinner in his family after the unexpected death of his parents. Salvatore has a younger sister and a grandmother to look after, and while at first he tried to juggle school with the fishing and tomato farming that kept the family fed and the bills paid, the youngster has abandoned his studies, at least for the meantime, in the interest of keeping the household together. Salvatore's truancy draws the attention of Laura Valvo (Galatea Ranzi), a social worker who becomes aware of his situation. Laura wants to place Salvatore with a foster family and apply to a Catholic charity to help look after his sister and grandmother, but Salvatore will have no part of this. As Salvatore struggles to keep his family together, he's helped by a most unlikely ally -- Marco Brioni (Enrico Lo Verso), the teacher whose classroom he abandoned to help his relations. Salvatore -- Questa E'La Vita was the first feature film from director Gian Paolo Cugno. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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

The complicated travails of several generations of Italian women provide the basis for this drama that is based on a novel by Susanna Tamaro. It begins with the peaceful death of Olga, the elderly family matriarch. Marta, her granddaughter returns from the US to attend the funeral and once in Olga's villa in Trieste, begins reading her grandmother's diary. Olga's story unfolds via flashback. As a young woman, Oldga had to marry Antonio a man she didn't love. Later she became passionately involved with a handsome doctor at the local spa. He impregnates her and shortly thereafter dies in a terrible car wreck. The result of their love is Illaria, who grows up to be terribly neurotic. She bears Marta and then she too dies in an automobile accident, leaving Marta to be raised by Olga. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In Fiorile (US title: Wild Flower), Italy's Taviani brothers once again dissect the manners and mores of the Tuscany region. The story is predicated on a 200-year-old family curse. During the Napoleonic era, Elizabetta "Fiorile" Benedetti (Galatea Ranzi) discovers that her own brother Corado (Claudio Bigagli) is responsible for the crime for which her lover Jean (Michael Vartan) was executed. The embittered Fiorile places a curse on the Benedetti family, declaring that none of her brother's direct descendants will ever achieve true happiness. Over the next two centuries, the Benedettis' ill-gotten wealth increases, but they lose the love and respect of their neighbors. In fact, most people prefer to call the Benedetti family the "Maledettis," or the Cursed Ones. The film's final episode occurs during World War II, as Grandpa Massimo Benedetti (Renato Carpentieri), the last family member directly affected by the curse, relates his tale of woe to a pair of youngsters. Will the curse die with Massimo, or will the innocent young ones be forced to carry it into the next generation? Fiorile is not the sort of movie one sits back and relaxes with, despite its leisurely pace; those willing to work with the film, however, will be amply rewarded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide