Giulio Scarpati Movies
- 2001
Paolo Taviani and his brother Vittorio Taviani wrote and directed this made-for-TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's final novel. Wealthy and privileged Prince Dmitri Nekhludov (Timothy Peach) is called to serve on the jury of a woman accused of prostitution and murder. When the accused is brought forward, Nekhludov discovers to his surprise that the streetwalker is Katusha Maslova (Stefania Rocca), a peasant woman he led into a brief affair many years ago. Maslova has been charged with the poisoning of a local merchant, but she firmly declares her innocence. Nekhludov and his fellow members of the jury find in Maslova's favor, but the judge overturns their verdict on a technicality, and she is sentenced to life at hard labor. Agonized that his seduction of a once-innocent girl led her down a path of such grim consequences, Nekhludov sets out to change his life in a bid to somehow right the wrong he's done to Maslova. Risurrezione was originally screened in a three-hour version designed for television broadcast in Europe, though it was reported that a shorter cut was being prepared for theatrical exhibition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefania Rocca, Timothy Peach, (more)
- 1996
Three losers in the game of love find solace in each other's company in this touching Italian comedy. Stefano is an unemployed intellectual who just lost another lover. For him it is the third strike and wanting out, he crawls into an empty van, gobbles down sleeping pills and awaits his death. Giulio, the plumber who owns the vehicle finds Stefano. Giulio already has a full-plate of misery with a money-grubbing ex-wife, a daughter who barely talks to him and a faltering affair with a young woman pining for intellectual stimulation, but still, he reluctantly takes Stefano in and helps him recover. Lucia has just been royally burned by her latest lover, a fellow who cruelly stole her heart and life savings before leaving with another woman. In desperation, she has become an expensive call girl. Meanwhile, Stefano and Giulio talk and learn about each other's disparate lives. Giulio talks Stefano into working with him. They meet Lucia when she calls them over to fix her leaky faucet. Stefano falls for her and skittishly begins to woo her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Ulisse is a conductor on board a train running from Sicily to Milan and back during the 1960s. Every day, as the engines clatter over the rails he observes a wide variety of human dramas unfold. This sentimental and ultimately bitter Italian drama chronicles several such mini-dramas using them to comment upon the sad state of modern Italy. In one episode, a Sicilian woman who is moving northward with her family must choose between two disparate suitors. In another, a businessman attempts to conceal the presence of his mistress from his son. In another, a heart-broken nurse finds brief, passionate solace in the arms of a novelist. Meanwhile Ulisse looks out the window and in one scene sees a train heading back for Sicily. On board are many of the passengers he now attends, but they have all aged 20 years. None have fared well, including Ulisse, and this is meant to mirror Italy's own decline. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
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
- 1995
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
- 1994
A young Italian Communist couple come to grips with the fall of Italy's Communist Party and find themselves drifting apart in this Italian-French drama. As the Berlin Wall collapsed in the late '80s, so did the Italian Communist Party. In it's stead has come the more left-wing party the PDS. Since adolescence, Mario and Maria Boschi have been good communist party members. Now that the party is gone, they find themselves drifting apart; especially when Mario eagerly joins the new party while Maria remains a steadfast Communist. Maria soon finds herself drawn to Sicilian Communist Mario Della Rocca. He too is married, but when Maria's mate goes to a conference, she and the new Mario begin a romance. The experience of falling in and out of love makes Maria physically ill. She recuperates at her brother's house and subsequently makes love to the Sicilian. The months fly by. The three are all living alone as they reconcile their many problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulio Scarpati, Valeria Cavalli, (more)
- 1994
This Italian thriller is based on the true story of a young Sicilian public prosecutor murdered in 1990. The young magistrate Rosario is considered a revolutionary in his hometown of Canicatti, which is largely run by the Mafia. He is a serious young man, deeply religious and devoted to his parents with whom he still lives. He firmly believes that justice must prevail no matter what the cost. He does not hesitate to defy public opinion in his quest for justice. His parents fear for him. His boss is irritated by him. Fearing an early death, he dumps his fiance, Angela. So rigid a straight arrow is he, that even the other young prosecutors avoid him. Rosario is eventually gunned down by Mafioso Renato Carpentieri's henchmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulio Scarpati, Leopoldo Trieste, (more)
- 1992
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
- Starring:
- Ennio Fantastichini, Giuseppe Cederna, (more)
- 1991
Marco is a stuffy young man, but he loves his ne'er-do-well brother. When he doesn't hear from him for some time, he begins to search for him and finds that he has disappeared from sight. He looks up his brother's equally unconventional girlfriend and enlists her aid in the search. Along the way, they meet plenty of unusual people, and the strait-laced brother slowly loosens up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margherita Buy, Giulio Scarpati, (more)
- 1995
- NR
Pier Paolo Pasolini was a beloved Italian filmmaker, poet and novelist whose murder in 1975 threw the whole nation into shock. This drama attempts to document the killing and the aftermath while exploring the true motives for the killing. The film opens as the police are in hot pursuit of a car racing along the waterfront of Ostia. At the end of the chase they end up arresting one Pino Pelosi, a male prostitute who confesses to bludgeoning the director to death and running him over with a car. The initial evidence goes along with Pelosi's story. Intermingled with the drama is actual police and press footage of the murder scene, the trial and other related events. As the court goes to trial, it soon becomes apparent that Pelosi is not telling the whole truth. Despite the findings of the media, the police and the lawyers seem to be in an inordinate hurry to close the case and dismiss it as yet another gay killing. Although the film avoids making elaborate postulations about the whole truth of the killing, it does not deny the fact that Pelosi did not act alone. Unfortunately, though Pelosi was imprisoned for his crime, he refused to reveal the identities of the others involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo DeFilippi, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
