Gian Luca Favilla Movies
- 1991
Guiseppe (Paolog Migone), living in Italy in the 1950s, knows that he is poor and his country is poor. Nonetheless, he has a little romance going on with Maria and passes much of his time pleasantly enough, playing billiards at a local eatery. However, when he hears from his friend Franco that Sweden is a "paradise" and that he can earn big money there, he picks up stakes and heads to this unlikely land of milk and honey. He gets his first intimation of things to come when he and other immigrants from southern Europe are routinely deloused at the border. Then he heads off into the countryside to find his friend Franco. It turns out that he works at a pretty grim factory for lower wages than he had bragged of, and that "paradise" consists of a barracks that the immigrant workers live in. All the same, Guiseppe gets a job at the factory and tries to make the best of it. However, not only is his daily billiards game not possible, but the local people take a dim view of Italians dating their women -- especially if the women are married. It's soon time for him to consider moving back to his home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Luca Favilla, Giacomo Poretti, (more)
- 1989
Forever Mary was based on Aurelio Grimaldi's novel Mery Per Siempre, which was also the original Italian title of this powerfully gripping film. Michele Placido plays an idealistic teacher who goes to work at the Rosapina School, a hellhole boy's reformatory. Though almost overwhelmed by the hopelessness and pessimism surrounding him, Placido tries to introduce his classroom of habitual troublemakers to the glories of poetry and history. Some of the more intelligent students begin responding, but the system in which they are trapped is a crushing, debilitating one. Nearly defeated, Placido is about to ask for a transfer, but changes his mind upon realizing that he has come closer to reaching his charges than any of his predecessors. Offering no easy answers, and populated with some of most realistically pathetic hard-case types you're likely to see in a film of this nature, Forever Mary somehow ends on an inspiring (or at least hopeful) note. Filmed in 1989, Forever Mary received an American release three years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Claudio Amendola, (more)
- 1989
- R
Harvey Keitel plays Nikolai Bukharin, one of the leaders of the October Revolution that toppled the Czarist government in 1917. A member of the Politburo and editor of Pravda, he was removed by Stalin because of his opposition to Stalin's collectivization policy. Arrested in the Great Purge of 1937, he was executed the following year. Fifty years after his death, he was officially reinstated to the Communist Party under the more liberal policies implemented by Gorbachev. Bukharin's wife Anna (Flaminia Lizzani) was also arrested and spent decades in exile, always trying to clear her late husband's name. The film culminates when Bukharin dictates a letter for future generations to Anna about the future of the Communist Party. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Flaminia Lizzani, (more)
- 1989
- R
In this off-beat wartime drama, a young Italian soldier stationed in Ethiopia gets into deep trouble after a toothache compels him to set off in search of a dentist. He pauses at a desert oasis and sees a beautiful young woman bathing there. He loses control and rapes her. Afterward he feels bad and spends the entire evening with her. Unfortunately, during that time he hears a wild animal and fires a shot which ricochets off of a rock and mortally wounds the hapless girl. Unable to help her, the soldier shoots her in the head and then buries her body. As the soldier resumes his journey, a little time passes and he and his buddies see two natives wearing strange white garments, just like the poor girl he ravaged and killed. They are obviously pariahs and suddenly he realizes why--they are lepers and so was the girl! Soon the soldier discovers an open sore on his hand that will not heal. Believing that he too has the dread degenerative disease he suddenly remembers his family and fiancee in Italy and wants to see them desperately. Unfortunately, he cannot get home and so ends up seeking solace and forgiveness in the dead girl's native village. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Ricky Tognazzi, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault go through their well-worn passes in this third sequel to their international hit La Cage aux Folles. In La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding the element of Woman is introduced to the carefree world of the middle-aged gay couple of Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault). In this effort, Albin stands to inherit a large part of his Aunt Emma's money (and a large chunk of Scotland) on the condition that he marry a woman and father a child. Albin doesn't want to satisfy his Aunt Emma's will because he is what he is, but Renato needs the money to save his St. Tropez nightclub. So Albin grudgingly consults marriage broker Stephane Audran and tries to act like a conservative heterosexual. Albin runs the gamut in trying to conform, from considering going to Lourdes, to suicide. When all hope appears to be lost, the gay duo finally latch onto a pregnant girl, Cindy (Antonella Interlenghi), who decides that marrying Albin is a shade better than trying to kill herself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Ugo Tognazzi, (more)
- 1984
Two good, aspiring actors give up everything to try for their one break in films in this low-budget, amateurish, but well-intentioned movie that paints a dark picture of the cinematic world. Claudio (Carmine Faraco) and Marco (Gianluca Favilla) are good friends, frequenting the cattle calls for parts in Roman cinema or just simply trying to get their feet in the door in any way possible. Marco has to sleep in his car in front of the bar where he works part-time in order to support his dream of acting, while Claudio has to put up with a father who harangues him about working in the family store and demands he give up his fantasies about acting. With neither financial nor emotional support to sustain them, both young men are destined for some hard-nosed career decisions soon. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Luca Favilla, Nino Vingelli, (more)
- 1983
This story of a World War II romance in the Scottish highlands develops in a gradual but lyrical manner as Janie (Phyllis Logan), a Scottish woman married to a cold and remote man, starts an affair with Luigi (Giovanni Mauriello), an Italian confined to Janie's small community until the war is over. Luigi has two other compatriots to keep him company, but none of the Italians speak English, and life in exile is lonely. Although the townspeople continue to distrust the Italians, Luigi and Janie are kindred spirits, so when they meet, their mutual need is unconsciously acknowledged and sparks are ignited. Whether an illicit wartime romance will endure or not, that is another question entirely. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Logan, Giovanni Mauriello, (more)
