Turi Ferro Movies

Novellas by Luigi Pirandello provided the source for this Italian anthology of two tales written and directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. "Felice," set in Rome of the '30s, focuses on former opera baritone Felice (Antonio Albanese), now an accountant at the Teatro dell'Opera. Felice roars with laughter during his sleep, prompting his suspicious Russian wife (Elena Ghiaurov) to leave him. Abrasive opera director Migliori (Luca Zingaretti) has a daily ritual of tormenting crippled Rambaldi (Giuseppe Cederna). Since Felice has dreamed of joining Migliori in this humiliation, he is overcome with guilt when Rambaldi commits suicide. Felice makes plans to drown himself, but his future brightens after he finds romance with former chorus girl Nora (Sabrina Ferilli). "Two Kidnappings" begins in contemporary Sicily with a mobster holding a youth (Steve Spedicato) hostage to prevent his Mafia turncoat father from naming names but then segues to a kidnapping of 100 years earlier at the same location. Originally a three-parter, the third tale was filmed and edited but later deleted from the final release version. Nicola Piovani's orchestral score includes selections from Rossini. The Taviani brothers previously adapted Pirandello in their 1984 Kaos. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival , the 1998 Toronto Film Festival, and the 1998 New York Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Ernesto (Martin Hahn) is a young Italian Jew of the early 1900s who works in his uncle's factory in Trieste. Not entirely secure with his sexual orientation, Ernesto enters into an affair with one of his uncle's employees--then experiments with heterosexuality, courtesy of an obliging prostitute. When the boy finds himself participating in an arranged marriage with the female twin of one of his male lovers, he finally makes the choice that will determine the direction of his subsequent sex life. The carnal confusion inherent in Ernesto is nothing new to director Salvatore Samperi, who has trod this path before in previous films. This particular effort was based on a novel by Umberto Saba. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Banned in Italy, this movie tells the story of a teenage virgin who has somehow become pregnant. Mary is an epileptic and the town's witch (many rural Italian regions have women who practice folk-magic and medicine and whom they call witches or stregoni). When she appears to die after a seizure, she is given funeral rites but then recovers and walks home. Three months later, she is discovered to be pregnant. A furor gathers as the local people believe they are witnessing a virgin birth. The village priest is encouraged by his Cardinal to find the father of the baby...or else. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Three novice directors went in together to write and direct this routine drama about the Mafia in Sicily. Salvatore (Gian Maria Volonte) lives in a rural environment on the island, and when he becomes fed up with Mafia tactics, he swings into action. First he convinces the farmers and workers that they can band together, and then he convinces them to go on strike against their exploitative employers. The results bring tragedy in their wake, but the beginnings of a unified stance against the mobsters takes hold. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi