Donatella Finocchiaro Movies
- 2007
Three aspiring moviemakers unexpectedly land a big break and their hometown comes out to celebrate in this warm comedy-drama. Gabriele (Paolo Briguglia), Nicola (Lele Nucera) and Marco (Lorenzo Di Ciaccia) are three young men growing up in Diamante, a small town in the Calabria region of Southern Italy where life moves at its own pace and not much happens. Gabriele, Nicola and Marco are serious film fans who have befriended the town's most famous citizen, Neri (Diego Abatantuono), a well known director waiting out a creative block who offers the boys advice on their dreams of working in the film industry. Gabriele has written a script based on the youthful experiences of his Aunt Caterina (Lucia Ragni), and he and his pals want to go to Rome in hopes of getting it made into a major motion picture. Neri is dubious, but introduces the boys to Francesco (Mimmo Calopresti), a friend and well-known actor who lives in the Eternal City. Francesco gets Gabriele, Nicola and Marco into a party thrown by an industry bigwig, and they're introduced to Amelie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), Francesco's former wife who is currently Gerard Depardieu's significant other. In a remarkable stroke of luck, Amelie agrees to pass Gabriele's screenplay along to Depardieu, and the famed French actor agrees to appear in the film, guaranteeing the project a green light. Overjoyed, Gabriele, Nicola and Marco invite their new colleagues back to Diamante, where they want to shoot the picture, for a celebratory feast, and the stars get a close-up look at how the other half lives. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diego Abatantuono, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, (more)
- 2007
An average Sicilian on the fast track to success within the Cosa Nostra becomes ever more disillusioned about his standing within the ranks of the brutal criminal underworld in director Andrea Porporati's character-driven crime drama. Saro Scordia (Lo Cascio) was just a young boy when his father was killed in a prison riot. In the wake of his tragic loss, Saro is soon taken under the wing of underworld figure Gaetano Butera (Tony Gambino) and shown all the benefits of being truly connected. Later, while Saro is serving a brief sentence behind bars, he makes the acquaintance of influential gangster Uncle Ciccu (Renato Carpentieri). It is this relationship proves especially fruitful for Saro once he returns to the streets, paving the way for a series of increasingly important jobs including a high profile bank job in Turin and a crucial hit in Milan alongside Ciccu's bumbling son Mimmo (Gaetano Bruno). Things soon threaten to fall apart, however, when the love-struck Saro falls deeply in love with the stunning Ada (Donatella Finocchiaro) - a strong willed woman who refuses to become a mafia wife. Though Saro dutifully marries a woman more accepting of his criminal lifestyle and begins raising a family as expected of him by his superiors, the brutality of the criminal lifestyle soon leads him to regret his decision to become an official "man of honor." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luigi Lo Cascio, Donatella Finocchiaro, (more)
After ending up in a scenic Sicilian town while trying to avoid his daughter's impending wedding to a devout Catholic, a famous film director becomes inexorably involved in the nuptials of another beautiful bride-to-be in director Marco Bellocchio's semi-surreal drama. Though he tries to keep a low profile upon arriving in Sicily, director Franco Elica (Sergio Castellitto) soon catches the attention of the bankrupt prince of Gravina (Sami Frey) -- who cordially invites the filmmaker to attend his daughter Bona's (Donatella Finocchiaro) upcoming wedding. As it turns out, Bona was to appear in the director's latest film, a cinematic adaptation of the Italian literary classic The Betrothed. In the time leading up to the wedding, the smitten filmmaker develops a deep longing for the lovely Bona and starts doing everything in his power to sabotage her marriage to a wealthy lawyer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergio Castellitto, Donatella Finocchiaro, (more)
Roberta Torre's Angela is a love story set in the mob world. Angela (Donatella Finocchiaro) is a woman devoted to her older gangster husband, Saro (Mario Pupella). When Masino (Andrea Di Stefano) goes to work for Saro, Angela and Masino begin an affair. Their illicit relationship is discovered when the cops raid the shoe store where she works. The police offer to destroy the evidence of her affair if she will turn on her husband, but she refuses. Angela was screened during the Directors Fortnight at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donatella Finocchiaro, Andrea Di Stefano, (more)
