Riccardo Scamarcio Movies
- 2009
One man's dogged search for freedom and a better life leads him on a picaresque journey in this comedy-drama from celebrated filmmaker Costa-Gavras. Elias (Ricardo Scamarcio) is a young man from a nameless country in the Mediterranean who has tossed away his passport and paid a smuggler a handsome fee to be hidden inside a ship making its way to Europe. When immigration authorities stage a surprise inspection, Elias jumps ship along with a number of other unauthorized passengers, and hours later he washed up on the clothes-optional beach of a luxury resort on the Southern coast of France. Wearing tattered clothes amidst folks who wear designer originals when they bother to dress at all, dogged by hunger while guess nibble at lavish open buffets, and presumed to be a laborer by the few guests who pay attention to him, Elias is a stranger in a very strange land as he tries to avoid immigration police and survive in a place where he can't speak the local language. Elias stumbles into a brief affair with Christina (Juliane Köhler), a German tourist looking for kicks, but he fares better when he meets Nick Nickelby (Ulrich Tukur), a traveling magician who gives Elias a job as a temporary assistant and invites him to visit him in Paris. When Nickelby moves on, Elias decides to make his way to the fabled city, which is the beginning of a long and sometimes dangerous journey though class-conscious Europe. Eden à l'ouest (aka Eden Is West) was screened at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival only a few days after its world premiere, appropriately held in Paris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Riccardo Scamarcio, Juliane Köhler, (more)
Growing up in small-town Italy during the '60s and '70s, brothers Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) embody and celebrate opposing political stances, but share an impassioned love of the same woman that threatens to drive them to blows. Director Daniele Luchetti's political comedy Mio Fratello È Figlio Unico (aka My Brother Is an Only Child, 2007) observes the brothers over the course of 15 years, against the ever-shifting backdrop of tumultuous Italian sociopolitical history. During that time span, the siblings' loyalties will fluctuate; they will endure arguments and quarrels, and find themselves separated by the ravages of time and circumstance and reunited magnetically by the wisdom of age. In time, they will come to a firmer and clearer understanding of not only the differences but the similarities that they harbor. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, (more)
- 2007
Indie stalwart Abel Ferrara helms this quirky comedy about the goings-on at a downtown cabaret. Willem Defoe stars as Ray Ruby, the proprietor of a joint where all of the dancing girls have big dreams of working their way up to bigger and better things. But trouble begins to brew when money suddenly comes between Ray and his two associates, played by Bob Hoskins and Matthew Modine. Asia Argento and Drea de Matteo also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, (more)
- 2005
Giancarlo De Cataldo's best-selling tale about three lifelong friends effectively take control of organized crime in modern-day Rome comes to the screen in this sweeping crime drama from director Michele Placido. Libanese (Pierfrancesco Favino) is the cold-hearted leader of a juvenile delinquent trio that also includes undyingly loyal Freddo (Kim Rossi Stuart) and power-hungry Dandi (Claudio Santamaria). After kidnapping and casually murdering a baron (Franco Interlenghi), the scheming friends soon form the shady alliances with the local gangsters, corrupt cops, and secret service members that will allow them the opportunity to effectively corner the market on heroin sales. Meanwhile, determined Inspector Sciloja (Stefano Accorsi), who has made it his goal to bring Libanese and his cronies to justice, stealthily manages to trace back the marked ransom money from the baron's kidnapping to Dandi's girlfriend Patrizia (Anna Mouglalis) - an alluring call girl whom the inspector soon finds himself falling for. But Inspector Sciloja isn't the only one to fall under the spell of a female who seems strangely out of his reach. On the other side of the law, Freddo becomes enamored by the decidedly pure Roberta (Jasmine Trinca), whose attempts to educate the smitten thug in the beauty of the Italian Masters seem to be made in vain. In projecting a fictionalized tale of murderous criminality against the larger backdrop of Italy's turbulent social history during the waning decades of the 20th Century, director Placido strives to craft a film that is not only entertaining, but historically relevant as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
- 2005
A good-natured Saturday night gathering amongst a group of thirtysomethings takes a decidedly perilous turn in director Fausto Paravidinio's moody entry into the 2007 Karlovy Vary Int'l Film Festival. At first the celebration was going strong, but when memories of two previous events arise and bitterness rears its ugly head, the events soon threaten to take a turn toward the tragic. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Golino, Fausto Paravidino, (more)
- 2003
Italian filmmaker Lucio Pellegrini directs the romantic comedy drama Now or Never, set against the backdrop of the 2001 anti-globalization protests in Genoa, Italy. David (Jacopo Bonvicini) is a college student who is secretly in love with political activist Viola (Violante Placido). In order to spend time with her, he joins up with the activist collective Mompracem. While he finds himself more devoted to the cause, he learns that Viola is dating the group's leader Luca (Edoardo Gabbriellini). Despite a short fling with fellow activist Vanna (Camilla Filippi), David finds himself more devoted to Viola, as well. He then runs into trouble with his old friend Doveri (Elio Germano), who doesn't appreciate what the group is doing. The conclusion finds him conflicted with an exam falling on the day of the big protest. Now or Never was shown in competition at the 2003 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacopo Bonvicini, Violante Placido, (more)
