Angela Luce Movies
- 1995
A woman goes to investigate the apparent suicide of her mother and ends up having to face the grim reality of her past in this Italian psychological thriller. It all begins when Amalia, the sixty-something mother of Delia, is found dead on the beach. She had been on her way to Bologna to celebrate her daughter's birthday. Delia, wanting to know why her mother killed herself, journeys back to Naples to discover the truth. There she encounters her mother's supposed lover, Caserta, and his son, Antonio. She also sees her estranged father, who alienated himself from his family with his violent temper. As she continues to explore, she must face the fact that her relationship with her mother was as based on jealousy and disgust as it was with love. She then must face up to a terrible lie she told as a child, one that questioned her mother's fidelity and ruined the lives of everyone around her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
The title of this movie refers to a typical Neapolitan shell-game in which a package of valuable merchandise is switched for something worthless while a brief diversion is used as a cover. This comic anthology is a survival guide to the mad, sometimes joyful anarchy of this ill-managed town, told in ten separate episodes. In one of the funniest, a woman swindled out of her apartment by a phony medium successfully uses his own superstitious belief that there are real mediums somewhere to get her apartment back. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommaso Bianco, Enzo Cannavale, (more)
- 1973
A widower falls in love with the new housekeeper (Laura Antonelli) he has hired for his three sons, but later realizes he's not the only man in the household wishing to have an affair with her. The film, originally released in Italy as Malizia, appears in dubbed English. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Based on the Restoration-era play by John Ford, the Italian 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore (Addio, Fratello Cruelle) stars Charlotte Rampling as the much-put-upon Annabella. Involved in an incestuous relationship with her own brother, Annabella becomes pregnant. This necessitates a quick marriage of convenience to nobleman Soranzo (Fabio Testi). Upon finding out who's responsible for Annabella's plight, Soranzo flies off into a murderous rage. Before you blame the "liberated" 1970s for the racier aspects of 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore, please remember that the source material is 300 years old. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Decameron was the first of director Pier Paolo Pasolini's "trilogy of life." The film, based on the sexually supercharged tales of Boccaccio, is a patchwork of many of Pasolini's favorite themes. Pasolini himself plays the role of an aspiring fresco painter who is advised that his completed work will never be as satisfying as his dream of that work. The film is followed by Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales and The Arabian Nights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
The Stranger is a literal (but still very cinematic) adaptation of the novel by Albert Camus. Marcello Mastrioanni stars as Meursault, a man who feels utterly isolated from everyone and everything around him. This alienation results in sudden, inexplicable bursts of violence, culminating in murder. The subsequent trial of Meursault manages to convey the oppressive heat of its Algerian setting with director Luchino Visconti's usual veneer of elegant decadence. Though set in the 1930s, the sensibilities of the film were very much attuned to the 1960s: the problem was that Camus' sentiments had been adopted by so many other filmmakers of the period that The Stranger seemed rather commonplace. The film was originally released in Italy as Lo Staniero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, (more)
- 1966
Stuck in a dream world of his own, Italian sculptor Albert Saporito (Marcello Mastroianni) sometimes has difficulty separating truth from fiction. When he dreams that his gangster neighbor has been murdered, he reports the crime to the police, only to involve himself in a complicated situation. This film is in Italian with English subtitles. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Raquel Welch, (more)
- 1962
When an insurance salesman comes to a small Italian town, he is mistaken for a Fascist official sent from Rome. He is greeted by town officials and has an audience with a man plotting a resistance movement. The innocent salesman is caught up in the political upheaval that swept Italy in the days leading up to World War II. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Gino Cervi, (more)
- 1960
This drama, loosely based on the legend of the "Hunchback," is set in Rome, 1944. The story begins as the Hunchback, a leader of the Resistance rapes a Nazi collaborator's daughter. Later he falls in love with her. As he is trying to steal arms from a Nazi arsenal, the Germans shoot the Hunchback. He ends up hiding in her house where he kills her father. He is soon captured and tortured by the Fascists. Meanwhile, the hapless girl miscarries her child and becomes a prostitute. Later the Hunchback and his 150 Resistance fighters take over a Roman suburb and attempt to liberate the town whores from a life of prostitution. His attempts fail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Blain, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1959
An intentionally shocking drama about the down, often violent side of existence on the fringe, this story by Franco Rossi follows the same themes and attitudes found in the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Aldo (Gianni Garko) and Bruno (Spiros Fokas) grew up as close friends in the same neighborhood in Rome but as they got older they drifted apart. Aldo has turned to petty crime and his girlfriend, a hooker, is actually supporting him. Bruno is introduced back into the life of his friend though he himself is not a part of the shady, destructive world that surrounds Aldo. Ultimately, Bruno cannot resist the effect of Aldo and his low-life friends, leading to a few wrong decisions and eventual tragedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gianni Garko, Spiros Focas, (more)
