Ferdinando Orlandi Movies

The Story of Boys and Girls is about a rural Italian girl who invites the family of her rich Bolognese fiance over for a 20-course banquet at her home. Over the course of the meal, both families talk about many different topics, revealing a number of secrets along the way. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this understated drama by director and co-writer Pupi Avati, the life-changing events that sweep through an office of nondescript bank workers may be minor in the scheme of a greater cosmos, but they have a major impact on everyone involved. The story is told through the eyes of Luigi (Claudio Botosso), just out of college and starting work at the bank as a new recruit. Luigi is shy enough to seem aloof at the beginning, but he quickly gets into the rhythm of office politics, at least as much as his still-reserved personality allows. Luigi would like to go out with Annalisa (Elena Sofia Ricci) but the attractive woman has chosen his former roommate Dario (Dario Parisini) instead. Meanwhile, Luigi is getting an introduction into the small and often corrupt and profligate society around him; women seem willing to bed down with whomever -- though not with him -- and they even get drunk at parties. Older men are chasing women who are their employees, the haves are not interested in associating with the have-nots, and even the rich cannot always get into -- and stay in -- the clubs that define an elite strata. As relationships come and go, one of the more unscrupulous workers is finally discharged, but not before a scandal erupts. And tragedy also lies waiting in the wings -- leaving Luigi with a lot of life experience in a very brief period of time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this inventive psychological horror story from Italian director Pupi Avati, an aspiring novelist named Stefano (Gabriele Lavia) receives an old portable typewriter as a gift from his girlfriend Alessandria (Anne Canovas). One day while playing with the machine, he notices the impressions on the ribbon left behind by the previous owner and becomes curious enough to copy them down and find out what had been written on the typewriter in the past. Stefano is startled to discover that it was once owned by a noted scientist named Paolo Zeder (Luigi Costa), and that Zeder was working on a report on his theories about "K Zones" -- places where supernatural energy is concentrated so heavily that the newly dead will rise from the grave and walk among the living. Stefano sets out to find out the facts about the K Zones, and he discovers that the truth is horrifying indeed. Zeder was originally released in the United States as Revenge of the Dead, and it was marketed as a standard-issue zombie movie, where it predictably failed to find an audience until more thoughtful genre enthusiasts rediscovered the original Italian version several years later. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide