Giacomo Piperno Movies

Nastassja Kinski headlines this Italian romantic-tragedy which tells the story of a lonely man and a mysterious blonde amnesiac. The film is set in Milan. Tommaso has a slight physical disability and is very shy. One night upon returning home, he accidently hits a beautiful blonde woman who falls onto his doorstep with amnesia. At first Tommaso does not welcome her intrusion into his life, but then slowly, comes to love her. Unfortunately her memory returns and she returns to her previous life as the lover of Alberto, an aspiring major drug dealer. He is getting ready to field a major coke deal, but the blonde has other plans for Alberto. Tommaso pursues her and refuses to accept her rejection of him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set during the Mussolini years, Open Doors stars Gian Maria Volonte as an old-line judge. Volonte tries to remain faithful to the letter of the law, despite the "improvements" made by the Fascists. His insistence upon justice over dogma results in government reprimands, and ultimately poses a threat to Volonte's well-being. The honesty vs. corruption theme transcends the film's period settings, resulting in an allegorical masterpiece that has significance in any country, any time. Open Doors was a nominee for the "best foreign picture" Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this English-dubbed version of an Italian sci-fi film, a group of aliens lands on the planet in spirit form and take over the bodies of the recently dead. Trouble begins when a toddler tells his dad that he sees his deceased mother walking around every day. When the father investigates, he sees her too, and it soon becomes evident that there's a kind of epidemic of revived bodies going on. However, the aliens are not malevolent, and when their new bodies are gathered into one area by the worried authorities, they give them up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Spread too thin, with a neutral stance on its many protagonists, this political drama about terrorists active in Italy delivers too mild a message to make much of an effect. Based on a book by Luce D'Eramo, the three-hour story is about leftists who renounce guerrilla tactics and turn to common robberies instead while maintaining bourgeois and/or mainstream lifestyles as doctors, secretaries, and other workers. Their objective is to raise money for future guerrilla activities. The central group manages to pull off three big robberies in the same neighborhood within 30 minutes of each other -- and the chase is on. Most viewers will be rooting for the terrorists disguised as criminals at this point. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is more of a pedantic exercise on the effects of their actions, and includes courtroom proceedings that are not as interesting as the crime sequences. The end result makes law and order look boring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Four different comedy vignettes highlight the particular, idiosyncratic viewpoint of Roberto Benigni, a television comedian who originally wrote these four segments with Giuseppe Bertolucci for home TV. In the first sketch, the year is 5 A.D. and Benigni has to baby-sit for his old girlfriend Mary so she and her husband Joseph can have a night out. As Benigni is giving their child Jesus a bath, he muses philosophically about the nature of God and without a word, the little boy stands up on the bath water and leaves the outlines of his face on the bath towel. In the next segment, Benigni is in a quandary because his guardian angel, disillusioned with their relationship, has fallen in love with God and left him. In the third vignette, Benigni faces all-powerful banking bureaucrats in a bid for a loan to buy a house -- not an easy task because he is bully-proof, which alienates the chief fiscal bully, and the consequences are anything but a friendly loan. In the last sketch, Benigni is a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and his antics (like talking into his sword on phone calls) drive his fellow guard to distraction. As the two verbally joust during the night, they bring up the topic of a certain fellow who knows if God exists or not. The subject of God is almost omnipresent in Benigni's comedic repertoire. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A combined force of Italian and American commandos are ordered to attack and take over an air base in North Africa with only two days to do it. The Italian film, dubbed into English, is also known as Sullivan's Marauders. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide