Michele Placido Movies
Lead actor, onscreen from the '70s. ~ All Movie Guide- 2009
A lawman finds himself caught up in the idealism and chaos of the Sixties in this drama from director Michele Placido, inspired by the Rome student uprisings of 1968. Nicola (Riccardo Scamarcio) is a policeman in his mid-twenties who also has a passion for acting. The police are concerned about a group of student radicals who are becoming a major presence on the University of Rome campus, and Nicola is given a special undercover assignment -- posing as a leftist student, he's to become part of the group and report back about their activities. Libero (Luca Argentero) is the passionate and charismatic leader of the cell, while Laura (Jasmine Trinca) is one of their key strategists. Though Libero has a girlfriend, he's clearly infatuated with Laura, but her staunchly Catholic family has fixed her up with a boy who meets their standards but she can't imagine having to marry. Nicola, who is something of a ladies' man, thinks Laura is quite attractive, and his superiors urge him to pursue a relationship with her, but the more time he spends with her and the rest of the group, the more he comes to believe in their cause and begins to question his life as a cop. Il Grande Sogno (aka The Big Dream) was an official selection at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2008
This feature marks a historical first, as the premier co-production between Albania and Czechoslovakia. As a coming-of-age-themed roman-a-clef by helmer Piro Milkani (who co-directed with his son Eno Milkani), the film's autobiographical quotient recalls both the Apu and the Antoine Doinel series. It dramatizes the experiences of a young man based squarely on Piro, during his studies at the FAMU film school in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The season at hand is summer - one of the carefree summers of the early 1960s, several years before the Prague spring. Three film students, all buddies - Slovak Artur, Czech Karel and Albanian Leke (Piro's alter ego) - roll into the rural Czech village of Ceský Šternberk to shoot their FAMU thesis film about a motorcycle factory. As the students' freewheeling, bohemian ways clash with the rural lifestyles of those about them, they begin to encounter a colorful and varied array of local characters. Meanwhile, Leke finds himself torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his kin, and sustains an undying romantic infatuation with the wife of the local chief of police. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Geislerová, Nik Xhelilaj, (more)
- 2007
Italy during the latter days of Benito Mussolini's rule provides the background for this historical drama of divided loyalties during a time of war. Francesco (Michele Placido) is a police detective working in Rome as fascist Black Shirts hold sway over the nation. Francesco has been assigned to investigate the death of Costantina (Barbora Bobulova), a streetwalker who is believed to have been murdered while allied forces were bombing the city. As Francesco interviews those who knew Costantina, including her twin sister, he gains a new perspective on the bitter rivalry between Salo fascists and partisans loyal to Italy's pre-fascist heritage; Francesco also sees a bit of this conflict in his own home as his brother Ettore (Alessandro Preziosi) defends the partisans against the fascist leanings of his sister Lucia (Alina Nedelea). The Blood of the Victims (aka Il sangue dei vinti) proved controversial in Italy for its defense of fascism under Mussolini, portraying the majority of his supporters as patriots acting in support of their nation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Barbora Bobulova, (more)
- 2006
- PG
Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berluscoi is just one of the targets of writer and director Nanni Moretti's satiric focus in this sharp comedy-drama. In the 1970's, Bruno (Silvio Orlando) was one of Italy's most daring and best-respected filmmakers, while his wife Paola (Margherita Buy) was a leading box-office star. However, come the new millennium, things are a whole lot different for Bruno -- Paola is divorcing him, his production company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and he can't get a new project off the ground. When Teresa (Jasmine Trinca), a young woman down on her luck, approaches Bruno with a script, he agrees to take on the project, even though he hasn't read it and doesn't know how he'll raise the money. Bruno discovers he's put himself in hot water when he reads the screenplay and discovers it's a frontal assault on Silvio Berluscoi that doesn't shy away from allegations of his connection to organized crime, tax evasion, bribery and influence peddling. While Italian firms won't dare touch the project, Bruno discovers a Polish financier (Jerzy Stuhr) who will put up the money, but under one condition -- Bruno has to persuade box-office idol Marco Pulici (Michele Placidio) to play Berluscoi. Il Caimano (aka The Caiman) received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvio Orlando, Margherita Buy, (more)
- 2006
A fugitive from justice discovers he has to leave his principles behind to come out of the underground in this drama from Italy. Giorgio (Alessio Boni) was a member of a radical left-wing group who was forced to flee the country when a bomb he planted unexpectedly killed an innocent party. After living in Central America for several years, Giorgio has decided to return to Italy and turn himself in. Giorgio is enrolled in a program where he is "rehabilitated" by cooperating with the police, staring by getting the goods on Anedda (Michele Placido), a corrupt cop. However, before long Giorgio's actions start to seem more like blackmail than justice, as a demands payments from the owner of a topless bar and persuading a married woman, Flora (Isabella Ferrari), to sleep with him until her husband makes good on a long-standing debt. However, temptation becomes too much for Giorgio when Anedda offers to bring him in on a robbery he's been planning; Giorgio's share of the loot looks to be enough to keep him afloat for years, but his new criminal lifestyle is more than he knows how to handle. Arrivederci Amore (aka The Goodbye Kiss) was adapted from a novel by Massimo Carlotto. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alessio Boni, Michele Placido, (more)
Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore returns to the helm for this suspenseful thriller concerning a young Ukrainian prostitute-turned-cleaning woman named Irina (Kseniya Rappoport). Years ago, Irina was drawn into an international prostitution ring before being brutalized by a man named Mold (Michele Placido) who also killed her boyfriend. Flash-forward to the present, and Irina is a humble cleaning woman in a building owned by jewelers. Though her appearance would suggest poverty, Irina always has a sizable wad of cash in her pocket and lives in a large apartment across the street from the loudly dysfunctional Adacher family. Gradually, the mousy cleaning woman works her way into the family home, befriending the parents (Claudia Gerini and Pierfrancesco Favino) and becoming a trusted confidante to their daughter Thea (Clara Dossena). As her relationship with the family deepens, her motivations for getting so close become frighteningly clear. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kseniya Rappoport, Michele Placido, (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)
- 2003
Italian filmmaker directs Il Posto Dell'Anima (The Soul's Place), a drama about a group of dedicated union workers. Set in the small mountain town of Campolaro, the film follows Carair tire factory co-workers Salvatore (Michele Placido), Antonio (Silvio Orlando), and Mario (Claudio Santamaria). When the American-owned company threatens to shut down the factory, the union members organize a serious protest. While the boisterous men chain themselves to the factory doors and get arrested on television to show their solidarity, their long-suffering wives raise money by starting up a homemade pasta business. After several attempts of raising awareness and funds, the union sends a representative to the U.S. to talk to the president of Carair. The Soul's Place was shown in competition at the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Silvio Orlando, (more)
- 2002
Italian director Michele Placido explores the legendary -- yet brief -- affair that occurred between writers Dino Campana and Sibilla Aleramo in the early part of the 20th century in his 2002 romantic drama, A Journey of Love. Early Italian feminist Sibilla Aleramo (played by Laura Morante) endured a forced marriage to an abusive husband due to an unexpected pregnancy at the age of 16. Eventually, she left her husband -- only to also lose all contact with her son due to her husband's spitefulness. These formative years enabled Sibilla to develop a literary voice, as she moved from city to city and began building a reputation not only as a fine writer, but also as a prodigious lover. At the age of 40, Sibilla met the somewhat younger and certainly more unconventional Dino Campana (Stefano Accorsi) and the duo embarked on a notoriously self-destructive and intense two year affair. A Journey of Love was an official competing selection in the 2002 Venice Film Festival and won Accorsi the Volpi Cup from the Festival Jury for Best Male Actor. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Morante, Stefano Accorsi, (more)
Gilda (Susan May Pratt of Center Stage) is a confused young woman, obsessed with iconoclastic actor Michael De Santis (Chris Noth). She repeatedly watches a tape of De Santis being interviewed by an unctuous, James Lipton-type talk show host (played by legendary indie producer's rep John Pierson). After the death of Gilda's beloved Italian papa (Michele Placido), she learns, much to her dismay, that he had a longtime mistress back in Italy. Using the excuse of her grandfather's (Josef Sommer) upcoming birthday, Gilda travels to New York City, planning to find a way to get close to De Santis. Video camera in hand, Gilda explores the city and runs into Adam (Jeremy Davies), a geology student. Sparks fly until Gilda's newfound cynicism turns Adam off. She decides to pose as a reporter for an Italian newspaper, and arranges to interview De Santis. She takes a bus down to Virginia and goes to the set. Everything goes according to plan, but De Santis quickly sees through her ruse. Intrigued by his pretty, spirited young fan, De Santis invites Gilda back to his hotel room, where neither of them finds what they expected. Searching for Paradise, written and directed by Myra Paci, was developed at the Sundance Institute. The film was a minor hit on the festival circuit and was eventually picked up for home video distribution under the Sundance imprint. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan May Pratt, Chris Noth, (more)
- 2000
Cristina Comencini follows up her critically acclaimed 1998 opus Marriage (a funny though sensitive look at marriage in modern life) with this star-crossed comedy. Mafioso Michele Verrio (Michele Placido) has both a wife (Angelica Ippolito) and a long-suffering mistress, Lunetta (Lunetta Savino). Years ago, Verrio's henchmen bombed the car of Lunetta's muckraking brother Sergio (Francesco Paolantoni) after one of his scoops painted a rather negative portrait of the aging mobster. The incident prompted Sergio to go into hiding up north, leaving behind his child Sabina (Eleonora Sergio) and his wife Mara (Laura Morante). Mara eventually got remarried to Emilio (Emilio Solfrizzi), a car salesman, while Sabina went off to study in an American university -- only to return pregnant and engaged to Verrio's son Giovanni (Marco Morandi). Soon the two families that were once sworn enemies now have to try to get along. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Morante, Francesco Paolantoni, (more)
- 1999
Based on a true-life court case that rocked Italy during the 1980s, this film recounts the tribulations of Enzo Tortora, a popular television host who was wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Stefano Accorsi, (more)
One of the masters of Italian cinema, Marco Bellocchio, who has made his name with political films, has been continuing his work with mostly adaptations from literature. La Balia, inspired by a novella of Luigi Pirandello, continues this tradition. The period costume drama takes place during a very turbulent period in Italian history. Neuropsychiatrist Moori and his young wife have just had a little boy who refuses his mother's milk. Mori chooses young Annetta as the nanny after having spotted her at the train station among handcuffed soon-to-be-deported subversives. The illiterate country girl seems to be in good health and suitable for the job. Mori makes a contract with her to abandon her own newborn son and instead feed and care for his child. It turns out that Annetta is not just an ordinary nanny, but a woman with a personality and history. Her presence, particularly her loving relationship with the child, threatens the stability of the family to the point that the natural mother, Vittoria, who has been depressed since the birth, leaves the house in desperation thinking this is the best thing for her child. Bellocchio has no pretensions about bringing a new narrative language to cinema with this film. He tells his story simply and convincingly. Particularly noteworthy is the way he juxtaposes the personal conflicts of the characters with the class conflict that forms the background. Cinematography, décor, lighting, all display distinct professional qualities. Acting by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and newcomer Maya Sansa is worthy of mention. In competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, (more)
- 1999
Panni Sporchi is a satiric comedy from veteran director Mario Monicelli about the public and private squabbles of a family-owned cough drop company. The Razzi family's business has been the economic backbone of a small Northern Italian city for years, but when Amedo (Paolo Bonacelli), the aging head of the company, is fast-talked into financing an expensive commercial set in ancient Rome by his nephew Camillo (Francesco Guzzo), war breaks out among the family. Furio (Michele Placido), husband of Amedo's daughter (Mariangela Melato) and second in command of the company, is outraged at the cost of the spot and the bad publicity it receives; he's even more upset when Amedo drops dead and the inept Camillo is handed control of the business. Panni Sporchi stars several noted Italian comic actors, many of whom have worked with Monicelli before; the cast also includes Gigi Proietti and Ornella Muti. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Mariangela Melato, (more)
- 1998
Director Nicolas Boukhrief, who debuted with the 1995 Up Yours, returned with this French-Italian-Luxembourgian-Belgian drama in seven segments. In a variation on Schnitzler's La Ronde, each segment introduces a character seen in the next episode: In the opening, a murderer strangles a woman. A French soldier, injured in a bomb blast, is attracted to his nurse, but she's engaged to an aspiring stand-up comic. In the Paris Metro, the comedian befriends an older woman, who travels to Italy to join her impotent husband. The husband seeks excitement and finds it with a con artist who supplies sex and drugs. The young con artist's sister is an actress in porn films, and she brings the story full circle when she meets the murderer from the first scene. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Cassel, Francois Renaud, (more)
- 1998
Actor-turned-director Michele Placido directed this Italian political drama inspired by Liliana Rossi, a crusading woman from Puglia, Placido's hometown. Priest Don Gerardo (Placido), at age 50, reflects on his life, looking back to 1958, his childhood, and the discipline of his father (Fabrizio Bentivoglio). Outspoken leftist Liliana (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is in her twenties when Gerardo takes an interest in her, but her leftist leanings generate resentment in the Catholic community. Liliana turns an abandoned stable into a school for local youths expelled from the state schools, but her teaching of progressive ideas on such subjects as sexual equality and birth control stirs up hostility. Becoming politically active, she runs for a local council seat. Torn between his emotional response to Liliana, community traditions, and his religious background, Gerardo learns of Liliana's affair with a married doctor (Enrico Lo Verso), and this leads him to join right-wingers who attack and destroy her school. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, (more)
- 1996
The title creature is not a canine but rather a passionate, strong-willed Sicilian woman who turns her home village on its ear with her constant battles against sexual repression. This sensual Italian drama chronicles some of La Lupa's seductive hunts. Her prey includes a strapping young buck just home from the military and the town priest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Two policemen, one experienced with scores to settle, the other new and vulnerable, provide the impetus for this arresting action movie set in Italy. The story begins with a shoot out in a raunchy disco. There undercover cop, Lazarus, kills three crooks. His reward is a transfer to a desk job in Turin. There he becomes friends with earnest rookie Andrea who comes from a long line of police officers. Andrea is given the job of guarding crime boss Sante who was hospitalized after attempting suicide. Lazarus makes a terrible error and leaves Andrea alone with Sante as he goes to take care of business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The ruination of Michel Sindona, a powerful Italian financier with underworld connections, is chronicled in this historical drama. The tale begins in 1974 after Sindona's banking empire has just collapsed. The state sends in Milanese attorney Giorgio Ambrosoli to supervise the official receivership of Sindona's personal bank. Following the bank's destruction, Sindona high-tailed it to New York, but he still has the lawyer's every move watched. The surveillance is a routine precaution and Sindona isn't too worried about Ambrosoli, whom he sees as just another ineffectual, corruptible bureaucrat, an annoyance, but no real threat to the rest of Sindona's empire. Ambrosoli investigates deeper, and discovers that Sindona is connected to not only, the Mafia, but also the Parliament and to the Vatican. He then becomes a real threat by assuming control of the criminal mastermind's European holdings. While stepping up his investigations, Ambrosoli pays no mind to the ominous hints from the government that he should stop. Thanks to Ambrosoli, Sindona's credibility is severely damaged; meanwhile the lawyer begins receiving anonymous death threats (the actual taped threats are used for added realism). Eventually, Sindona has enough and puts a contract out on Ambrosoli, who was killed in 1979. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
The relationship between a working class father and son provides the focus of this Italian drama set in Genoa. Corrado works as a night watchman on the Genoan harbor. His wife works at a dry cleaners. He is close to retiring, but finds he misses the factory where he spent his youth. He gets his son Gabriele a job there instead. Gabriele wants to pursue his own interests and soon quits. This creates a great gulf between father and son. The conflict is only partially resolved at the film's end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Stefano Dionisi, (more)
An opportunistic Italian swindler heads to Albania and finds himself involved with the life of an impoverished local in this somber political drama. Gino (Enrico Lo Verso) and his partner in crime Fiore (Michele Placido) come to Albania with a money-making scheme designed to capitalize on the surrounding political chaos. For the con to work, however, they need an easily exploitable native Albanian, and they recruit Spiro (Carmelo Di Mazzarelli). Easily confused and utterly impoverished, this elderly former political prisoner seems the perfect choice, until he unexpectedly disappears. Gino is assigned to find him, setting out on a journey that leads him to discover Spiro's tragic personal history and become intimately acquainted with the full extent of Albanian poverty. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enrico Lo Verso, Michele Placido, (more)
- 1993
This political docudrama follows the real-life circumstances that led to the assassination of the anti-Mafia crusading judge Giovanni Falcone (Michele Placido) and his wife, in addition to the assassination of another such judge. A number of high-ranking Italian public figures were under investigation by the judge for their alleged association with the Mafia (and hence with these "hits") and they threatened lawsuits to prevent this film from being made or shown. Some small changes were made to prevent libel suits from being filed. Much of the dialogue comes directly from official documents in the cases the judge was prosecuting. It is interesting to note that, in interviews filmed for U.S. television, the judge acknowledged that his and his wife's lives were in danger, but he felt that the possibility reducing the power of the Sicilian mafia in Italy was worth the risk. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Placido, Anna Bonaiuto, (more)
