Clelia Rondinella Movies
- 1997
Five Italian directors -- Pappi Corsicato, Antonietta DeLillo, Antonio Capuano, Stefano Incerti, Mario Martone -- contributed a quintet of short films depicting life in Naples under the shadow of the volcano for this anthology film of comedy, drama, surrealism, and political commentary on the Italian left. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Bonaiuto, Iaia Forte, (more)
This Italian film was released in 1995 and slowly made its way around the world; its English title is The Star Maker. Like the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso by the same writer-director, Guiseppe Tornatore, it's drenched in the filmmaker's love for cinema. In Sicily in the early 1950s, Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a con man who travels by truck from village to village posing as a film company representative. For a fee, he offers the rubes screen tests, using passages from a script of Gone with the Wind and encouraging their hopes with lines such as "Success awaits you!" Morelli's camera brings out people's hidden sides, including a soldier's war trauma, a woman's protests at being accused of prostitution, and a policeman who recites poetry. Begging for a chance at the stardom Morelli purportedly offers, Beata (Tiziana Lodato) asks Morelli to take her with him. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This Italian comedy examines the emotional and sexual dynamics of several troubled couples. The stage is set at an aged Italian rural villa. Luca and Mara's two girls are making their first Communion, and many relatives have come to watch. Family trouble brews. Luca is planning to leave Mara and the kids for a sexy actress. Mara does not want him to go. Mara's two fluff-headed sisters are also in turmoil. Sister Claudia is involved with a married guy, while Giusy's hypochondria is destroying her love life. Maurizio and Serena, Luca's nymphomaniacal sister, are the only happy couple in the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricky Tognazzi, Barbara de Rossi, (more)
- 1986
Set in the 16th century, this bawdy comedy is erotic without pornographic detail as two women and one man enjoy a wild and lusty relationship. Angela (Laura Antonelli) is widowed and one day, as she gazes out her window, she is stirred by the sight of a dashing blond foreigner (Jason Connery, son of Sean). She eventually sends her ladies' maid to speak to him as a go-between, while the ladies' maid of the married woman next door is on the same errand. It seems the foreigner is more interested in Angela's neighbor but has no compunction about making love to both women. The dashing young man is soon literally dashing from one woman to the next in a mixed-up confusion, not wanting to give himself away as romancing two women instead of one. Meanwhile, the ladies' maids (and others) enter into the act, while the married woman's husband is due home at any time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Antonelli, Monica Guerritore, (more)
- 1985
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The vast differences 27 years makes between Italian comedy, the city of Rome, the stars in this film, and filmmaking itself are apparent in this 1985 sequel to the 1958 I Soliti Ignoti. Clips from the earlier film highlight the changes. Returning to reprise their roles are Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, and Tiberio Murgia. Tiberio (the character played by Mastroianni) has been released from jail, and he is unable to find work. Forced to reluctantly join up with the old gang leader Peppe (Gassman), Tiberio agrees to do a smuggling job when Peppe falls ill. Packing his vehicle with decoy passengers for the border guards, the run works well until everyone is heading back again -- then a series of misunderstandings lead to an unexpected turn of events and a mistaken killing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 1985
The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal is based on Le Deux Vite di Mattia Pascal, one of Luigi Pirandello's many stories concerning the transitory nature of the intangibles "Truth" and "Identity" Marcello Mastrioanni is a downtrodden average man, treated like trash by his fiancee, scorned by his associates, and cheated out of his inheritance by contemptuous relatives. The dispirited Mastrioanni heads to Monte Carlo, where he accrues a fortune. He also assumes the identity of a less fortunate gambler who has committed suicide. The "new" Mastrioanni is treated with a dignity and respect that overwhelms him--and nearly kills him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Flavio Bucci, (more)
- 1984
The Neapolitan Mafia is one of the players in this comedy thriller about how one man in particular manages to scrape up some cash in Naples at the expense of organized crime. Salvatore (Giancarlo Giannini) sets up shop in a local hospital each day to help patients and visitors find their way around. On one of his normal days, a woman named Lucella Picone (Lina Sastri) asks him to find out if her husband is in the hospital morgue -- he burnt himself to death in court to protest the abominable working conditions at his factory. Suspecting that there is something strange in this request, Salvatore cribs Picone's journal and soon deciphers the ciphers -- she is actually an "insurance" collector for the mob. Deciding to take a little advantage of his good fortune, Salvatore starts making the rounds for Picone, letting everyone know that "Picone sent me." Even he knows his good fortune cannot last forever and it does not take long for Picone to catch on to his scheme -- but how can she retrieve her journal and stop him? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giancarlo Giannini, Lina Sastri, (more)
- 1982
The time is the 1930s and Caterina (Anna Melato) is a rather plain woman living in a small village with very little prospects for ever finding a husband -- she is already 30 and still single. Her parents worry about her future, and with the best of intentions the father decides to "buy" her a husband, a rather loutish, egocentric male with his eyes focused on the nubile maid of the household rather than the shy Caterina. Although Caterina begins to like her prospective mate, her father does not hold many illusions about the man's roving eye -- and when he finds the man in quite a compromising position with the maid, Caterina's chances for early matrimony are more or less booted out the door. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefano Madia
