Renato Scarpa Movies

A guy finds himself living most men's fantasy, only to learn it isn't as much fun as he imagined in this offbeat Italian comedy. Alberto Colombo (Maurizio Nichetti) has spent 20 years working an insignificant desk job with a large multinational corporation, and he not only has little to show for his efforts, but like most of his co-workers, he fears he could be fired at any moment. What's worse, the heads of the firm have insisted that their Italian employees learn to speak English in the name of efficiency, which only makes things more difficult and annoying for him and his co-workers. Colombo gets little respite at home, since his wife Margarita (Maria de Medeiros), who manages a fast-food restaurant, has decided they should speak English at home as well. Colombo thinks he's reached the end of the line -- both personally and professionally -- when he's sent on assignment to Melancias, a small Latin American community where several employees have disappeared in the past while searching for oil reserves. Colombo assumes the worst, but once he arrives, he discovers most of the workers sent to Melancias are alive and well and stayed there by choice; it seems that the town is populated almost entirely by beautiful women, and no man who arrives there will ever want for romantic attention. But Colombo soon discovers that even paradise can have a downside, as he learns it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Honolulu Baby was directed and co-scripted by leading man Maurizio Nichetti; the picture was shot on 35 mm film, then transferred to digital video for post-production work, including special color manipulation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young man finds that places as well as people can change with the years in this drama from Italy. Tobia (Federico Galante) is a young boy from a wealthy family who is fascinated with the Caffe Quattro Palme, a small, beautifully appointed cafe that caters to a small but loyal clientele of aging individualists. Tobia senses there's something special about the place, and he spends much of his time there, getting to know Giuseppe (Roberto Citran), the head waiter. A decade later, Tobia (now played by (Nicola Russo) still hangs out at the cafe, and he's made the acquaintance of another regular, a lovely young woman named Annetta (Candice Hugo). But with the passage of time, the cafe's old regulars have begun to drift away, and a crowd of young bohemians and vagrants begins to take over, changing the character of the place and leaving Tobia to wonder if he can still call it his own. Tobia Al Caffe was shown in competition at the 2000 Taormina Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Grossly mistaken identity provides the impetus in this Italian farce. Loris is an anti-social fellow with a high sex drive. During a party he is pointed towards an "easy mark." Unfortunately he approaches the wrong woman. When he discovers his mistakes, he nervously apologizes for the attempted liberties. A run-away chain-saw becomes involved and the frightened woman ends up filing a police report. Her report leads police boss Frustalupi that he has finally found the crazed sex killer the "Mozart of vice" whom Frustalupi has hunted for the last 12 years. Situations go from bad to worse as the police begin surveillance upon Loris whose every action becomes misconstrued by them. Things get even stickier when they put policewoman Jessica on the case as undercover bait. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this remake of the 1983 Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skarmeta, the time and place have been changed to Italy in the 1950s, but the relationship between the Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda and Mario (Massimo Troisi), the postman who delivers his copious mail, is still the focus of attention. In this version of the story, scripted by a collective of Anna Pavignano, the director Michael Radford, Troisi himself, and a few others (based on Skarmeta's original story), Neruda is an aloof and slightly elitist figure who is seeking solitude on an island off the coast of Italy, taking a respite from political problems at home. Mario is a poet at heart and employs every measure he is capable of inventing to win his way into the affections and attention of the great author. As his efforts start to bear fruit and Neruda unbends and begins to share conversation and philosophy with Mario, the postman idolizes the poet all the more. Eventually, Neruda shares his leftist political philosophy as well -- and helps him win over the captivating Beatrice, the woman of Mario's dreams. When Neruda leaves, Mario enters into high gear as he prepares material for the next time he sees Neruda -- his ardor and patience, alluded to in the original title -- are essentially indestructible. (Massimo Troisi) was fated never to know that Il Postino would receive worldwide acclaim and be nominated for an Oscar for "Best Picture" in 1995 (the first foreign film nominated in that category since Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers 22 years earlier). Suffering from a heart ailment and unable to work more than an hour or two on the filming of Il Postino each day, he died in his sleep at the age of 41, the day after shooting ended on the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this evidently experimental, episodic film, moments in the lives of a disparate group of people who love or make love to one another are screened. Some of these scenes are filled with whimsey, others are tragic. In one of them, a girl develops an obsession with the transplant recipient of her dead lover's heart. In another, a woman struggles to break off an unhappy romance. In yet another, a mischievous wealthy woman helps a shoplifter escape from a store she has stolen from. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This three-part romantic comedy illustrates that people are never too old to fall in love and often act too old when they are young. Silvio Ceccato plays a man who believes he is Socrates. His concerned wife hires two actors of questionable talent to play his "disciples." Soon the wife and the man's own psychiatrist (Luciano De Cresenzo) are questioning their own sanity. Part two finds the 65 year old Carlotta (Caterina Boratto) as the attractive widow who acts like a teenager. When she falls in love, her conservative son Oscar (Renato Scarpa) and his wife try to stop her -- in fear she will spend their inheritance. The third story finds the impoverished Alphonso (Enzo Cannavale) wandering the street on New Years Eve hoping to buy fireworks for his young sons. He meets a learned astronomer who explains how the new year should really fall a week later. The happy Alphonso accepts the explanation and explodes a cherry bomb the following week, which leads to his arrest. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Giulia E Guilia, also released as Julia and Julia, is an unusual, interesting film by director Peter Del Monte, a nightmare vision of a world where nothing can be counted on and where truth is relative. The plot unfolds as a series of surprises, the first surprise being central to the entire plot. The story begins on Julia's (Kathleen Turner) wedding day when she is to be married to her Paolo (Gabriel Byrne). After the wedding, Julia and her new husband are involved in a car accident. From then on, the construction of the story, both clever and perverse, defies explanation, with an inner logic of its own. Julia finds that she can be sure of nothing nor can the viewer. This is both the strength and basic flaw of the movie. The movie will fascinate some viewers while confusing others. Nevertheless, the movie is a superb directorial achievement by Monte, making his English language debut. It should also be noted that this is the first feature shot entirely in high definition television technique and then transferred to film, with generally excellent results. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Tunisia on a budget of 30 million dollars, the five-part, 12-hour miniseries A.D. was the final installment in a historical trilogy which included Moses the Lawgiver and Jesus of Nazareth. Covering the years 30 to 69 A.D., the teleplay, co-written by Anthony Burgess, chronicled the political intrigue which plagued the Roman Empire, with such key players as the emperors Tiberius (James Mason in his final role), Caligula (John McEnery), Claudius (Richard Kiley), and Nero (Anthony Andrews) calling the shots. Meanwhile, the death of Jesus Christ (played by Michael Wilding, son of Elizabeth Taylor) not only sparked a widespread monotheistic religious movement, but also resulted in devastating factionalism amongst the various Jewish sects of the era. Offsetting the true events are a number of fictional subplots, among them the romance between Jewish slave girl Sarah (Amanda Pays) and Roman soldier Valerius (Neil Dickson), and the tempestuous relationship between male and female gladiators, Caleb (Cecil Humphreys) and Corinna (Diana Venora). The huge cast included Ava Gardner, making her TV-movie debut as the scheming Agrippina. The winner of an Emmy award for Best Film Editing, A.D. was broadcast by NBC from March 31 through April 4, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not quite reaching the standards of its predecessor Thus Spake Bellavista, this turn at the fount of Prof. Bellavista's wisdom has him and his variously inept followers trying to track down a murderer. While using the Prof's telescope to watch Halley's comet, the Bellavista coterie focuses on what appears to be a murder in a nearby apartment. Though Sherlock Holmes would shudder at their investigative techniques, at least the city of Naples is shown to good advantage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This complex French tale eschews a single linear narrative in favor of two parallel storylines that move freely between past and present, reality and fantasy, to chronicle a scandalous love affair between a female author and a certain man who may or may not be a fabrication and the attempts of a screenwriter, wanting to use the story for a film, to learn the truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A newcomer in 1981, Massimo Troisi wrote, directed, and starred in this popular comedy about the trials of Gaetano (Troisi) as he runs head-on into quirky characters ranging from a driver bent on ending it all with him in the car, to his mother who considers his forthcoming trip to Florence right up there with a visit to Siberia. Once Gaetano reaches Florence from his beloved Naples, overcoming all manner of obstacles in the process, he visits his 40-ish aunt and finds, to his chagrin, that she has a lover. He leaves, as this is wholly unacceptable, and ends up staying with a born-again American Christian out to convert the Italians. Life gets a little better as he is befriended by a charming young woman (Fiorenza Marchegiani) who does not want to convert anyone, and he moves in with her. From there, Gaetano starts to overcome his shyness, understandable considering the people he knows, and he contemplates life differently after this short time away from home. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide