Mariella Valentini Movies

A man is given a chance to live out his greatest dream in exchange for committing a capital crime in this offbeat black comedy. Antonio (Ivano Marescotti) has spent most of his professional life working behind the front desk of a hotel as a clerk, and he's struggled for years to put a little money away while supporting his wife (Silvia Cohen) and their two kids, with little success. Antonio's great dream is to move to England and open an upscale Italian restaurant in London, but given his financial situation, he's begun to doubt it will happen in his lifetime. Opportunity presents itself in a very unusual form -- Raniero (Teco Celio) a wealthy and eccentric gentleman who has grown bored with his privileged existence. Raniero is looking for someone to kill him, and is willing to handsomely reward anyone willing to take on the assignment. Raniero approaches Antonio, believing destiny has chosen Antonio to be his angel of death, but even if it will help him open his restaurant, Antonio isn't about to kill anyone. However, Raniero is not to be denied, and he and his underlings do everything they can to force his hand. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two women on the run from the law soon find they have more than the cops to contend with in this feminist thriller from Italy. Eleonora (Mariella Valentini) learns that her daughter Lenni (Regina Orioli), a teenage runaway, is working at a run-down gas station in a small town, and decides to pay her a visit. Eleonora is quite surprised to discover that Lenni also happens to be involved in a lesbian relationship with Stella (Maya Sansa), a mechanic who runs the station. While glad to see her daughter, Eleonora makes no secret of her indignation, and after a heated argument Eleonora winds up dead. Lenni and Stella set out to find a safe place to hide the body, but, en route, they're trailed by three sexist toughs (Chiara Conti, Marco Quaglia, and Pietro Ragusa) whose childish taunting escalates into violence, forcing the women to fight fire with fire. As if they didn't have enough problems, Lenni and Stella must also contend with the spirit of Eleonora, who, even in death, will not keep her uncharitable opinions to herself. Benzina made its North American premier at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmed from a child's viewpoint, this gripping drama follows the exploits of a doctor, his wife and their three children after they flee Rome in war-torn 1943 to find safety on their grandfather's farm in Lazio. Shortly after their arrival, the children, ages five-to-seven and largely clueless about the war and their parents' fear, settle down to making new friends with the local kids and attending the local school. But as time passes, the war encroaches upon the children's lives in small ways and they come to discover a surprising secret about the much-loved grandfather. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Italian political thriller takes a look at a recent government scandal wherein everyone from politicos to chiefs of police to secret service people and financiers were involved in receiving kickbacks. Though the tale is fictionalized, many of its characters are based on real people, and as a result, co-producer Luciano Martino received several anonymous death threats before the film was released. The film centers on the efforts of a courageous cop, Carlo Tommasi, who works on the anti-Mafia squad. He is assigned to look into the bombing in downtown Milan that resulted in the deaths of five people. Although Ravida, the head of the secret service, quickly serves up a suspect, neither the state prosecutor Francesca Savona nor a straight-arrow minister believes that the suspect is guilty. While in prison, the suspect mysteriously dies. Soon more begin to die until Tommasi is able to find the perpetrator of it all, a former agent for Ravida. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Reverse sexual harassment is the focus of this Italian film. Copy editor Aldo finds himself the object of Clara, an important publisher with a taste for seducing and devouring handsome young executives. Though Aldo is not terribly handsome, Clara is attracted by his sweetness and she seeks to "own" him. She employs a variety of manipulative and demeaning technique to make poor Aldo more amenable to her "charms." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mariella has two teen-aged children, but that doesn't seem to have much impact on her life. She continues to be a reporter obsessed with digging for the next story, no matter what the personal difficulties involved. Her ex-husband is similarly involved in his career, and their son Paolo has had enough of this sort of parental indifference. He has split, flown the coop, disappeared, run away, and abandoned the nest. However, if his absence was intended to electrify his inattentive parents into paying attention to him (even in his absence), it almost looks as though the attempt will fail. Days go by before his unspeakable mother even notices he hasn't been around for a while. However, she's not an investigative reporter for nothing, and eventually, with the help of her current boyfriend, she tracks down her indignant offspring -- but not before she's given the essential clue to his whereabouts by his industrious eleven-year old sister, who has wired their entire apartment for sound, and who has hooked her computer up to all sorts of unlikely extensions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Luca (Fabio Bussoti) is a successful novelist and has plenty of money. He is fairly young and is in good health, too. What he doesn't have is peace of mind. His girlfriend's suicide has left him feeling guilty and edgy, though he bears none of the blame. In order to proceed with his next novel, he goes to a small village and rents an apartment there. Someone has painted a mural on one of the walls of the apartment which has a woman in it who reminds him of his departed girlfriend, and he is unnaturally drawn to that painting. Whether there is something supernatural about it or he is suffering from mental disturbance is difficult to tell. He gets some relief from his somber state of mind in the arms of a lovely circus performer, but all too soon his obsession returns. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This humorous and peculiarly Italian movie is unlikely to have been released outside that country, largely because of the intricacies of its political references. Writer/producer/director/lead actor Nanni Moretti has filmed a semi-autobiographical story which combines the action in a rousing water polo championship game (the film's name, Palombella Rossa, refers to a water polo move) with the efforts of the team's amnesiac star player (Moretti) to remember his past. In particular, he wants to remember why he is a communist. As the story unfolds, references to well over 20 years of Italian communist history and infighting emerge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This amateur, improvisational movie does not feature a strong story line, but rather the images and experiences encountered by a young woman looking for a good subject for the first song she is going to record. The city of Milan is the backdrop for the woman's ramblings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide