Roberto Benigni

Federico Fellini was one of the leading figures of the international cinema in the 1960s, whose dreamlike images and indelible characters made La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, and Juliet of the Spirits among the most acclaimed films of that era. Fellini himself was a character as unique as any he created for his films, an expansive and outsized visionary who could be either a pleasure or a terror to work with. Fellini: I'm a Born Liar is a documentary on Federico Fellini's life and work by filmmaker Damian Pettigrew, who combines vintage interview footage of Fellini, new conversations with those who worked with him (including actors Donald Sutherland and Terence Stamp), and excerpts from Fellini's films (some of them previously unseen outtakes) to create an insightful portrait of a remarkable creative mind. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Asterix and Obelix, the French comic book heroes created by René Goscinny and Albert Underzo (their adventures have sold 280 million copies to date in Europe), are brought to the big screen in their first live-action adventure. Set in 50 B.C., Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Gérard Depardieu) are a pair of comedic heroes living in a small but well-protected village in Gaul, where a magic potion concocted by Druids turns the townsfolk into mighty soldiers. When Roman troops carve a path through Gaul to reach the English Channel, Caesar (Gottfried John) and his aide de camp Detritus (Roberto Benigni) discover the secret elixir and capture the Druid leader who knows its formula, and Asterix and Obelix are sent off to rescue them. Shot in Brittany, Bavaria, and Arpajon, Asterix et Obelix Contre Cesar brings these cartoon characters to life on a grand scale; it was reportedly the most expensive French-language film ever, at a cost of 274 million francs ($48 million). ~ 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

Wim Wenders revisits his masterpiece Der Himmel Uber Berlin in this film which picks up several years after the original left off. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella (Nastassja Kinski). Damiel (Bruno Ganz), Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin). While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe), a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker (Horst Buchholz), who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place. Peter Falk, who played himself in Der Himmel Uber Berlin, makes a return appearance when a gallery shows the sketches that he was making in the first film; rock singer Lou Reed and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jim Jarmusch's deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring simultaneously in five different cities and five different time zones -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The Los Angeles episode takes place at dusk, as high-powered casting agent Victoria (Gena Rowlands) gets a ride from L.A. International Airport with tomboy driver Corky (Winona Ryder), who would rather go on driving her cab than take up Victoria's offer to make her a superstar. In New York City, novice East German cabbie Helmut Grokenberger (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has difficulty working the foot pedals to his hack, and his passenger, YoYo (Giancarlo Esposito), ends up driving himself to Brooklyn, picking up the shrill-voiced Angela (Rosie Perez) along the way. In Paris, an African cab driver (Isaach De Bankolé) ejects a collection of drunken African diplomats from his cab and picks up a beautiful but surly blind girl (Béatrice Dalle). In Rome, cab driver Gino (Roberto Benigni) engages in a heartfelt monologue confessing his past sexual exploits to his passenger, a priest who is dying of a heart attack in the back seat. The film winds down in the last melancholy vignette, taking place in Helsinki, as taxi driver Mika (Matti Pellonpää) picks up three inebriated workmen who regale him with hard-luck stories. But Mika has a much harsher story of his own to tell. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The elfin, irrepressible and very popular Italian comic Roberto Benigni and the similarly popular Paolo Villaggio star in this, the last of celebrated director Federico Fellini's films. The film's dreamlike story follows the meanderings of the moon-struck (or lunatic) Salvini (Benigni). As it opens, Salvini is out in a local wood near his village, appreciating nature, when he spies a group of men standing around looking intently at something. They are watching the window of a house where a portly woman is putting on a striptease for their pleasure. While he watches this, he has a memory of his grandmother. One adventure follows another, but Salvini is never crushed by events which would leave anyone less in love with life in the madhouse - because he is already slightly mad. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Jim Jarmusch follows his groundbreaking Stranger Than Paradise with another rambling, character-driven film with a twisted sense of humor. Set in a seedy New Orleans summer, Down By Law details the meeting of three unlikely convicts and their just as unlikely escape. Zack (Tom Waits) is an out-of-work DJ who is accused of murder when a body is found in the trunk of a stolen car he was hired to drive across town. Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp set up for a fall by a competitor. These two sullen souls are locked in a cell with Roberto (Roberto Benigni), a cheerful Italian immigrant who happens to have killed a man. The chemistry between the members of this loosely bound "team" is fascinating: Zack and Jack are forever laughing at Roberto, yet they rely on his energy and good will to escape their dire situation. The three mismatched miscreants eventually bust out of jail and head into the Louisiana bayous. Tired and hungry, they separate to search for food: Waits goes one way, Lurie another, and the frightened Benigni decides to risk stepping into a ramshackle diner. Somehow or other, he winds up in the arms of gorgeous Italian girl Nicoletta Braschi -- and is even able to provide new clothes and escape routes for his astonished comrades! ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide

Two of Italy's top comics, Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni teamed up to write (with Giuseppe Bertolucci), direct, and star in this comedy about two men accidentally thrown back to the year 1492. In a series of comic sketches, two friends, Saverio (Benigni) and Mario (Troisi) suddenly find themselves in 1492 while on a drive in the Italian countryside. Saverio is enthusiastic, but Mario just wants a ticket home, until he meets the nubile Pia (Amanda Sandrelli). Then Saverio suggests that if they can prevent Christopher Columbus from sailing to the New World, America would never be discovered and the Native Americans would not suffer. Along with this scheme come skits like Saverio explaining a few modern machines to Leonardo Da Vinci. In-between these highlights are lower ebbs in the comic flow, making the end result slightly under the capabilities of both comedians. ~ 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

An off-beat comedy that takes a close look at the homeless and the hungry, Minestrone pulls off its wry and acerbic vision thanks to Sergio Citti, director and co-author of the script (with Vincenzo Cerami). Roberto Begnigni as Maestro contributes his own comedic talents to the film. The story centers around three characters who are brought together through the common human need to survive. Francesco (Franco Citti) and Giovanni (Ninetto Davoli) first meet at a garbage can, fending off a hungry dog for the scraps of food inside. The two men become friends, and soon get thrown in jail for causing a traffic snarl as they look up at the sky. Once in jail, however, they get to know the "upper crust" Maestro who cops his meals by walking into good restaurants dressed to the hilt and leaving without paying the bill. The three hook up as pals, and the story continues as their adventures take them out into the world again, giving the audience a chance to see society's role in the larger issue of hunger. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Noted political filmmaker Costa-Gavras turned his attention to personal issues in this drama. Michel (Yves Montand) has had to deal with the death of his wife, while Lydia (Romy Schneider) is mourning the loss of her daughter. Both Michel and Lydia are lonely, and they are attempting to start a relationship together, but neither has been able to purge themselves of their sorrows, which makes it difficult for them to live in the moment. Clair de Femme was based on a novel by Romain Gary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide