Dino Di Dionisio Movies
- 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)
Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti directs the teen sex comedy Dillo con Parole Mie (Ginger and Cinnamon). Stefania Montorsi (who also co-wrote the screenplay) plays a woman obsessed by her break-up with boyfriend Andrea (Giampaolo Morelli). Luckily, her 14-year-old niece Meggy (Martina Merlino) shows up and suggests they spend the summer on a party island in Greece. Desperate to lose her virginity, Meggy runs into Andrea on the beach and many mix-ups occur. Ginger and Cinnamon was shown at the2003 Cannes Film Festival market. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefania Montorsi, Giampaolo Morelli, (more)
- 2001
Having recently earned his college degree, Lorenzo Primavera (Eddie Malavarca) leaves his home in Boston to travel to his family's ancestral homeland in Italy -- as was requested by his late grandfather. Upon arriving, Lorenzo is offered a short-term position as coach for an American-style football team by the team's manager, Giulio Fellini (Maurizio Nichetti). As the young American immerses himself in his new duties, he makes the acquaintance of Paola Angelini (Violante Placido) and the two begin a friendship that quickly blossoms into something more. In between spending time with Paola and working with the team, Lorenzo also begins investigating his own family's history and learns the reason for his grandfather's departure from Italy, as well as why his grandfather never returned to visit. As Lorenzo begins to forge an identity for himself in Italy -- not to mention strong romantic attachments to Paola -- he must eventually decide whether or not to return to the States. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony DiNanno, Antonio Navarro, (more)
This historical drama is based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to achieve success as a painter. In 17th century Italy, noted artist Orazio Gentileschi (Michel Serrault) is a portrait artist enjoying a certain degree of success and acclaim. His 17-year-old daughter Artemisia (Valentina Cervi) would like to follow the same path as her father, but women are not allowed to pursue careers in the arts, and the convent where she attends school forbids students to sketch nude models. Eager to learn, Artemisia begins posing for herself by use of a mirror; her father discovers her secret but is enthusiastic about her work, and he takes her out of school so he can tutor her in painting and drawing. Orazio forbids her to draw male nudes, but curious Artemisia persuades local men to serve as her models, and her work steadily improves. In time, Artemisia and her work come to the attention of Agostino Tassi (Miki Manojovic), a friend of her father who is a well-known painter and something of a rake. Tassi is impressed by both the art and the artist, but when he and Artemisia begin a love affair, he finds himself on trial for rape. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Valentina Cervi, (more)
- 1995
In this Italian drama an astrophysicist returns to his birthplace and re-discovers his humanity. Lorenzo needs money. He stops his research in Milan and goes to his former childhood villa in Sicily to sell it. Because workers are renovating it, he must linger longer than he wanted. He begins to remember the slower pace of Sicilians as compared to the hustle of mainland urban Italy. He slowly becomes friends with Salvatore, the head repairman. He lives in an alternative-therapy community for mental patients. His son Agostino is a patient there. Salvatore's simple philosophies have a cathartic effect upon Lorenzo who begins to view the handyman as a father figure. When Lorenzo was younger his own father died. As a result, Lorenzo left Sicily. The research also finds healing in his relationship to Luisa, another patient to whom is drawn. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tchéky Karyo, Nino Manfredi, (more)
Achingly romantic and creepy-funny, this funereal fantasy from the director of La Chiesa (1989) is unlike any Italian film in memory. Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, a lonely cemetery caretaker who just wants to get out of his small town of Buffalora. His assistant and sole companion, Gnaghi (played by famed French musician Francois Hadji-Lazaro) is an overweight cretin who speaks only in grunts, and the dead people outside are rising from their graves as zombies and trying to have him for breakfast. This situation, coupled with all his other problems, gives Francesco a real complex. His troubles are compounded when he meets a series of mysterious women (all played by the beautiful Anna Falchi) whom he loves before they die tragically. Soavi's film is based on a graphic-novel, Dylan Dog by Tiziano Sclavi, but Soavi's more obvious influences range from Jean Rollin's La Rose de Fer (1973) to Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990). Barbara Cupisti (of Soavi's Deliria) has a small role, and the film also benefits from Manuel de Sica's memorable score and excellent pacing by editor Franco Fraticelli. This is a film to savor and it will go down as one of the most striking Italian genre efforts of the decade, despite some weak effects work by the normally reliable Sergio Stivaletti. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazaro, (more)
- 1993
The very young computer whizzes in this big-big budget Italian movie are beginning to lose their focus on their assignment: to create a computer-generated Eden. In order to inspire them, an innocent gardener (rock-star and comedian Adriano Celentano) is brought in. For a while, this works, as they start taking their models from nature and make some real progress. Unfortunately, a weird phenomenon sends one of the youths hurtling into the computerized world, and it is up to the gardener and a relative to haul him back out. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adriano Celentano, Kate Vernon, (more)
- 1989
- R
Set during the Mussolini years, Open Doors stars Gian Maria Volonte as an old-line judge. Volonte tries to remain faithful to the letter of the law, despite the "improvements" made by the Fascists. His insistence upon justice over dogma results in government reprimands, and ultimately poses a threat to Volonte's well-being. The honesty vs. corruption theme transcends the film's period settings, resulting in an allegorical masterpiece that has significance in any country, any time. Open Doors was a nominee for the "best foreign picture" Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Renato Carpentieri, (more)
- 1987
The esteemed Frank Capra made numerous memorable movie classics (including It's A Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington) and is considered to be one of the great American directors, among the very few whose work set international standards for filmmaking. In this documentary, the Sicilian-born, American-raised director recollects his life and career. Included among his anecdotes are stories of his relations with the founder of the Bank of America, A.P. Giannini, and his recollections of making films with Frank Sinatra. The filmmakers accompany the director as he revisits his birthplace in Sicily for the first time since he left it for America when he was six. Interviews with colleagues and actors flesh out the story, and clips from the great director's films illustrate many of the points being made. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dino Di Dionisio, Gianfranco Mingozzi, (more)
American architect Stourley Kracklite (Brian Dennehy) comes with his young wife Louisa (Chloe Webb) to Rome to supervise an exhibition devoted to Etienne-Louis Boullée, a French architect of the 18th century. Suffering from severe abdominal pains, Stourley doesn't pay much attention to his pregnant wife, and she finds consolation in the arms of suave Caspasian Speckler (Lambert Wilson). Built from rigidly symmetrical images, the film has quite an unusual subject: the belly -- both the sick one of the architect and the pregnant one of his wife, the rounded forms alluding to the spherical constructions designed by Boullée, the architect whose visionary projects seldom materialized. Beautifully shot on location in Rome, this ironic fable wittily examines the issues of artistic creativity. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy, Chloe Webb, (more)
