Leo Pescarolo Movies

When a mysterious killer turns a small town's annual Easter celebration into a blood-soaked nightmare, it's up to Detective Maria Delgado (Mira Sorvino) to see that the homicidal maniac is apprehended and justice is served. As the winding and narrow ancient streets quickly fill with penitents, Detective Delgado's ominous task becomes as dangerous as it is seemingly impossible. With the body count quickly mounting and the frenzied killer's murderous antics holding the town in a horrific grip of terror, the pressure placed on Detective Delgado by the frightened townspeople plunges her headlong into a nightmarish confrontation with an unrelenting madman. This film also stars French actor Olivier Martinez. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A lush historical drama from Dutch director Marlene Gorris, The Luzhin Defense is set in Como, a gorgeous northern Italian lakeside town located at the foot of the Alps. The year is 1929, and Alexander Luzhin (John Turturro) is a talented Russian chess player travelling to Como by train for the World Chess Championship. Also on his train is Natalia (Emily Watson), who is journeying to Como to meet her mother Vera (Geraldine James) at their posh lakeside hotel. Vera wants Natalia to settle down with the right -- meaning rich -- man, and duly tries to set her up with Jean (Christopher Thompson), a French count. However, Natalia instead sets her sights on Luzhin, who returns her affections, and the two embark on an unusual and unpredictable love affair. Adapted from one of Vladimir Nabokov's lesser-known novels, The Luzhin Defense also features the talents of Mark Tandy and Kelly Hunter as Luzhin's parents -- seen in flashback -- and Orla Brady as his young aunt. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

The third feature film of Giacomo Campiotti, previously the assistant director to Mario Monicelli, Il Tempo Dell'Amore (A Time to Love) is an omnibus film of three different love stories that take place in three different eras and locations. The common element is the theme: love causes a lot of pain. In the first episode, we are in South Africa at the turn of the century during the Boer war. Martha (Juliet Aubrey), a forty-year-old English woman, is on her way to visit her brother Thomas (Tam Williams), who is in the army, when the train is attacked by Boers. Peter (Ciaran Hinds), an English soldier, saves her life. This unexpected encounter leads to an impossible love, as Peter happens to be one of Thomas' footsoldiers. In the second story, Paris is under German occupation during the Second World War. Claire (Natacha Regnier), a young French musician, meets Gabriel (Ignazio Oliva), a Russian musician, during a concert performance. Their passionate love affair has limits because of the linguistic barriers, and what begins well ends in tragedy. In the last episode, we are in present-day Italy. Teenager Guiseppe is in a coma following an accident. His classmates take turns by his bedside, but when summer arrives, they all go away. Naty (Natalia Piatti), who is much younger than Guiseppe and somewhat of a tomboy, stays behind and visits him regularly, developing an attachment to the boy even though she knows that, when he recovers, he would not look at her. Il Tempo Dell'Amore tries to create a magical atmosphere in dealing with affairs of the heart, using dreams and nightmares to interpret moods. The first episode is the least successful in terms of building the relationship to its climax. The last episode is the best one, particularly because of excellent acting by Natalia Pitti, who is a natural. Campiotti co-wrote the script with his partner in his previous film, Like Two Crocodiles, the Russian playwright Alexander Adabachian, who has also worked as a screenwriter for Nikita Mikhalkov. Il Tempo Dell'Amore was in competition at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Director Nicolas Boukhrief, who debuted with the 1995 Up Yours, returned with this French-Italian-Luxembourgian-Belgian drama in seven segments. In a variation on Schnitzler's La Ronde, each segment introduces a character seen in the next episode: In the opening, a murderer strangles a woman. A French soldier, injured in a bomb blast, is attracted to his nurse, but she's engaged to an aspiring stand-up comic. In the Paris Metro, the comedian befriends an older woman, who travels to Italy to join her impotent husband. The husband seeks excitement and finds it with a con artist who supplies sex and drugs. The young con artist's sister is an actress in porn films, and she brings the story full circle when she meets the murderer from the first scene. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

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

Spanish filmmaker Alex de la Iglesia followed his outlandish sci-fi/horror debut, Accion Mutante, with this colorful apocalypse fantasy about Father Angel (Alex Angulo), a scholarly priest whose intensive research into cabalistic "Bible Code" prophecies leads to a horrific discovery: the exact birthdate of the Antichrist. Convinced that Satan's spawn will be born somewhere in Madrid on Christmas Day, Father Angel embarks on a bizarre journey down the path of sin, committing the foulest possible acts against God and humanity in order to worm his way into the Devil's inner circle and face the ultimate foe on his own turf. Comprised of equal parts high-concept horror and scathing social satire (in the mode of the director's peer and former collaborator Pedro Almodovar), this ambitious horror film has garnered a sizable cult following. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The innovative Italian neuropsychiatrist Marco Lombardo Radice started at treatment movement which draws its name from the unlikely object of worship found in the Peanuts cartoon series, The Great Pumpkin, and it seems likely that this movie and its story represent some kind of homage to his memory. Arturo's wife walked out on him, and now he devotes all his time to his job. He (Sergio Castillitto) is a professor of psychiatry at the university hospital in Rome, and specializes in children's problems. When Pippi (Alessia Fugardi) is brought in for a consultation, it is alleged that she is an epileptic, but the good doctor thinks otherwise. He convinces her reluctant parents to leave her in his care, and through a series of brilliant manipulations, he manages to cure her. The world of mental illness and how it is handled in Italy are not seen through rose-colored glasses, here, and reviewers found tht what could have been a mere tear-jerker manages to be a convincing, gripping drama. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This wickedly funny Italian comedy centers upon a lascivious, fun-loving old uncle who hands out blood-test certificates to potential lovers to prove that he is "clean" and wreaks all sorts of havoc when he must temporarily stay with his wealthy but emotionally constipated nephew. At first the nephew is appalled by his uncle's lust for wild-living, but in time he becomes utterly fascinated by the old man. Soon the previously staid young man finds himself drawn into his uncle's crazy life-style and begins learning the value of living life to the fullest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Giorgio (Leonardo Ruta) is infatuated with his pretty but pretentious 16-year-old cousin Mignon (Celine Beauvallet) in this light comedy. Mignon is the wealthy cousin from Paris who vacations in Italy during the summer. Giorgio falls for the aloof female while his mother (Stefania Sandrelli) has an affair with her brother-in-law. Meanwhile, her bookstore-owner husband is carrying on with a female employee. Mignon learns her father faces jail time when he is found guilty of using bad building materials. Her experience with her Italian relatives coupled with her father's imprisonment helps bring her closer to Giorgio and his family. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Molinat (Phillippe Noiret) and Leroyer (Guy Marchand) are two cops who hate each others guts but are called on to solve the gunshot deaths of victims found on an Atlantic beach resort. The two focus on some females who have a psychological problem with men who are breathing. Molinat sends Leroyer to investigate some sultry suspects, knowing his hated colleague may never come back alive. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was one of the pivotal thinkers of the Renaissance. A Dominican friar in Italy, he left the order and taught widely throughout Europe. Among the ideas he taught were the inexpressibility of any ultimate truths and the complete relativity of ordinary truth. He also taught religious tolerance. For these and other deviations, he was burned at the stake by the Inquisition. This lavish Italian film takes up his story after he has returned to Venice from meetings with European heads of state and teaching sessions at the great universities. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide