Sergio Rubini Movies

A rivalry between two men in love with the same woman turns into a battle of wills in this psychological thriller from Italy. Pietro Lulli (Sergio Rubini) is a former sculptor and art instructor who has gained a degree of power and fame as an art critic. As Pietro attends the opening of a group show with his trophy girlfriend Gloria (Vittoria Puccini), who used to be his student, they both take note of the latest work by Adrian Scala (Riccardo Scamarcio), and Gloria is impressed enough with both the artist and his creations to spend the night with him. Several months later, Adrian and Gloria are a couple, and when they happen to meet Pietro on the street, the critic shows no signs of jealousy and seems eager to mentor the young artist. While Adrian appreciates Pietro's kind words, he soon becomes uncomfortable with the critic's unsolicited advice, and eventually tells Pietro that he doesn't need his help with his career already on the upswing. But Adrian soon realizes that Pietro isn't about to walk out of his life that easily. Colpo d'Occhio (aka At A Glance) also stars Richard Sammell and Paola Barale. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Giovanni Veronesi interweaves four tales of family tragedy, ill-fated love affairs, eternal passion, and fleeting relationships in a humorous, romantic, and moving look at the lasting effect of love and the human condition. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Days after the death and funeral of his high-powered army father, children's book author Gianni Orzan (Sergio Rubini) meets the suspicious Gianni Bogliasco (Bruno Ganz), who proceeds to recite an uncomfortable amount of accurate knowledge about the author's life. Gianni ends up running into Bogliasco "accidentally" a number of times, until Bogliasco drops a bombshell: Gianni's father was not an Italian General as he was made to believe, but was instead a Russian-born agent of the KGB who murdered an Italian official and assumed his victim's identity. As Gianni begins to question his memories of his deceased father, as well as his nearly nonexistent relationship with him, his wife Anna reveals another devastating secret -- she has been cheating on him. In the span of days, everything Gianni has taken for granted has been destroyed by lies, thus forcing him to re-examine nearly all aspects of his life in order to determine what is true and what isn't. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Directed by Gabriele Salvatores, Amnesia takes place in the Spanish island of Ibiza, where an odd mix of commercialism, ex-hippies, fisherman, and artists co-exist. Town locals Sandro (Diego Abatantunono), a pornographic film director, and Angelino (Sergio Rubini), the manager of a beachside watering hole, find their very different lives overlapping. Meanwhile, the island police chief (Juanjo Puigcorbe), who is currently at odds with his rebellious son Jorge (Ruben Ochandiano), is investigating the death of a drug dealer (which was accidentally brought on by Angelino). Jorge's plans to move to America have so far been thwarted by his father, but when he finds out about the affair his dad had been having with a male nightclub dancer, he uses it as blackmail fodder.

~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Italian actor and director Sergio Rubini spins this affable ensemble coming-of-age flick set in a small village in the southern region of Rubini. Teenaged Carlo (Damiano Russo) and his buddy are agog at the arrival of three northern beauties when their father is transferred in to run the local factory. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Algerian-born filmmaker Rachid Benhadj directs this bleak drama about the aftermath of wartime rape. Set in an unidentified Balkan nation, the film focuses on ruff, world-weary Kalsan (Vanessa Redgrave), who heads an isolated mountain farm with her 24-year-old soon-to-be-married granddaughter Elena. Their world is turned inside out with the appearance of 10-year-old Mirka (Karim Benhadj), a foreign child looking for his mother. Soon Elena realizes that the child is actually hers, reopening old wounds. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

After the Oscar-winning The English Patient, writer/director Anthony Minghella attempted another tricky literary adaptation with The Talented Mr. Ripley, which features heartthrob Matt Damon cast against type as a psychopathic bisexual murderer. Tom Ripley (Damon) is a bright and charismatic sociopath who makes his way in mid-'50s New York City as a men's room attendant and sometimes pianist, though his real skill is in impersonating other people, forging handwriting, and running second-rate scams. After being mistaken for a Princeton student, Tom meets the shipping tycoon father of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), who has traveled to the coast of Italy, where he's living a carefree life with his father's money and his beautiful girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Dickie's father will pay Ripley 1,000 dollars plus his expenses if he can persuade Dickie to return to America. As Ripley and Dickie become friends, Tom finds himself both attracted to Dickie and envious of his life of pleasure. In time, he decides that he would rather be Dickie Greenleaf than Tom Ripley, so rather than go back to his life of poverty, Ripley impulsively murders Dickie and assumes his identity. The Talented Mr. Ripley was based on the first of a series of novels featuring Tom Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith; the story was previously filmed in 1960 as Purple Noon, with Alain Delon as Ripley. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Italian road comedy gets a jump-start when unemployed Dominico (Silvio Orlando) robs a bank, taking businessman Tommaso (Diego Abatantuono) hostage. Since debt-plagued Tommaso has a dead-end marriage, he takes advantage of the situation, leaking news of his abduction in a diversion tactic that sends police hunting in Switzerland. He then steers Domenico to Puglia, past plains of cactus, volcanic vistas, red cliffs, and salt fields. In Taranto, Tommaso romances Orfeo (Flavio Insinna), but the arrival of his daughter Rita (Valentina Cervi) creates problems for the secret lovers. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Darker undertones infiltrate this lightweight Italian romantic comedy, as a troubled young man's fancy turns to obsession and jealousy. While most of his friends are eagerly preparing to graduate from high school, Matteo realizes that his poor grades are going to hold him back unless he can devise a plan to radically alter his records. His buddy Piterone has the same problem. Matteo's depression lifts when he meets the free-spirited, slightly older artist Margherita and falls in love. She seems to return his affection, and the youth eagerly moves into her studio apartment. At first Matteo is happy, but as time passes, he begins discovering small signs around the place that imply that his beloved has not only had an active past love-life, but that she may also be cheating on him. The more things he finds, the more suspicious Matteo becomes, and when suspicion becomes paranoid obsession, his relationship with Margherita begins to crumble. At the same time, Matteo and Pietrone attempt a desperate ploy to change their grades, an action that brings the story to its climax. The feature-film debut of documentary and television director Gabriele Muccino, Ecco Fatto competed in the 1998 Turin Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The English title of this complex Italian film is apt. Featuring 65 main characters and 130 speaking parts (famous faces abound and many of the actors appeared gratis), and ranging in tone from tartly humorous to darkly tragic, it presents 30 interwoven slices from the lives of modern day Romans during a single day. The lone, silent figure of a lone jogger provides a sort of continuity between the vignettes. Beginning at sunset of the previous day, the jogger is seen warming up on his apartment terrace, looking for all the world as if he would like to jump. The rest of the stories seem to be randomly presented. Stories include the robbery of a Chinese restaurant that causes a birthday celebrant to die of fright, two different newlyweds who find themselves attracted to each other, an opportunistic mechanic's plan to capitalize on the death of a rival, a sneaky, sadistic meter maid and others. One uniting feature of the stories is their underlying bitter assessment of modern humanity. People are seen as selfish and basically cruel, still the stories move quickly and the balance between humor and drama, affection and cynicism, and shallowness and complexity is carefully maintained. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A computer virus endows Solo (Diego Abatantuono), the hero of a virtual reality game, with human consciousness, thereby creating all kinds of headaches for his creator Jimi (Christopher Lambert). The trouble begins in the futuristic metropolis of Northern Agglomerate three days before Christmas. With little time left, video-game designer Jimi has no choice but to give his newest game, "Nirvana," to his powerful bosses. Unfortunately, the virus strikes just before the deadline. At first Solo doesn't know he is a graphic image, but when he finds out, he fervently pleads with Jimi to destroy every existent copy of the game so that he will not have to live the same sequence of events over and over for eternity. Jimi, vulnerable after the mysterious and sudden disappearance of his lover Lisa (Emmanuelle Seigner), agrees to honor Solo's wishes, but is unable to simply erase the program because his every move, on and off the job, is monitored by a giant, Orwellian computer. He therefore takes off for the Arab quarter and enlists the aid of two hackers, Joystick (Sergio Rubini), an expert at sabotaging databases, and Naima (Stefania Rocca), a woman with the skills to destroy the prototype of the computer game. With the company's henchmen hot on their heels, the threesome set off on a colorful journey through real and virtual worlds to destroy Solo before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide