Twenty years after WWII an Italian general (Marcello Mastroianni) and a military chaplain (Michel Piccoli) embark on a mission through the heart of Albania searching for the remains of Italian soldiers who once fought on the side of the Fascists. Based on Albanian author Ismail Kadare’s famous 1963 novel of the same name. Also starring Anouk Aimée.Read More »
Marcello Mastroianni
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Luciano Tovoli – Il generale dell’armata morta AKA The General of the Dead Army (1983)
ArthouseDramaItalyLuciano Tovoli -
María Luisa Bemberg – De eso no se habla AKA I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)
1991-2000ArgentinaDramaMaría Luisa BembergRomanceLeonor, a widow in a small South American town, gives birth to Charlotte, a dwarf. The mother not only provides a rich childhood for her daughter, she erases any clues her daughter might see that would lead her to think she is different (mother burns books such as “Snow White” and destroys lawn statues of gnomes). In short, she doesn’t want to talk about it. The mother succeeds in creating a modern-day Rapunzel: Charlotte becomes an accomplished young woman who captures the heart of Ludovico. But then, the circus comes to town.Read More »
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Theodoros Angelopoulos – To Meteoro Vima tou Pelargou AKA The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991)
Theodoros Angelopoulos1991-2000ArthouseDramaGreeceSynopsis wrote:
A journalist (Grigoris Patrikareas) is conducting an investigation regarding the refugees in Northern Greece and the immigrants who are detained at the border. He meets a man (Marcello Mastroianni) who resembles a politician who has gone missing. His wife (Jeanne Moreau) is summoned to identify him, but when she sees him she states that he is not her husband. The man’s identity remains unknown in a world where natural borders are not just a place of transition, but also an end, a no-man’s land, the end of a century.Read More » -
Marco Ferreri – Liza AKA La Cagna AKA The Bitch (1972)
Marco Ferreri1971-1980DramaFranceGiorgio (Marcello Mastroianni) lives on a island somewhere off the Mediterranean coast of France. He lives there with his dog, and the remains of an old German World War II airbase. He earns his living drawing cartoons. Liza (Deneuve) swims to the island from a rich man’s yacht, and the yacht’s crew confirm the end of her relationship with the owner by bringing her luggage to the island. She and Giorgio meet and become involved. She is jealous of his relationship with the dog and kills her rival while assuming its duties: wearing a collar, fetching sticks, etc.Read More »
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Luchino Visconti – Lo straniero aka The Stranger (1967)
1961-1970ArthouseItalyLuchino ViscontiIMDB:
A man faces a trial for murder. The court is biased because of his personal qualities.Read More » -
Ettore Scola – Che ora è? aka What Time is it? (1989)
Ettore Scola1981-1990ComedyDramaItalyMarcello (Marcello Mastroianni) has worked hard all his life to achieve a certain standing and success as a lawyer in Rome. He is pleased to be able to offer the fruits of his success to his son Michele (Massimo Troisi), and is perplexed and distressed that his unambitious son has no interest in any of these things. Michele is serving a term in the Italian military in the port town of Civitavecchia, and Marcello is visiting him there. Here he meets Michele’s salty girlfriend Loredana (Anne Parillaud). The father and son share some meals and explore their differences.Read More »
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Marco Bellocchio – Enrico IV (1984)
1981-1990ItalyMarco BellocchioPoliticsThe story begins at a medieval dressing party. A man, dressed as the King Enrico IV, falls from his horse and hits his head. This causes him serious lesions and gets insane, believing he is really the KingRead More »
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Marco Ferreri – Break up AKA The Man with the Balloons (Uncut) (1965)
1961-1970ArthouseComedyItalyMarco FerreriSynopsis :
An industry that manufactures chocolates, is obsessed to the limit, to scientifically verify the exact spot where the balloons burst when they swell, but fails in its attempts, because they always end up breaking balloons, putting nerves increasingly enervated and reaching complete neurosis, while his great woman, just married, waiting on the bed, something more to him than his passion for inflating balloons.Read More » -
Federico Fellini – Otto e mezzo aka 8½ [+ commentaries] (1963)
1961-1970DramaFantasyFederico FelliniItalyQuote:
8 1/2 weaves fluidly through the visually intoxicating landscape of Federico Fellini’s subconscious, seemingly to seek inspiration and validation for his life and work. In an opening scene that symbolizes much of Fellini’s films, a suffocating man, trapped inside his car, inexplicably begins to float into the skies, only to be abruptly tugged back to the ground. But it is also an indelible image that shatters any preconceived illusion of “typical” elements in a Fellini film. The film, 8 1/2, literally marks Fellini’s work on 8 1/2 feature films (the “1/2” derived from collaborative direction films), and proves to be a transitional film in his artistic career.Read More »