Toni Servillo

Manuel is sixteen years old and trying to enjoy his life as much as he can, while taking care of his elderly father. Subjected to blackmail, he goes to a party to take photos of a mysterious individual but, feeling that he has been duped, decides to flee, finding himself embroiled in matters that are far beyond him. In fact the blackmailers that pursue him turn out to be extremely dangerous and determined to get rid of what they regard as an inconvenient witness and the boy will have to turn for protection to two former criminals, old acquaintances of his father.Read More »

Quote:
Paolo Sorrentino skewers Italian politics in this satirical, profane, and imaginative fictionalization of controversial Italian tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi and his inner circle.Read More »

A prison drama where an old mobster and a prison guard must find a way to coexist so that imprisonment can become less so, and perhaps reveal the paradox that is behind the very concept of captivity.Read More »

Quote:
Stunningly lensed around a homespun mafia tragi-comedy, but lacking even a shred of sympathy for its grotesque characters, It Was the Son (a.k.a. The Son Did It) describes a dysfunctional family from the underbelly of Palermo as monstrous stereotypes whose future is as dead-end as the highway leading to their gray housing block. There are some rueful smiles along the way but look for no heart-felt comedy in this adaptation of a novel by Roberto Alajmo. This cruel satire on the Italian South certainly has curiosity value, but it ends up feeling too flat and bleak to make a serious splash at the boxoffice after its Venice and Toronto bows.Read More »

The biography of Neapolitan comic theater legend Eduardo Scarpetta.Read More »

Quote:
The story of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti, who has served as Prime Minister of Italy seven times since the restoration of democracy in 1946.

Roger Ebert wrote:
They would seem to be opposites, but on the basis of two recent films, the longtime Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and the longtime fashion emperor Valentino were surprisingly similar. Both are seen as intensely private, rarely happy, single-minded in pursuit of their ambitions, cool in their personal relationships, and ruling as if by divine right. A difference is that Valentino was never accused of criminal activities.Read More »

Synopsis:
A mosaic of several intertwined stories questioning the meaning of life, love and hope, set during the last six days in the life of Eluana Englaro, a young woman who spent 17 years in a vegetative state.

Review:
Following a car accident, Eluana Englaro lay in a coma for 17 years. Doctors who assessed her described her as being in a persistent vegetative state, doomed never to awaken, but of course there were many who campaigned to keep her alive, whether in hope of a miracle or simply because they felt that what life she had left must be preserved. In February 2009, the decision was made to remove her feeding tube and allow her to die naturally. A court battle ensued, with the matter going all the way to parliament, exposing a deeply divided nation.Read More »

Quote:
Everyone is, alas, familiar with the Mafia. Tony Montana, Al Capone, the Sopranos, the Italian gang of Scorcese, Pacino, and de Niro have made Godfathers as real as our own. The Japanese Yakuza we have also vaguely heard about. Same with the Chinese triads or the Russian mafia. Far more secretive as organized crime goes is the murderous Napolitan Camorra.Read More »