Giuseppe Tornatore

A documentary on the legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.Read More »

Gradually picking up dramatic steam as it moves through its 2 1/2 hour running time, this gangster film is loosely based on the career of one of Naples’ most sadistic crime bosses, Raffaele Cutolo. Here, the mobster (played by Ben Gazzara) is simply called “The Professor” and is first introduced in prison where he landed after murdering a stranger who was flirting with his sister. From prison he begins to move up the Camorra ladder when he recruits inmates to join him in bringing down the leading crime boss and has his sister pay off their families in return. Without ever leaving prison “The Professor” succeeds in replacing the ruling “don” but far from resting on his laurels he starts to wipe out his enemies and anyone whose loyalty might be in question. Still hampered by his incarceration, he finally escapes and joins forces with the Cosa Nostra and even begins to put major politicians in his pocket. It seems like nothing can stop him until a lone and much-benighted police chief (Leo Gullotta) enters the picture.
Eleanor Mannikka
New York TimesRead More »

Matteo Scuro is a retired Sicilian bureaucrat (responsible mainly for the writing of birth certificates), a widower with five children, all of whom live on the mainland and hold responsible jobs. He decides to surprise each with a visit and finds none as he imagined. The film is a veritable travelogue across contemporary Italy, as Matteo journeys to Napoli, Roma, Firenze, Milano, and Turino to search for each of his children; he even spends one night on the streets among the homeless. Scuro returns to Sicily, visits his wife’s grave, and reports with irony that “stanno tutti bene.”Read More »

Malèna is the utterly unforgettable story of a boy’s journey into manhood amid the chaos and intolerance of World War II. Renato gets a bicycle for his thirteenth birthday and on the day that Mussolini declares war on the Allies, he discovers sex, dreams and violence through Maddalena (Malèna) Scordia. He follows her around everywhere, watching her every move. In a sleepy Italian village, Malèna, the most beautiful woman in town, becomes the subject of increasingly malicious gossip among the lustful townsmen and their jealous wives. But only her most ardent admirer, young Renato Amoroso, will learn her mysterious untold story.Read More »

Plot Synopsis :

On the 1st of January in 1900, Danny Boodmann (Bill Nunn), the mechanic of the transatlantic liner Virginian bound for America, finds an abandoned baby on board and decides to keep him. Nicknamed Novecento (1900), the boy grows up on the ship hidden from everyone. His presence is revealed when Danny dies in an accident. The young ‘1900’ manages to hide again despite threats from the captain. Discovering a passion for music, he teaches himself to play the piano without being able to read the notes, and he soon becomes a virtuoso whose reputation spreads beyond the confines of the ship. Even the famous jazz piano player, Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III), gets on board for a challenge because he has heard rumors about the greatest piano player in the world living on a ship. Read More »

Synopsis:
Onoff is a famous writer who hasn’t published any new books for quite some time and has become a recluse. When he is picked up by the police one stormy night, without any identification, out of breath and running madly, without clear memory of recent events, the Inspector is suspicious. Through interrogatory dialectic, the head of this lonely, isolated, broken-down police station tries to establish what has happened, by delving into the mind of his writer-hero, and clearing up a mysterious killing.Read More »

Plot:
A famous film director remembers his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He returns home to his Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years and is reminded of his first love, Elena, who disappeared from his life before he left for Rome.Read More »