Italy

Description
Set at an indeterminate time in the near future, this routine, well-acted drama by Elio Petri tackles favorite Italian topics: religion and politics. A bit of macabre fantasy is added to the mix, but the end product remains somewhat muddled. Don Gaetano (Marcello Mastroianni) is a priest who is supervising a group of Christian Democrats on a religious retreat. The objective is to help these politicians purify their past wrongdoings, no matter how large or small, and live closer to God. The retreat takes place in a concrete bunker with plenty of small rooms for contemplation and icons set here and there to offer inspiration. Once the retreat begins, the politicos alarmingly begin to die off one by one. Don Gaetano wants them to get closer to God but did he mean that close?Read More »

SYNOPSIS
Two lowlife punks invite themselves to a party at a posh villa and after being taunted by their snobbish hosts, hold everybody hostage and subject them to various torture and mayhem.Read More »

Quote:
During her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by a bunch of odd people.Read More »

Synopsis:
Love and Anger is a collection of five stories that are the handiwork of directors that have made names for themselves in decidedly different ways among the annals of foreign cinema. The heavy hitters of the time are all on board, including Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, Partner), Marco Bellocchio (Devil in the Flesh), Carlo Lizzani (Requiescant), Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo), and, a huge treat, the legendary Jean-Luc Godard (Band of Outsiders, Breathless). Most of these films are extremely surreal, but they all have political undertones. This actually works out quite well, as even if you aren’t familiar with the political climate in Italy and France during the 1960s, you can revel in these masters’ liberal use of inventive imagery, much of which never comes completely together in a standard narrative structure. The actors come from a pair of renowned theater groups: the Living Theater and Andy Warhol Factory, and include Julian Beck, who made his mark in Hollywood as the creepy preacher in Poltergeist II.Read More »

From IMDB:

A young woman seeks vengeance and finds love when her parents are killed in the Amazon and she is taken prisoner by an indigenous tribe of headhunters.Read More »

Synopsis:
After six months of marriage, the attractive, free-spirited and sexually insatiable housewife, Marta, already feels the passion wane and the desire for her literary editor husband, Dario, wither. However, in the background of Mantua’s renowned literary festival, young Marta will fall for the charms of an intriguingly handsome stranger, the French Leon, while admiring Palazzo del Te’s vivid murals. Of course, Marta’s scandalous affair behind her husband’s back will soon be noticed, as the suspicious Dario is engulfed little by little by the impatient and fierce flames of lust. Perhaps a dash of infidelity is all that Dario needs to awaken his dormant enthusiasm for the neglected Marta.Read More »

A kaleidoscopic look at the last day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.

synopsis

Abel Ferrara documents the final day in the life of Italian writer, director, and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini in this deeply reflective biopic starring Willem Dafoe. The year is 1975. The fiercely political Pasolini (Dafoe) is in the process of defending his latest film Salo, 120 Days of Sodom from the censors when he returns home to his mother’s house in Rome, and prepares to discuss his career in a candid interview. In the midst of all of this inspiration strikes, and Pasolini begins making preparations for his next film. Meanwhile, the director takes a handsome young hustler to a local beach for a late night tryst, never sensing the danger that dwells out there in the darkness until it’s already too late.Read More »

Tinto Brass Presents Erotic Short Stories 4: Improper Liaisons

The undisputed King of Erotica lends his name to three of the sexiest short stories imaginable. Directed in the Tinto Brass style by some of the most talented new Italian directors working today, Tinto Brass has produced the films as well as featuring in his Trademark cameo appearances.

DREAM 29 mins
Directed by: Nicolai PENNESTRI Starring: Yulia Mayarchuk, Mauro Lorenz

A beautiful woman falls asleep on an isolated beach and starts dreaming about bizarre meetings: with a truck driver and a courier. Dreams then mix with reality.Read More »

Review I

In 1938 Berlin, Gudrun Landgrebe, wife of Nazi functionary Kevin McNally, begins taking art lessons. She makes the acquaintance of another student, Japanese ambassador’s daughter Mio Takaki. Soon afterwards, the two women begin a passionate lesbian affair. This leads to a chain reaction of disaster and tragedy, culminating with the inevitable intervention of the Gestapo. Despite the film’s galloping sexual passions, The Berlin Affair is an exercise in aloofness, keeping the characters at arm’s length-surprising, considering that the director was Liliana Cavani, auteur of the erotic classic The Night Porter (1974). The film was based on The Buddhist Cross, a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »