The best Italian movies of the last 25 years
After Fellini, Rossellini, Pasolini, what's new in the Italian cinema? This is my personal list of the best Italian films of the past 25 years the list is not in any particular order
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- DirectorMichael RadfordMassimo TroisiStarsMassimo TroisiPhilippe NoiretMaria Grazia CucinottaA simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet, and then uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsPhilippe NoiretEnzo CannavaleAntonella AttiliA filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
- DirectorMarco BellocchioStarsMaya SansaLuigi Lo CascioRoberto HerlitzkaThe 1978 kidnapping of politician Aldo Moro as seen from the perspective of one of his assailants: a conflicted young woman in the ranks of the Red Brigade.
- DirectorMarco Tullio GiordanaStarsLuigi Lo CascioAlessio BoniJasmine TrincaAn Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to the 2000s.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsNanni MorettiLaura MoranteJasmine TrincaA psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba-diving accident.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsToni ServilloAnna BonaiutoGiulio BosettiThe story of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti, who has served as Prime Minister of Italy seven times since the restoration of democracy in 1946.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsKseniya RappoportMichele PlacidoClaudia GeriniHaunted by a horrible past, a young Ukrainian woman calculatedly insinuates herself into the life of a rich Italian family.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsToni ServilloCarlo VerdoneSabrina FerilliJep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
- DirectorMatteo GarroneStarsGianfelice ImparatoSalvatore AbbruzzeseToni ServilloScampia Vele is the Corbusian architecture which has become a stronghold for Mafia of Naples, Italy.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsGianni BuscarinoVittorio VigneriAngela NugaraA man returns to visit his native Sicily after living in New York for a long time. He learns about the Sicilian way of life from stylized conversations with an orange picker, his fellow train passengers, his mother, and a knife-sharpener.
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsNanni MorettiRenato CarpentieriAntonio NeiwillerDirector Nanni Moretti takes a mordant look at Italian life through three disparate journeys, presented as the chapters of an open diary.
- DirectorGabriele SalvatoresStarsDiego AbatantuonoClaudio BigagliGiuseppe CedernaIn WW2, an Italian Army unit of misfits occupies an isolated non-strategic Greek island for the duration of the war.
- DirectorGianni AmelioStarsEnrico Lo VersoValentina ScaliciGiuseppe IeracitanoAntonio, a policeman (carabiniere), has an order to take two children (Rosetta and her brother Luciano) from Milan to Sicily to an orphanage. Their mother has been arrested for forcing Rosetta (11 years old) to work as a prostitute. First the relation between Antonio and the children is tough, but it relaxes so they become temporary friends.
- DirectorMarco BellocchioStarsSergio CastellittoJacqueline LustigChiara ContiA celebrated painter receives a visit from a cardinal's assistant, who informs him that his mother could become a saint.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsJuliette BinocheWilliam ShimellJean-Claude CarrièreIn Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.
- DirectorGianni AmelioStarsKim Rossi StuartAndrea RossiCharlotte RamplingMeeting his disabled son for the first time, a young father attempts to forge a relationship with the teenager.
- DirectorFerzan ÖzpetekStarsRiccardo ScamarcioNicole GrimaudoAlessandro PreziosiTommaso is the youngest son of the Cantones, a large, traditional southern Italian family operating a pasta-making business since the 1960s. On a trip home from Rome, where he studies literature and lives with his boyfriend, Tommaso decides to tell his parents the truth about himself. But when he is finally ready to come out in front of the entire family, his older brother Antonio ruins his plans.
- DirectorMarco BellocchioStarsGiovanna MezzogiornoFilippo TimiFausto Russo AlesiThe story of Mussolini's secret lover, Ida Dalser, and their son Albino.
- DirectorMassimo VenierStarsAlessandro TiberiValentina LodoviniCarolina CrescentiniIn Milan, Matteo is an underemployed physicist, giving the occasional lecture at a university while working at a PR firm where he knows he'll be fired. Without his really trying, two women are attracted to him, a blond and a brunette. The blond is Angelica; they meet smoking on the office rooftop. To his surprise, she has clout in the company and soon has him flying off (with her) to make presentations. The brunette is Beatrice, a new flatmate, hoping for a teaching job in the national service. Angelica dangles a posting with her in Barcelona; Beatrice is simply Beatrice. Will Matteo figure out what he wants - and decide before opportunity passes him by?
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsToni ServilloOlivia MagnaniAdriano GianniniAn introverted man's life changes completely when he finds himself attracted to a young barmaid.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsTim RothPruitt Taylor VinceMélanie ThierryA baby boy discovered on an ocean liner in 1900 grows into a musical prodigy, never setting foot on land.
- DirectorGianni AmelioStarsEnrico Lo VersoMichele PlacidoPiro MilkaniImmediately after the fall of communism in Albania, two Italians go there to embezzle investment money by creating a fake company. As the chairman/fall guy, they pick a former political prisoner who turns out to be more than meets the eye.
- DirectorGabriele SalvatoresStarsAitana Sánchez-GijónDino AbbresciaGiorgio CarecciaA young boy accidentally discovers a deep hole in the ground, where another boy is kept prisoner.
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsNanni MorettiSilvio OrlandoMariella ValentiniBecause of an accident, Michele (a leader of P.C.I. and a water-polo player) loses his memory. During one water-polo match, strange guys torment him; they want him to remember his past. As the match is about to finish, he misses the penalty which would have let his team draw the match and keep the leadership.