Turin at the end of the fifties: two brothers have emigrated there from Sicily and the older works very hard to let the younger study and free himself from poverty through culture. The boy ...
See full summary »
Antonio, 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 ... See full summary »
Director:
Gianni Amelio
Stars:
Enrico Lo Verso,
Valentina Scalici,
Giuseppe Ieracitano
The shepherd Gombo lives with his wife, three children and grandmother in a tent on the Mongolian steppe. They are pleased with their rustic conditions, until a Russian truck driver, ... See full summary »
Tommaso Scalia is a man who commits three murders: he killed his superior who sacked him, he kills the man who replaced him, and he kills his own wife. He wants a quick trial and an early ... See full summary »
Director:
Gianni Amelio
Stars:
Gian Maria Volontè,
Ennio Fantastichini,
Renato Carpentieri
Two Italian racketeers come to Albania just after the fall of the communists to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants. They need a stooge. They choose an old one in a jail : Spiro. ... See full summary »
Director:
Gianni Amelio
Stars:
Enrico Lo Verso,
Michele Placido,
Piro Milkani
A young man who struggles through life by earning some money with his bicycle-taxi in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) gets contact to a group of criminals. They introduce him to the mafia-world ... See full summary »
Director:
Anh Hung Tran
Stars:
Le Van Loc,
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung,
Nu Yên-Khê Tran
Back from the hospital where he has been treated after a heart attack, Lorenzo is on his way upstairs to his top-floor apartment in Naples when he meets Michela. The charming young woman, ... See full summary »
The first man is an adaptation of the unfinshed autobiographical novel "Le Premier Homme" by the french writer Albert Camus. It tells the story of Jacques Cormery and his childhood in Algeria.
Director:
Gianni Amelio
Stars:
Michel Crémadès,
Jacques Gamblin,
Mickaël Batret
Set in modern day Milan, this is a Chaplinesque odyssey through the world of work - every type of work, but primarily unskilled manual labor, seen through the eyes of a kind, middle-aged ... See full summary »
Director:
Gianni Amelio
Stars:
Antonio Albanese,
Livia Rossi,
Gabriele Rendina
Armando, a 50 year man, seeks young men in Caracas and pays them just for company. One day he meets Elder, a 17 years boy that is the leader of a criminal gang, and that meeting changes their lives forever.
Director:
Lorenzo Vigas
Stars:
Alfredo Castro,
Luis Silva,
Jericó Montilla
Turin at the end of the fifties: two brothers have emigrated there from Sicily and the older works very hard to let the younger study and free himself from poverty through culture. The boy however is not keen on school and would like to begin to work. When after some time he gets his degree however things take a violent and dramatic turn......Written by
Salvatore santangelo <pappagone2@libero.it>
The title refers to the back page of a popular 1950s Italian magazine which had a section devoted to old jokes that were no longer funny but still evoked a sense of nostalgia. One such joke is repeated throughout the film: "How do you get four elephants in a Fiat?" The answer: "Two in front and two in back". See more »
Quotes
Giovanni:
You think your children are your own, then they learn to walk and they leave you. Know what they say back home? "Raise hogs, 'cause then you can eat them"
See more »
After seeing Lamerica by the same director, I was hoping to see a much better film. It is the story of two Sicilian brothers who go to Turin, in northern Italy, in the early 60's. Their condition is miserable, poverty is rampant, prejudice against the southerners is high, but the older brother, motivated by great love and undying faith in his younger brother, is determined to send him to school and works under unbearable conditions to support him and see that he becomes a teacher. The younger one, however, is not particularly fond of school and resents his brother's attention and expectations. The acting is simply awful, consisting mostly of heavy breathing when the emotions run high. The younger brother displays one or two expressions throughout the movie. The plot is underdeveloped, showing disconnected events in chronological order. The characters are underdeveloped: there is no explanation for the unexpected role reversal that takes place in the second half of the film. I suppose the movie wants to show how the big, industrial city, (portrayed as constantly dark, rainy and cold, although it is not so in reality) currupts the simple, good hearted Sicilians, but it does not do a good job of it. At one point, while the movie is focusing on the younger one, the older brother suddenly becomes a powerful mafia boss Why? No explanation. He later leaves the good-hearted prostitute he was living with (and whose child he was supporting) to marry the daughter of a wealthy "Torinese", an act symbolic of his total moral degradation. In the course of his criminal dealings we see him kill someone, and we later find out that the younger brother went to prison for his crime. What happened? We are not told. I could not find anything redeeming in the film. A great disappointment!
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After seeing Lamerica by the same director, I was hoping to see a much better film. It is the story of two Sicilian brothers who go to Turin, in northern Italy, in the early 60's. Their condition is miserable, poverty is rampant, prejudice against the southerners is high, but the older brother, motivated by great love and undying faith in his younger brother, is determined to send him to school and works under unbearable conditions to support him and see that he becomes a teacher. The younger one, however, is not particularly fond of school and resents his brother's attention and expectations. The acting is simply awful, consisting mostly of heavy breathing when the emotions run high. The younger brother displays one or two expressions throughout the movie. The plot is underdeveloped, showing disconnected events in chronological order. The characters are underdeveloped: there is no explanation for the unexpected role reversal that takes place in the second half of the film. I suppose the movie wants to show how the big, industrial city, (portrayed as constantly dark, rainy and cold, although it is not so in reality) currupts the simple, good hearted Sicilians, but it does not do a good job of it. At one point, while the movie is focusing on the younger one, the older brother suddenly becomes a powerful mafia boss Why? No explanation. He later leaves the good-hearted prostitute he was living with (and whose child he was supporting) to marry the daughter of a wealthy "Torinese", an act symbolic of his total moral degradation. In the course of his criminal dealings we see him kill someone, and we later find out that the younger brother went to prison for his crime. What happened? We are not told. I could not find anything redeeming in the film. A great disappointment!