Ciao, Professore! (1994) DVD $ 24.99 Actors: Paolo Villaggio, Isa Danieli, Gigio Morra, Sergio Solli, Ester Carloni. Subtitled, Language: Italian. From Academy Award(R)-nominated director Lina Wertmuller (Best Director -- SEVEN BEAUTIES; SWEPT AWAY) comes this spirited comedy hailed by critics coast-to-coast for its vitality and raunchy good humor. CIAO, PROFESSORE! is the story of an upper-class teacher from conservative Northern Italy who, due to a computer error, finds himself teaching third-grade truants at a ramshackle school in the south. Yet along the way, the earnest "professor" learns some valuable lessons when he begins to see life through the fresh, vibrant eyes of his scrappy young students! Don't miss this rambunctious comedy -- a film absolutely brimming with life!
|
|
|
Il Postino (1995) Language: Italian, French $ DVD 19.99 Actors: Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Renato Scarpa, Linda Moretti. Cheered by critics and audiences everywhere, IL POSTINO (THE POSTMAN) is the record-breaking Academy Award(R)-winning (Best Dramatic Score, 1995) romantic comedy that delivers heartfelt laughs! Mario is a bumbling mailman who's madly in love with the most beautiful woman in town ... and who's too shy to tell her how he feels. But when a world-famous poet -- Pablo Neruda -- moves into town, Mario is inspired. With Neruda's help, he finds the right words to win the woman's heart! This unforgettably funny comedy proves that passion ... with some artful deception ... can win the most improbable love!
|
|
|
Malena (2000) DVD $ 19.99 "Bella e impossibile", Maddalena, detta Malena, si aggira per le stradine di Montecuto, in Sicilia. Portamento austero e provocante; su di se gli sguardi di tutti, in particolare di Renato, quattordicenne che s'innamora di lei e sogna fantastiche avventure amorose ed erotiche. Una passione iniziatica! Siamo nel 1940, il giorno della dichiarazione di guerra. Passano i giorni, il marito partito per il fronte e Malena soffre in silenzio: la notizia della morte del marito, la costrizione a vendersi ai tedeschi, l'odio delle donne del paese. Fino al doloroso riscatto finale.
|
|
|
The Bicycle Thief (1949) DVD $ 14.99 Actors: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci. Language: English, Italian - Subtitles: English. A beautiful, simple story of a man in post-war Rome who needs his bicycle in order to work at his job. No sooner does he retrieve it from pawn, then it is stolen. The heartwrenching search teaches the man and his son much about the meaning of life and just how far we will go when pushed to the edge. Winner of a special Academy Award.
Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on Shoeshine, Miracle in Milan, and Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle Thief.
|
|
|
|
