BLOW JOB (1980)

 

Written, Directed & Edited By: Alberto Cavallone

Cinematography: Maurizio Centini

Cast: Danilo Micheli, Andrea Massarelli, Anna Bruna Cazzato, Mirella Venturini, Valerio Isidori, Antonio Mea, Alea Armani

Stefano Vicinelli and his girlfriend Diana fall two weeks behind on their hotel rent and face having their luggage and car impounded until they can pay the bill. Conveniently for them, a distraught woman in the room right above theirs leaps to her death from the window. Using that as a distraction, the lovebirds sneak out and take off. Running low on money, they pool what little cash they do have and go to the racetrack. Stefano encounters a crazed woman wearing sunglasses who demands he give her a key so she can unlock a door. After she calms down, she proposes a deal with him: She'll help him win money in the horse race if he'll help her "get past the gate." Having no clue what she's even talking about, Stefano reluctantly agrees and bets on her suggestion. After the horse wins and he collects, he feels obliged to accompany the strange woman - who introduces herself as Countess Angela - back to her home.

THE POSSESSED (1965)

 

Directed By: Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini

Written By: Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini, Giulio Questi and Ernesto Gastoldi 

Based on the novel by: Giovanni Comisso

Cinematography: Leonida Barboni 

Editor: Nino Baragoli

Cast: Peter Baldwin, Salvo Randone, Valentina Cortese, Pia Lindstrom, Pier Giovanni Anchisi, Ennio Balbo, Verna Lisi, Philippe Leroy 

Famous writer Bernard travels to a small lakeside town for an off-season winter vacation. He checks into an old hotel owned by Enrico and his daughter Irma expecting to meet Tilde, the maid he had a crush on the last time he visited the town. However, he discovers that Tilde has committed suicide, and when he meets the local photographer, Bernard learns that she was pregnant. He becomes obsessed with finding out whether she really committed suicide and to guess what really happened. When Enrico's son Mario and his wife Adriana arrive at the hotel, Bernard has daydreams about Tilde's fate.

THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (1970)

 

Directed & Edited By: Luciano Ercoli Written By: Ernesto Gastaldi and Mahnahen Velasco Cinematography: Alejandro Ulloa 

Cast: Dagmar Lassander, Pier Paolo Capponi, Susan Scott, Simon Andreu, Osvaldo Genazzani, Salvador Bugbeo

The wife of a struggling businessman is blackmailed by a mysterious man into having a sadistic affair with him, or he will leak evidence implicating her husband of murder.

IL DEMONIO (1967)

 

Directed & Story By: Brunello Rondi Written By: Brunello Rondi, Ugo Guerra & Luciano Martino  Cinematography: Carlo Bellero  Editor: Mario Serandrei 

Cast: Daliah Lavi, Frank Wolff, Anna Maria Aveta, Dario Dolci, Francs Mazzoni, Rossana Rovere 

A lonely, sexually-uninhibited young peasant is subjected to an exorcism after she hexes a man who rejects her advances.

POLIZIOTTO SENZA PAURA - MAGNUM COP (aka FEARLESS) (1978)

 

Directed By: Stelvio Massi Story By: Fulvio Gicca-Palli  Written By: Stelvio Massi, Franz Antel & Gino Capone  Cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini  Editor: Mauro Bonanni 

Cast: Joan Collins, Maurizio Merli, Franco Ressel, Werner Pochath, Massimo Vanni, Annarita Grapputo, Alexander Trojan, Gastone Moschin

An Italian private investigator tries to get to the bottom of a suspicious kidnapping case with the help of an exotic dancer.

THE HAND OF GOD (2021)

 

Written & Directed By: Pablo Sorrentino  Cinematography: Daria D’Antonio  Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli 

Cast: Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponagelo, Luisa Ranieli, Marlon Joubert, Renato Carpentier, Massimiliano Gallo, Betty Pedrazzi 

Fabietto Schisa is a boy in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s. The Hand of God is a story full of unexpected joys, such as the arrival of football legend Diego Maradona, and an equally unexpected tragedy. Fate plays its part, joy and tragedy intertwine, and Fabietto's future is set in motion.

TORSO (1973)

 

Directed & Story By: Sergio Martino Written By: Sergio Martino & Ernesto Gastaldi  Cinematography: Giancarlo Ferrando  Editor: Eugenio Alabiti 

Cast: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson, Roberto Bisacco, Ernesto Colli, Angela Covello 

A string of appalling lust murders shocks the University of Perugia as a sadistic serial killer strangles to death beautiful college girls with a red and black scarf.

THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI (1972)

 

Written & Directed By: Lina Wertmuller Cinematography: Daria DiPalma Editor: Franco Fraticelli 

Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Agostina Belli, Luigi Diberti, Elena Fiore 

After voting against the powerful Mafia candidate in Sicily, in what seemed like a secret ballot, impecunious Mimì finds himself with his back to the wall. Desperate, and having no one to turn to, Mimì abandons his wife, Rosalia, and relocates to the bustling city of Turin, only to fall for the beautiful Trotskyist, Fiore. One child later, and as one thing leads to another, Mimì gradually realizes that he is not ready to accept the new social morals that prevail in the industrialized north, catching, once more, the Mafia's attention. Now, political beliefs, loyalty, infidelity, and revenge become inextricably intertwined, and once again, Mimì is left with nothing, having no other choice but to return to Sicily. But, can he keep his life in Turin secret?

DOGMAN (2019)

Directed By: Matteo Garrone 
Written By: Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudiso, Giulio Troli, Fabio D’innocenzo, Damiano D’innocenzo & Marco Perfetti 
Story By: Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone & Massimo Gaudiso 
Cinematography: Nicolaj Bruel 
Editor: Marco Spoletini 

Cast: Marcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce, Adamo Dionisi, Nunzia Schiano Marcello 

a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance. This is really a tale of good versus evil you would think but there are so many grey areas It’s hard to truly describe it that way. As the film comes off as a fable more than anything else.

LORO (2018)

Story & Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino 
Written By: Paolo Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello 
Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi 
Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli 


Cast: Tom Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarico, Kasia Smutniak, Euridice Axen, Alice Pagani, Fabrizio Bentivoglio 


During a tumultuous period in the career of Silvio Berlusconi, as his marriage to second wife Veronica Lario fractures, LORO speculates on what may or may not have taken place behind closed doors, depicting a wide variety of characters from multiple levels of society and their attempts to either ingratiate or distance themselves from him.

PSYCHOUT FOR MURDER (1969)

Story By & Directed By: Rossano Brazzi 
Written By: Rossano Brazzi, Diana Crispo, Renato Polselli & Piero Regnoli 
Cinematography: Luciano Trasatti 
Editor: Amedeo Giomini 


Cast: Adrienne LaRussa, Rossano Brazzi, Nino Castelnuovo, Paola Pitagora, Alberto De Mendoza, Idelma Carlo 


Mario consigns his girlfriend Licia to a whorehouse for an evening in order to get the photographic goods to blackmail her father with. To get her out of the way, Licia is then consigned to a mental hospital by her father.

EROS (2004)

Directed By: Kar Wai Wong (THE HAND) 
Steven Soderbergh (EQUILIBRIUM) 
Michelangelo Antonioni (THE DANGEROUS THREAD OF THINGS) 

Written By: Kar Wai Wong (THE HAND) 
Steven Soderbergh (EQUILIBRIUM) 
Michelangelo Antonioni & Tonino Guerra (THE DANGEROUS THREAD OF THINGS) 
THE DANGEROUS THREAD OF THINGS Based on the book By: Michelangelo Antonioni 

Cinematography By: Christopher Doyle (THE HAND) 
Steven Soderbergh * As Peter Andrews (EQUILIBRIUM) 
Marco Pontecarvo (THE DANGEROUS THREAD OF THINGS) 

Editor: William Chang (THE HAND) 
Steven Soderbergh * Mary Ann Bernard (EQUILIBRIUM) 
Claudio Di Mauro (THE DANGEROUS THREAD OF THINGS) 


Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Alan Arkin, Gong Li, Ele Keats, Chen Chang, Regina Nemni, Luisa Raneri