Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Are all relationships based on lies? Jake Bianski runs a fish market in north Boston, surrounded by Italians. For years, he's carried a torch for Isabella, an ex-girlfriend now married with three children and no interest in Jake. Yet, he tells everyone she's his girlfriend, including Marisa, a veterinarian his employees set him up with at the Italian singles club. She's interested in him until he tells her about his girlfriend, then he's persistent in asking her to be his friend. As the friendship bumps along, Jake realizes that reality may be better than fantasy, but what if Isabella changes her mind about Jake, and what if it comes out that Marisa, like Jake, isn't Italian?

Syndicate

An honest cop named Joshua Marino is transferred to the city of Plainview, New York, where the streets run dirty with crime and corruption. Meanwhile, an aging crime boss pressures his eldest son to carry on his legacy while a washed up detective is hot on his tail.

Obsession

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Theorem

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.

Mamma Mia!

A spirited young bride-to-be living with her single mother on a small Greek island secretly invites three of her mother's ex-boyfriends in hope of finding her biological father to walk her down the aisle.

A Place of Our Own

The Secret

Lucia (Natassja Kinski) is a volatile, exciteable young woman. She forms a romance with Carlo (Stefano Dionisi), who is somewhat callow and is very skittish. Their romance is not an easy one, but they are assisted in coping with its ups and downs by their mutual friendship with Franco (Franco Citti), an older, wiser and more stable man.

By the Gun

A rising Boston gangster (Ben Barnes) endangers those around him when he starts to make moves without the knowledge of his boss (Harvey Keitel).

Looking for Alibrandi

Josie Alibrandi is 17 and doesn't know where she belongs. This year, however, everything is going to change. Josie will face her fears, uncover secrets and even discover the true identity of her father.

The Earrings of Madame de...

In late 19th century France, the Countess Louise, wife of a wealthy general, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off her secret debts, then claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, and her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

Il Sorpasso

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.

Pagliacci

Pagliacci, is a 1948 Italian film based on Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, directed by Mario Costa. The film stars Tito Gobbi and Gina Lollobrigida. It recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown (or pagliaccio in Italian) in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio. When Nedda spurns the advances of Tonio, another player in the troupe, he tells Canio about Nedda's betrayal. In a jealous rage Canio murders both Nedda and Silvio. The only actor in the cast who also sang his role was the celebrated Italian baritone, Tito Gobbi, but the film is largely very faithful to its source material, presenting the opera nearly complete.

Allegro non troppo

The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).

Italian for Beginners

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.