Mediterraneo

Directed by Gabriel Salvatores
Casts: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli, Giuseppe Cederna, Vanna Barba, Memo Dini, Gigio Alberti, Ugo Conti
1991

This 1991 comedy by Gabriele Salvatores was knocked for not being deep enough, but it is what it is, and it's actually an easygoing, sunny movie about eight Italian soldiers who manage to strand themselves on a tiny Greek island paradise during World War II. The sort of mutts who would shoot a donkey for not knowing the proper password, these clumsy warriors become a comic variation on the Lotus Eaters of myth, their fighting spirit evaporated in the midst of so much beauty and sexual availability among the local women. There are also sundry opportunities for the men to find another purpose for their lives (one particularly artistic fellow works on the restoration of a church, for example). Amid the sometimes coarse jokes and gratuitous nudity, there are subtle themes about the contrast between what men are truly like in their natural state versus what they are like as killers.

Award:
1992 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film

Y tu Mama Tambien

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
2001
Starring: Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Maribel Verdu

The lives of Julio and Tenoch, like those of seventeen-year old boys everywhere, are ruled by raging hormones, intense friendships, and a headlong rush into adulthood. Over the course of a summer, the two best friends, while living out a carefree cross-country escapade with a gorgeous older woman, also find connection with each other, themselves and the world around them. Just days after the boys trade heartfelt good-byes with their sexy, young girlfriends who are headed to Italy for summer vacation, their attention is diverted by Luisa, a stunning twenty-eight year old Spaniard. At a family wedding in Mexico City, the boys awkwardly flirt with Luisa, who is married to a distant cousin of Tenoch’s. Fueled by alcohol and her beauty, the boys invite Luisa to accompany them on a road trip to a remote beach with the romantic name of Boca del Cielo -- Heaven’s Mouth -- neglecting to mention that they wouldn’t know where to find it, even if it actually did exist. Luisa humors the boys, but not without first fueling their vivid imaginations. A few days later, Luisa, receives some heartbreaking news and, needing a change of scenery, tracks down the boys and accepts their offer. The unlikely trio hits the road, their destination not so much Boca del Cielo as that seductive and mysterious place where innocence, sexuality, and friendships collide.
As the saying goes, you never really know someone until you travel with him. With the car closing in upon them, Julio and Tenoch are forced to reveal to each other sides of their personalities they had never before even dared to explore. Though best friends for years, the boys realize they had often taken each other for granted, not seeing the person in front of them as more than a façade or an attitude. Luisa is the catalyst of self-discovery. Her presence brings out the best – and the worst – in the two friends. At times a sexy seductress, at other times the maternal figure each of the friends is lacking, Luisa, too, finds out what is important to her. As the road leading to the elusive Boca del Cielo becomes more desolate and inhospitable, the protagonists find there is no escape from a confrontation with their innermost demons and desires. -- © IFC Films

The Circus

Directed by Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Allan Garcia, Merna Kennedy
1928

The Little Tramp brings his slapstick hijinks to the big top. Charlie Chaplin's film The Circus begins in a fading circus, where the equestrienne (Merna Kennedy) can't jump the hoops and the clowns can't make the audience laugh. Outside on the midway, The Little Tramp falls into a series of wonderful comic routines that end when, pursued by a cop, he bursts into the tent's center ring and wows the audience. The circus owner/ringmaster (Allan Garcia) auditions The Little Tramp as a clown but discovers he is only funny when he isn't trying. He tricks The Little Tramp into joining the circus as a prop man who wreaks havoc with whatever he does and who unknowingly becomes the star of the show.

The Circus is one of the best silent films I've ever seen. Charlie Chaplin is hilarious and will keep you in smiling and laughing throughout the film.

This is comedy without a net!

Award:
1927-28 Oscars' Honorary Award For acting, writing, directing and producing
Charles Chaplin