20 The Taming of the Scoundrel (Il bisbetico domato), 1980

A grouchy farmer, known around his small Italian town as being wonderful to his employees, but actively driving everyone else away, is in for a surprise when a beautiful girl from the city, ends up on his stoop after her car breaks down in the rain.

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19 Malena (Malèna), 2000

The film is set in 1940 during World War II just as Italy enters the war. Malena’s husband, Nino Scordia, leaves to serve in the military. Malena feels sad and tries to cope with her loss, as the town she has just moved to tries to deal with this beautiful woman who gets the attention and lustful stares of all the local men, including the 12-year-old Renato. However, in spite of the villagers’ gossip, she continues to be faithful to her husband.

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18 The Best of Youth (La meglio gioventù), 2003

Nicola and Matteo Carati are two brothers of Rome, who live the years from 1966 to 2000 and all the events which have signed this period. They begin their adventure by helping Giorgia, a young girl confined in an asylum. Then, after the flood of Florence, Nicola meets Giulia, a talented piano player with a dangerous sympathy for the BR. Matteo, a rebel spirit entered in the police, will find the optimistic photographer Mirella. These four characters and many others will cross the years of terrorism and Tangentopoli.

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17 Umberto D., 1952

Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an elderly and retired civil servant, is desperately trying to maintain a decent standard of living on a rapidly dwindling state pension, but he’s up against his tyrannical landlady, who keeps demanding rent that he can’t pay. His only friends are the pregnant housemaid and his little dog Flike.

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16 8½, 1963

Director Guido Anselmi’s working on his latest film;. Despite his declaring this movie should be an easy one to make, he’s having increasing difficulty with it. Specifically, he’s losing faith in what he originally intended, and is getting more confused, now lost in just what the film should be. Due to the stresses — both professional and personal — he’s checked into a spa to help him work through his problems, he reflects on his childhood and fantasises.

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15 La dolce vita, 1960

Seven days in the life of a Marcello, a Roman journalist torn between making something serious of his life or drifting along on a pleasant if empty stream of casual affairs and profitable but meaningless newspaper and magazine work. In the course of the week, he flirts with a visiting movie star, has a couple of encounters with a bored socialite, is shocked when Steiner, a «serious» writer and deep thinker, kills himself and his children, and generally ignores his adoring girlfriend. In the end, he seems to have cut himself adrift on a sea of frivolity and self-disgust, with no real idea of how to find his way back «home.»

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14 Nights of Cabiria (Le notti di Cabiria), 1957

Practicing the world’s oldest profession in the archaeological walk of Rome’s Parco di Porta Capena, the trusting, stubbornly-optimistic streetwalker Cabiria refuses to lose faith in love. After escaping death by the skin of her teeth, the hurt and momentarily-disenchanted Cabiria continues to confront life with a mixture of naivete and arrogance. One evening she ventures into the elegant Via Veneto and gets picked up by suave film star Alberto Lazzari. Disappointment awaits once more, and as poor Cabiria prays to Virgin Mary for guidance and a blessing, the man of her prayers, Oscar D’Onofrio, barges into her life after a chance encounter at a vaudeville theatre. But do miracles happen?

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13 The Best Offer (La migliore offerta), 2012

The inscrutable lifelong bachelor and eccentric genius Virgil Oldman is a highly respected art connoisseur and auctioneer with a passion for selling antiques. However, his monotonous life is about to change when agoraphobic young heiress Claire Ibbetson enlists his help to appraise and sell some works of art inherited from her late father. Isolated from the world, Claire instantly piques Virgil’s curiosity: unable to resist the allure of the mysterious woman, he sees his confined world transform beyond recognition. But is Virgil prepared for the hardships of love?

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12 A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari), 1964

Flat broke, a taciturn, amoral sharp-shooter rides into the dusty, sun-bleached border town of San Miguel, where everyone is either rich or dead. Torn apart by two feuding families the corrupt Baxters and the murderous Rojos who fight for control, the sleepy town provides the perfect opportunity for profit. Before long, the nameless stranger embarks on a dangerous mission to play each gang off against the other in a deadly battle of wits. Of course, all eyes are set on the grand prize. How far is a man willing to go for a fistful of dollars?

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11 Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West), 1968

Story of a young woman, Mrs. McBain, who moves from New Orleans to frontier Utah, on the very edge of the American West. She arrives to find her new husband and family slaughtered, but by whom? The prime suspect, coffee-lover Cheyenne, befriends her and offers to go after the real killer, assassin gang leader Frank, in her honor. He is accompanied by Harmonica, a man already on a quest to get even.

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