Puddvack
Nine actors and their driver are taken hostage during a theatrical tour organized for Italian soldiers in countries striven by war. The kidnap has a political motive and soon turns into a reality show without the hostages knowledge. The terrorist are sending a live feed to an Italian TV station which gets broadcast 24 hrs a day, in exchange for proceeds from advertising sales. The hostages are completely isolated, surrounded by woods, by the silence and suddenly find themselves struggling with the violence of the kidnappers, their precarious hygienic conditions and with themselves.
Three stories revolving around 3 elements: the painting, the sofa and the comet. The 3 chapters that compose it are also linked together by these elements that give the entire film a circular structure, just like the sad fate of Sisyphus who was condemned to push a huge stone to the top of a hill.
Clairvoyant's Son
Amelia and Pippo are reunited after several decades to perform their old music-hall act, imitating Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, on a TV variety show.
Uno degli amici di Piero
Piero arrives in Paris from Luino after having won a pool tournament with friends. In the train he meets the famous place Ramazzini and has so many incidents that culminated with his arrest and the confiscation by the commissioner Juvet. Released, find randomly hospitality at the madame Lenormand and know the great painter Valentine. Both women are tied up, as a wife and lover, Maurice, in prison for robbery. A day Piero wears a mistake and the coat of astrakhan, Maurice, and then...
Meravigli, l'operaio sindacalista
A factory worker known for his tough attitude and for fighting for workers' rights starts losing credibility when friends and co-workers see him helping a young gay man.
giornalista
In Caro papá, Dino Risi is telling the story of the decadent lifestyle, and dysfunctional family, of a wealthy businessman (played to perfection by Risi's favorite leading man, Vittorio Gassman). Risi paints his portrait against a backdrop of an Italy where the new permissiveness has run rampant, traditional socio-cultural values have been usurped by consumerism, and the streets have become an open battleground for politically extremist groups (the '70s were dubbed "The Years of Lead" due to the great number of terrorist acts, and politically motivated assassinations).
Metello struggles to escape from the poverty that led to the premature death of his parents, and that is the lot of the working class in northern Italy during the second half of the 19th century. Metello fights his way out from his condition through hard work, a determined will to resist oppression inherited from his father, but also by taking advantage of his good looks when dealing with women. Metello progressively assumes an important role in the organization of an emerging workers movement, and attempts to conciliate his risky political activities with his private life.
