Raise Your Head

Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.

Nanni Moretti once again muses on the ebb and flow of life in April 1996, as he is about to become a father for the first time and finds himself unable to focus on his documentary about the upcoming general elections, where the left is heading into a rematch against Berlusconi.

The four decisive years in the life of Eugenio Monti, from the bronze medals in the bobsleigh at Innsbruck 1964 to the Grenoble Olympics in 1968. Amidst grueling training sessions, falls, and comebacks, this is the portrait of a champion who challenged his limits with talent, loyalty, and courage, supported by love and friendship. Inspired by the literary work of Stefano Rotta.

Twenty years in the life of "Il Califfo" Franco Califano, from the Rome of the Dolce Vita to the 1984 concert at the Teatro Parioli, through great musical successes, loves, falls, and comebacks.

Superintendent Chessari is sent to run a small police station on the outskirts of Rome - a temporary posting in a difficult area, with not much backing and very few staff. His deputy, Lorenzo Corsi, is a youngster just out of the Academy, full of enthusiasm and high principles which clash with the corrupt reality of the streets and the attitude of his colleagues. The small police station seems like an outlying frontier post, a sort of backwater where recruits and hot-heads are assigned to rot. Chessari wants a quiet life, and all he does is set up a few routine operations; following suspects and tapping phones. He tries to avoid making waves that might upset his plans for career advancement. His men, however, are a bunch of loose canons, who are not intimidated by the rules or regulations imposed upon them and at times risk crossing the line of legality.

An embittered penitentiary social worker receives an unwelcome blast from the past when the case file of his father, a convicted murderer who has been emotionally broken by prison life, lands on his desk.

This is the story of Rosario and Matteo, two man from Southern Italy. Rosario is helped by Luigi to settle in the north. Luigi wants to give Rosario a chance to redeem himself and offer him, at the same time, an opportunity to confront his beliefs with the ones of his son Matteo. Rosario lives in a "commune" and Matteo in a beautiful, comfortable house. They're both introverted and shy and find a common ground: they meet, go out together, become friends and show each other a completely different way of living their lives as teenagers.

Four waiters and a cook working at a seaside restaurant hate one another but still keep working together for lack of better opportunities.

A man in his forties has had enough. He leaves his loveless family, uninspiring job and fake friends and tries to find something more. He meets a young woman he falls for, but she puts him on the test.