A diverting Italian feature (1992) consisting of three sketches (four before Miramax picked it up for distribution), all written by veteran screenwriter Tonino Guerra (Blowup, Amarcord), all set in the Marecchia Valley, and all having something to do with the quirkiness of human passions. The Blue Dog, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), focuses on the love/hatred of a village shoemaker-barber (Philippe Noiret) for a stray dog that follows him around; the title sketch, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci (Bernardo’s brother), concerns the edgy efforts of a suave middle-aged man (Bruno Ganz) to seduce a younger woman (Ornella Muti) who’s dating a troubled man her own age; and Snow on Fire, directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, is about a lonely widow (Maria Maddalena Fellini, Federico’s sister) who gets into the habit of spying on the lovemaking of her newly wed son and daughter-in-law. Ennio Morricone supplies a characteristically wistful score. (JR)