Nothing Left to Do But Cry

Saverio, a schoolteacher, and Mario, the school caretaker, are friends living in twentieth-century Italy. During a journey through the Tuscan countryside their car breaks down, and they end up spending the night at an inn. They wake to find themselves in the fifteenth century, where they cross paths with a young woman and try to change the course of history, with their main aim being to stop Christopher Columbus from reaching America. Along the way they encounter Leonardo da Vinci among other figures of the era.

The 1984 Italian comedy was directed by its two leads, Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni, who also wrote the screenplay with Giuseppe Bertolucci. Troisi plays Mario and Benigni plays Saverio, with Amanda Sandrelli, Iris Peynado, Carlo Monni and Lidia Venturini in supporting roles. It was the second film Troisi directed, following I'm Starting from Three, and the first directed by Benigni. For Benigni, who went on to make The Little Devil, Johnny Stecchino, The Monster, Life Is Beautiful, Pinocchio and The Tiger and the Snow, it opened a directing career that continued for more than two decades afterward.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.6 from roughly 7,900 votes, and on TMDB it stands at 7.7 from about 1,200 votes, figures that point to a durable following rather than a broad mainstream one.