There we go again with this things I "have to" do. I don't have to do anything, and neither do you or anybody else. I don't "have to" respect anyone's opinion, I just will if I think that the person is making sense, or won't if I think that they aren't. I think it's my prerogative, and not some sort of unwritten rule of life.
And if I gave you the impression that your dictatorship comment made me angry, think again. It actually made me smile. Is it possible that my comment, which I wrote while in the most relaxed state of mind possible, felt angry to you because you were angry at me not agreeing with you? Makes sense? Or maybe you imgined a very angry person writing that stuff, but I assure you I wasn't. I am just very passionate about the movies I like.
Why I like this movie: because it has a whole bunch of qualities that had disappeared completely from the Modern Movie-Maker's Manual every other director seems to be following instructions from. It has an original, deeply personal story which is told in a way that is weird enough to keep me interested, and at the same time simple enough to not make me feel lost. All told through a main character's performance that is absolutely brilliant, and I can't praise Toni Servillo enough for what he's done on this movie. Definitely better than any other actor I've seen perform this year, including McConaughey and Mikkelsen (whom I both loved in their respective movies DBB and Hunt).
The direction was absolutely flawless, from the long shots to the slow zoom-ins, to the more "acrobatic" stuff, like Ramona's death scene (most peculiar and most interesting death scene I have EVER seen filmed). Photography: don't even need to comment on that one, and the editing either. If I need to explain why they were so perfect, it means I am talking to a dead body.
All the main characters gave great performances, especially Romano, and the minor characters too, like the Neapolitan sleazebag whose name I don't remember, the plastic surgeon and Ramona's father, they were all great. Being Italian and having disliked Italian actors for most of my life, I was very pleasantly surprised this time around.
The "moral" of the story, if one can call it so: to me, it's simply an invitation to sit back and feel instead of over-thinking and criticizing everything we see. I feel that this movie is an invitation to stop for a minute and make sure we haven't been looking in the wrong direction all along. An invitation to appreciate the small things we had and those that we still have and give for granted, and search for beauty in all we see. It's an invitation to be humble (one I myself can't seem to be able to follow :P) and humanitarian, rather than pompous and selfish, and finally an invitation to SHARE the joy that we may get from it.
The director itself has been awesome and letting transpire these feelings through his own direction, and coating an already extremely original, simple little story with a generous self-analysis that anyone could apply to themselves, if they only wanted to, and if they only cared.
And I can really feel that he's been following his own "invitations" step-by-step while filming a movie that is personal, beautiful and inspiring, and most of all, unlike anything that had been filmed last year. Or many years before that, for that matter.
Here's why I like this movie so much, and if you read carefully, you will also find in my rant the reason why I do not want to accept that people diss this movie in particular (no, it's not because I'm Italian ;) )...
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