945

Neorealism is, decidedly, not my bag, so it came as a complete surprise to me that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. There's no accolade that can be heaped upon it that wouldn't apply to it's genre forebears, but somewhere in the images, the faces and voices of the people on screen, the subtle poetry, something far more touching arises. Perhaps it's the fact that the bros. Taviani don't wield realism as a statement, but used it to best represent the contents of the story. Damned if I know.

# 879

I like the idea -- kind of a magic realism re-working of Paisa -- but something about the execution bugged me. The ironic detachment creates an air of forced quaintness, and as much as I liked the characters (and the actors), I never got very engaged. The charming scenes were charming, but scenes that should have been moving or tragic mostly left me cold. Also the use of wipes was rather distracting. Still I find it difficult to be too harsh with a film so heartfelt and bittersweet in spirit.

Road movie during the end of the war. Flick is professionally done, a Taviani quality, but eventually the story did not moved me much. Looking forewards to find that certain episode movie (by Taviani bros.) with one of the story of a guy who went crazy during full moon... Actually it's called Kaos (1984) and episode Moon Sickness - haven't seen it in, say, twenty years!

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