I Fidanzati

One of the most romantic movies I've ever seen. Full of yearning and reverie, beautiful music and images. Olmi's editing is masterfully unique, cutting in flashbacks while the sounds of the present continue. The sense of longing and disconnection is palpable. In one scene, Giovanni's co-workers are playing tricks on him in the night. Giovanni tries to join in the fun, but is thwarted by circumstance. That heartbreaking feeling of isolation is present throughout the film. A real treat.

Portrait of a world in profound (industrial) transformation, by a filmmaker who understands, perhaps better than any other, that IF cinema is the art form that best captures the sense that there IS the extraordinary but that it is IN the ordinary, this is because the problem of editing involves a relationship not just between past and present but future as well. The question of materiality, in other words, implies that of temporality in all its dimensions. Superb opening and many great moments.

Overflowing with unspoken emotions and a deep sense of yearning and loss. The extensive flashbacks - implemented at the drop of a hat - lend the film a somewhat surreal quality, and provide a linear emotional arc that is at once able to establish the past history of the relationship while moving it forward. Beautifully shot and wonderfully romantic in an understated manner.

Very admirable presentation, with great framing and an intriguing style of editing. However, it's not overtly stylized and in fact comes across as quite minimalistic. Unfortunately, I wasn't very moved by the romance nor interested in the director's immense focus on minutiae. It doesn't help that the lead is dead weight.

Dazzling style, co-sign on FitFortDanga's excellent mini-review. I think Wong Kar-wai has seen this film. Edit: Actually, I think this is perfect for what it is, and deserves a 100.

I can't quite decide how I feel about it. It's so raw with emotion that you can't help but get invested in it but it sometimes feels a bit to sparse and drawn out.

Touro

Somehow Olmi can film even the most tedious actions of everyday life and still keep me interested.

Os noivos estreava há 60 anos em Roma. Desde o primeiro momento fica evidente que é o mesmo diretor de Il Posto, são diferentes, mas irmãos do mesmo pai, especialmente na questão do trabalhador encontrando um fio de esperança no amor. Talvez esteticamente este seja mais elaborado, por conta das transições entre passado, presente e um futuro que se expõe na fantasia possível. Box Versátil Cinemas do Mundo: Cinema Italiano.

So laid back, it's almost like a particularly dreary city symphony with the narrative a fuzzy, hardly discernible undercurrent. Olmi's work is in a way what Italian neorealism had tried to shoot for and usually missed. An ever-present mundane tedium, like a humming. The smallest moments of contentment magnified by the awkward detachment surrounding them to seem like joys. As in Il Posto and La Cotta, even the image of a party, for all its dancing and confetti, is oddly depressing.