I'm Going Home

Odd, memorable film about aging by the ancient de Oliveira, the great Portuguese director. Michel Piccoli is fine as the old actor.

"Oliveira seems to pursue silent film representation with every mournful composition." - Ed Gonzalez

Piccoli is really wonderful here, and is the absolute center of the film which rather simply focuses on getting older and settled in your ways and seeing life start to narrow. Manoel de Oliveira was 93 when he directed this, so it's clearly a personal film (although he directed 10 more features and many shorts after this one). The film's end reveals the title to be a rather charming joke.

I'm Going Home spends the far majority of its run time tracking its central character--an aging theater actor--out and about or at work on the stage. Gifted and energetic, the man lives by routine--watching his grandson leave for school, enjoying a cup of coffee in his favorite cafe, or delivering memorized lines night after night for his current production. However, when the routine is threatened, Oliveira delivers a poignant finale about the limitations (self-imposed and otherwise) of aging.