Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Il Postino/The Postman (1994) - Italian - May be not a great film but not far from it either. Plot: Simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice. The film is remarkable for one of the very best performances I have seen, by the Italian actor Massimo Troisi. Philippe Noiret as the famous poet Pablo Naruda is also wonderful. The camerawork and the soundtrack also add to the feast. Dir by Michael Radford (was a surprise to know that he was born in New Delhi).

Memorable lines:
Pablo Neruda: "Man has no business with the simplicity or complexity of things."
Pablo Neruda: "When you explain poetry, it becomes banal. Better than any explanation is the experience of feelings that poetry can reveal to a nature open enough to understand it."
Pablo Neruda:"Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often."

DVD. 108 min. PG-L1V1S0. 8/10. imdb

No comments: