Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Roger Burke Chaos is part of the human condition, as is death. Combine those three aspects in a narrative that explores the grieving process of a well-to-do business man, and you have the basic plot for this film.Each of us grieves in our own way but generally in a manner that's well-known and understood. The man of this story, Pietro Palladini (Nanni Moretti) is different, however, when his wife dies unexpectedly (in the first ten minutes): his attitude is one of apparent indifference. Moreover, his behavior takes another turn when he insists on remaining outside his daughter's school every day, all day, instead of returning to his highly paid, high-powered position as a senior executive with a company that's infighting a merger with an American outfit. When called by his office, he insists he can do his work in his car, or while sitting on a park bench opposite the school...That sort of aberrant attitude raises questions and helped this viewer to stay with the story to peel back the layers and find out what's eating Pietro.As the widower, Nanni Moretti gives a quietly brooding and pensive performance that has an almost di Nero quality. It's contrasted nicely with Carlo (Alessandro Gassman), Pietro's celebrity brother who is as extroverted as Pietro is the opposite – the veritable chalk and cheese. Between the two is Pietro's daughter (Blu Yoshimi) who also displays a marked lack of affect after the death of her mother. On the periphery to those three are the women who intrude upon Pietro's solitary quotidian watch over his daughter's school: Marta (Valeria Gollino), his nervously unstable sister-in-law; Eleonora (Isabella Ferrari), the woman whom he rescued from drowning in the film's opening sequence; and the stunningly ravishing Jolanda (Kasia Smutniak), the young woman who insists upon walking her dog – and herself – closer to where Pietro sits, with each passing day. As Pietro sits and watches her, his gaze tells us he's wandering into fantasy, without a doubt...And, from time to time, some of Pietro's colleagues from the office turn up to discuss office politics and the impending merger – capped, I might add, with a cameo from Roman Polanski as Steiner, the business mogul who wants to use Pietro to help with the merger.Except for one torrid, animalistic sex scene – simply a cry for connection between two lonely people – this is a gentle story that's beautifully photographed around Rome and Lazio, Italy. The acting, especially from Moretti and Yoshimi, is without fault, I think; and Valeria Gollino always gives pleasurable viewing. The soundtrack is adequate; the pacing is in sync with a story that is very much about self-analysis and introspection i.e. some might think too slow – but the editing and direction keep the narrative moving well.So, enjoy the views, the music, the shaded park, and the transient visitors as Pietro comes to terms with his loss. Highly recommended.

dierregi In a nutshell, the movie deal with the story of a middle aged man (Pietro) who looses his wife and has to take care of a young daughter (Claudia). Pietro is an executive (although it is difficult to imagine him doing any work at all), with no financial problems. He decides to stop working (leave without pay?) and starts spending all his days sitting outside his daughter's school.The reasons for his decision are obscure, as he does not seem to care much about Claudia, just as he did not seem very involved with his wife. Out of nowhere, a woman whose life he saved the same day of his wife's death, pops out of nowhere and has wild sex with him.Then Claudia asks him to go back to work, as she is probably embarrassed by his freakish behavior and off he goes.Considering the plot, this is a strangely emotionless movie. Watching it, one can easily forget that the Pietro is a widower and Claudia an orphan, who just lost her mother. This odd couple is – allegedly – dealing with grief through denial or perhaps just plain indifference.Besides, this movie suffers from a typical Italian problem: the lack of an ending that justify the storytelling in the first place. Like many other Italian movies, the plot starts believably and ends in a big nowhere. Boring.

MovieCrusher This film is all about a man who starts to spend his days in a park next to his daughter's school. He found, in that park, some sort of peace sanctuary, and people he knew for years started to meet him there, exposing their problems to him, just to be listened, because he was doing something most of them dared to even try...I guess the film achieved that point pretty well, but missed a few aspects from the book, like it has already been mentioned by other reviewers..He tripped with his brother in the opium scene. They were supposed to have a conversation by telepathy...very fraternal, indeed...The sex scene, I think, is disposable. In the book too... at least, I could not figure it out why is it there... Maybe he is trying to convince himself that he fully supplanted Lara's death...Another miss, is the final phone call, where he, finally, reaches madness...

kosmasp Title of the movie that is. There's always bad things happening to people and I'm pretty sure, that you as a reader have experienced grief and loss in your life. Some talk about the yin and the yang of life (let's just say that I personally do also believe in that ... believe).The title character is portrayed wonderfully by an apparently popular Italian actor. I've seen him before, but I'm not as aware of his biography as other reviewers here. Maybe that makes me more open to his performance, I can't say that for sure. But since this is a character piece/movie it does help that the main actor is as good as he is. Of course the support cast, does help him a lot too.Since this movie is all about feelings, it's only normal that near the end there is an "explosion" of emotion ... it's also normal, that some of the female audience members were bedazzled (in a bad way) by that particular scene. And the end is just ... normal. But then again, that's life for you (and me) ...