Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Bea Swanson
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Leoni Haney
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Cristal
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
MartinHafer
While I loved Roberto Begnini in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL and JOHNNY STECCHINO, I really had a hard time enjoying this film--though fortunately it got better as the film progressed. My biggest problem with it is that I felt that Begnini's character was really creepy. While the film is supposed to be a comedy of sorts, it wasn't all that funny and he came off as a very needy stalker. Last I checked, being a stalker was anathema to good comedy! It seems that every night Begnini dreams about marrying a lady and when he finally sees this woman (Nicoletta Braschi) in real life, he stalks her! In real life, such a guy would have a restraining order out against him or end up killing his "lady love" in some sort of psychotic murder-suicide spree! Others may have laughed at his "cute" advances towards this poor woman--I just felt uneasy.Later, this lady travels to Iraq just as the war is beginning which begs the question "is she 100% insane?!". And, shortly after arriving, she naturally is severely injured and is dying. When Begnini finds out, he drops everything in Rome and travels against all odds to Baghdad to do everything he can to save her. This portion of the film is actually pretty sweet, as he works so hard to keep her alive--it's quite touching,...though once again, I had to remind myself that he IS a stalker and traveled a couple thousand miles into a war zone because of his bizarre obsession.Strengths of the film were Begnini's performance (though at times, it did come off as essentially the same guy he was in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL) and the latter half of the film (while not great--it was light-years ahead of the first half). Deficits were choppy editing and storytelling, occasionally confusing writing, an uncomfortable juxtaposition of comedy with tragedy and stalking as well as Jean Reno's inexplicable character--his motivations and everything about him seemed ill-defined and confusing. The bottom line is that despite being a very talented man, this is a huge letdown for Begnini and isn't an especially good film. Watchable but quite flawed.FYI--Nicoletta Braschi is Begnini's real-life wife and they have starred in quite a few films together.
bilinmeyenosey
What a splendid magnum opus! Am I seeing the reconciliation of the western and of the Muslim world on the horizon? Should I believe in this very beautiful possibility, although there are so many people who cause wars on the earth? I thought yes watching this movie. I believed in the superiority of love and wisdom to primitivity, the so-called "power" and evil. Because of the dialog between De Giovanni and Al-Guimeilli, and their understanding of each other in a very deep level without having to use any words.. Poets.. Hikhmah.. Wisdom.. And of course Love.. Il giro.. il cielo.. zucchini.. Al Guimeilli's pretending to be blind, not to hurt his wife. Nobility. Poetry. Merciful God. Bi't tawfik Roberto Benigni!
Hazel Woodward
The protagonist in this film is excellent: not only is he a poet who looks at life unflinchingly, loves it, describes it beautifully and suffers in it, he is also a a doer who manipulates the situations: trying his hardest to make things go his way, and last, but not least, a lover, who reminds one so of that old quote from Desiderata: "Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass.." I was amazed at the beauty in the film, the small touches of magic and the huge brush strokes of Iraqi landscape which contrasted with the civilized Italian urban scenes. A truly well-executed movie, tender and intelligent, well worth the reading of the subtitles.
DICK STEEL
The Tiger and the Snow is a beautiful romantic movie, and it opened quite perfectly with an awesome ballad "You Can Never Hold Back Spring", performed by Tom Waits himself. Written and directed by Italian Roberto Benigni (famed for the wonderful LIfe is Beautiful), he also stars as the lead Attilio de Giovanni, a lovestruck poet who falls for a woman in his recurring dreams.Only of course, to wake up each time he dreams of them at the alter, and when she is about to declare her undying love for him, punctuated with promises of hot sex. Yes, you read that right. But I digress. In reality, he's an absent minded poetry professor who always forgets where he parks his car. But despite his quirky looks and demeanor (are Benigni's characters always like that I wonder), imagine the pandemonium within him when he finally meets the woman in his dreams, Vittoria (the object of his obsession played by wife in real life Nicoletta Braschi), an acquaintance of fellow writer Fuad (Jean Reno).Meeting in the dreams, and meeting for real can hardly be any different, and his infatuation with and love for Vittoria goes unrequited. Until of course we examine through to the rest of the movie, how unconditional and large this love for her is, when he takes it upon himself to journey to and through war-strife Iraq to save her from injury, through hell and high water, in dogged pursuit of elements that can save the love of his life.Although infused with bits of comedy now and then, the movie takes a long hard look at how much one will do for someone else whom you love deeply. It might be a case of "nothing is impossible", given the will and the affection. But what if you know that what you're doing will likely to be unnoticed, or unappreciated, or unrequited. Then what? Hence the power of unconditional love. Truly very rare indeed. Should you feel, as the movie progresses, that certain bits seemed a little out of place, my advice is to persevere until the end, where a sleight of hand twist is introduced, and given the 20/20 hindsight, you'll begin to ponder, and understand this love a little more.It's bittersweet, and with moments that might touch you. But alas, this is no Life is Beautiful, and although it has its moments with the beautiful make belief cinematographic elements in the end, it somehow lacked that extra bit of emotional depth to truly move an audience.Oh, and that fellow blonde teacher, now she's hot!