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Il Posto
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Life is Beautiful: Two Films by Ermanno Olmi
I Fidanzati
Unrated
1963, Criterion
Il Posto
Unrated
1961, Criterion
All the storytelling talents of the new European directors can be experienced in the work of Italian moviemaker Ermanno Olmi. His second feature, 1961's Il Posto (The Job), is the most humanistic of stories, an ordinary life drama that leans heavily towards neo-realism. The result is a heartbreaking film that complements Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, as well as the work of Roberto Rosselini.
In Il Posto, Domenico (Sandro Panzeri) leaves his small village to apply for a job in a large Milan company. His daily office tasks are mind numbing. The humiliations are frequent. Only a friendship with a pretty company secretary, Antonietta (played by Olmi's wife Loredana Detto), offers any happiness.
Sandro Panzeri was a non-professional actor when Olmi cast him. His natural performance captures the struggles of the Italian bourgeoisie, the core theme at the heart of Il Posto. Olmi takes full advantage of Panzeri's unsophisticated acting in the film's best scene, a New Year's Eve office party where Domenico is uncomfortably trapped.
In Il Posto, Olmi combines the storytelling spirit of a documentary with sharp, stylized camerawork. It's beautiful simplicity that sums up Italian neo-realism perfectly.
Olmi was born in 1931 in the small village of Bergamo, one in a family of Catholic peasants. His Catholicism has been described as Franciscan, exemplified by his love for nature. His politics are decidedly leftist, understandable considering his working-class background.
Olmi apprenticed in the film section of the electrical company, Edison-volta, where he made a series of short documentary films. He is an expert at capturing everyday dramas, a skill that's served him well during his career.
Everything comes together beautifully in I Fidanzati (The Fiancés), Olmi's poetic follow-up to Il Posto. Olmi tells another working-class story, although this time he emphasize romance. In I Fidanzati, a welder (Carlo Cabrini) leaves his father and his fiancée (Anna Canzi) for a job in Sicily.
Olmi's humanistic themes are as evident as ever in I Fidanzati. This time, he has surrounded his real-life characters with elegant visuals. Olmi's storytelling in I Fidanzati is so precise and exquisite that comparisons with other neo-realistic filmmakers are pushed aside in favor of notable stylists like Ozu, Bresson and Resnais. These are artists you know, and Olmi is definitely their equal.
I Fidanzati grade: A.
Il Posto grade: A.
And the rest
I'm usually not a fan of audio commentaries, but I listened to every word of director Joel Schumacher's behind-the-scenes details surrounding his fast-paced thriller, Phone Booth (Fox). Colin Farrell is perfectly cast as a fast-talking publicist trapped in a Manhattan phone booth by a mysterious sniper. Schumacher, Farrell and screenwriter Larry Cohen make every one of the pulpy film's 80 minutes count. There is not one wasted scene.
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