Aug. 06, 2002 - 2:07 am

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Il Postino (1994)

i finally saw the fifth nominee for Best Picture of 1995. (this one didn't hit U.S. theaters until June of 1995. all of us who wait and watch for good foreign films know how that goes...) the winner for 1995 of course was Braveheart (1995) which is one of the best, as you'll see in the list to the left. this is a great film though, and it was fun to sit through. plus i'm always happy to see that a foreign film has been nominated for Best Picture. i'm assuming this one wasn't nominated for Best Foreign Language Film because of its multinational ensemble. pretty much everyone involved has to be from the same country in order to get nominated in that category. like everyone has to be from Germany in order for Heaven (2002) to get nominated. i don't think that the cast counts, but everyone producing and directing does. Il Postino had a French leading man and an Indian director, so i'm sure it got tossed out of the category for one reason or another.

something i was thinking about earlier. why do some foreign films get called by their original titles by American audiences and others don't? like everyone here calls Il Postino Il Postino, but we call Lola Rennt (1998) Run Lola Run. i guess it's decided by marketers really. i prefer the titles to stay in their original language myself, but maybe that's just me. same reason i don't like dubbing i guess. however, i have to continue calling it Run Lola Run so that people will understand which movie i'm talking about. damn. foiled again.

so anyway, let's talk about Il Postino. this movie takes place in Italy in the early 1950s during a period of political uproar. that's more of a backdrop though and doesn't appear but at key moments of the film (that's what we prefer to see Mr. Sunshine (1999)). the majority of the film focuses on a middle aged postman who wants nothing more than to meet the exiled poet who is residing on his island for a time. he gets his autograph while bringing his mail and he slowly builds a relationship with him. later on he falls in love with a beautiful girl and gets the poet's advice on winning her love.

like i said earlier i enjoyed the plot of this film. it was very personal, which is something i usually enjoy seeing. it didn't involve politics too much, and focused on developing a few central characters and their relationships. and it didn't give me all the answers to life in a neat box like way too many films do. it made me think. and that's never a bad thing.

very strange. i was just reading some trivia about this film and apparently the lead guy, Massimo Troisi who played the very sweet postman character, and also co-wrote and co-directed the film, had put off heart surgery in order to complete work on the film. he died from a fatal heart attack the day after filming was completed. very sad.

remember to hit the "previous movie" button today.